Trails are essential transportation infrastructure supporting access to protected natural areas and providing recreation to hikers, runners, cyclists, equestrians, motorists, and many more worldwide. This research presents spatial studies intended to improve understanding of the environmental, managerial, and use-related factors that influence management of and physical and experiential conditions on long-distance hiking trails. The first study investigates a dataset from the Appalachian Trail (AT) to examine methods for using high resolution digital elevation models to measure terrain steepness near trails and along trails or potential trail routes. This analysis supports trail planning and assessment efforts because these terrain metrics strongly influence physical trail sustainability and are useful to evaluate the difficulty of travel along trails. The second study analyzes long-distance use patterns on the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) as depicted by a computer model developed from a survey administered to long-distance hikers, trail counters, observations, and registers. In addition to describing use patterns, the process is intended to inform the selection of methods for visitor use monitoring in response to the complexity and level of controversy of management needs. The third study examines the spatial relationships between the PCT, a national scenic trail, and other congressionally designated land areas including wilderness, wild and scenic rivers, and national monuments and how this complexity is manifested in camping management strategies and impacts along the trail corridor. This analysis supports managing for the multiple congressional mandates across the PCT landscape and improves understanding and management of interagency transboundary travel on the trail. / Doctor of Philosophy / Trails are essential transportation infrastructure supporting access to protected natural areas and providing recreation to hikers, runners, cyclists, equestrians, motorists, and many more worldwide. This research presents spatial studies intended to improve understanding of the environmental, managerial, and use-related factors that influence management and physical and experiential conditions on long-distance hiking trails. The first study investigates a dataset from the Appalachian Trail (AT) to examine methods for using high resolution digital elevation models to measure terrain steepness near trails and along trails or potential trail routes to improve digital trail assessment and planning. The second study analyzes long-distance use patterns on the PCT as depicted by a computer model developed from a survey administered to long-distance hikers, trail counters, observations, and registers. The third study examines the complexity of managing transboundary long distance trails by quantifying the spatial relationships between the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT), a national scenic trail, and other congressionally designated land areas, and by reviewing camping impacts at high use locations on the trail corridor.

Ecotourism and protected area visitation have been steadily increasing in recent years in Central and South America, inevitably resulting in natural resource impacts. The consequences of such impacts may include natural resource degradation, diminished aesthetic qualities, or decreased functionality of certain facilities like recreation sites and trails. Recreation ecology and visitor impact management expertise and tools are available to help balance the potentially conflicting management goals of protecting natural resources and permitting visitation but such knowledge has not been widely used in Central and South America. The goals of this research were to characterize certain visitor-related natural resource impacts and to determine how these impacts could be assessed and managed in Central and South America. The research included case studies of eight protected areas in Costa Rica and Belize, trail impact assessment research at Torres del Paine National Park in Chile, and development of a new visitor impact assessment and management framework, presented as three papers intended for journal submission. The first paper had two objectives: 1) to identify visitor-related natural resource impacts at selected protected areas in Costa Rica and Belize to increase awareness about visitor impact problems, and 2) to apply and compare rapid trail and recreation site impact assessment procedures to provide study site managers with impact data and impact assessment procedures. A variety of natural resource impacts were reported by interview subjects and recorded by rapid assessment procedures. The management utility of the rapid trail and recreation site impact assessment procedures were compared and discussed and the need for developing additional rapid assessment procedures to evaluate other resource impacts reported by protected area managers was also identified. The intent of the second paper was to investigate trail impacts at Torres del Paine National Park. Study objectives included measuring the frequency and magnitude of selected trail impacts, and comparing the relative impact contribution of the amount of use, vegetation type, trail position and trail grade on common condition indicators such as width and incision. Findings somewhat contradicted those of other studies, revealing that amount of use significantly contributed to trail width and incision. However, findings also indicated that vegetation type and trail grade contributed to number of informal trails and trail incision, respectively. A variety of management strategies were recommended and suggestions were provided for future monitoring studies. The purpose of the third paper was to propose a new visitor impact assessment and management framework that would provide managers with a feasible means of addressing visitor impact management concerns for selected protected areas in Central and South America. The Protected Areas Impact Assessment and Management (PAIAM) framework was adapted from existing frameworks like carrying capacity and the Limits of Acceptable Change to provide a simple, cost-effective and relatively quick decision making process. PAIAM analyzes visitor impacts using an expert panel and incorporates stakeholders and local residents into decision making. This study experimentally applied the new framework in Mexico and compared PAIAM to existing frameworks. The focus of this dissertation is on Central and South America since they are heavily visited ecotourist regions that could potentially benefit from applying recreation ecology and visitor impact expertise and tools to protected area management. This research demonstrated that a variety of visitor impacts are affecting natural resources and visitor facilities like trails and recreation sites at selected protected areas in Central and South America. This research also developed and applied rapid impact assessment procedures and visitor impact frameworks for use in Central and South American protected areas. / Ph. D.

Recent research has emphasized the need to professionally manage campsites for long-term use, particularly in light of rising visitation to natural protected areas worldwide. Camping regulations vary considerably along the length of any long-distance trail due to the many land types and management agencies involved. Large proportions of long-distance trails have at-large camping policies, resulting in camping problems associated with visitor-chosen or developed campsites. Several long-term monitoring studies in areas with at-large camping policies indicate the expansion and proliferation of individual campsites, and growth of overall camping related impacts, to be a substantial managerial concern. This research evaluates the relative influence of environmental and topographic factors, both collected in the field and modeled in GIS using high-resolution topography (LiDAR) data, on areal measures of campsite impact utilizing Least Absolute Shrinkage and Selection Operator (LASSO) penalized regression for factor selection and Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) for regressions. Chosen variables in regressions explained 64% of the variation in campsite size and 61% of the variation in the area of vegetation loss on a campsite. Results indicate four variables managers can utilize to enhance the sustainability of campsites: use level, overnight site type, and terrain characteristics relating to slope and topographic roughness. Results support indirect management methods that rely on the design and location of campsites and trails and not the effectiveness of enforcement or restricting visitor freedom. In the face of rising use, techniques and concepts presented aid in identifying or creating ecologically sustainable campsites. / Master of Science / Many land management agencies, both in the U.S. and internationally, have dual, competing objectives related to the sustainability of recreation: one to protect the quality of natural resources and one to provide for recreational access and experiences. Increasing visitation has the potential to negatively impact natural resources and threaten the quality of visitors’ experiences on public lands. The majority of recreation impacts occur as a result of visitors spending time on or near recreation sites (e.g. campsites or vistas) or visitors traveling between these recreation sites on trail corridors. A widely accepted and practiced key strategy for managing trail systems is containing use to a sustainably designed and managed formal trail system. Campsites are also key infrastructure for recreational uses, however many protected areas have an inventory of campsites that are mostly visitor selected and created, and are excessively large due to site expansion and present in excessive numbers due to site proliferation. While the practice of closing undesirable campsites is common in many managed areas, emphasis on actively shifting use to campsites selected or designed for sustainability has been largely ignored. Study objectives were to identify which use-related, environmental, and managerial factors significantly contribute to limiting areal impacts on campsites and to understand the relative influence of each. Field collected data of a 10% sample of campsites along the Appalachian Trail were used in conjunction with data generated using high-resolution elevation data to look at which characteristics relate to areal impacts using multiple regression. Chosen variables in regressions explained 64% of the variation in campsite size and 61% of the variation in the area of vegetation loss on a campsite. Results indicate four variables managers can utilize to enhance the sustainability of campsites: use level, overnight site type, and terrain characteristics relating to slope and topographic roughness. Results support indirect management methods that rely on the design and location of campsites and trails and not the effectiveness of enforcement or restricting visitor freedom. Techniques and concepts presented aid in identifying and creating ecologically sustainable campsites.

No description available.

It is generally recognized that the magnitude of recreation resource impacts should be judged by their severity and spatial qualities, including extent, distribution, and association. Previous investigations, however, have primarily focused on assessing the severity of impacts, with limited examination of spatial qualities. The goal of this dissertation was to expand our understanding of the spatial dimension of recreation resource impacts and their assessment and evaluation. Two empirical data sets collected from a comprehensive recreation impact assessment and monitoring project in Great Smoky Mountains National Park provided the basis for the analyses. Three spatial issues were examined and presented as three papers, designed for journal submission. The purpose of the first paper was to improve our understanding of the dimensional structure and spatial patterns of camping impacts by means of multivariate analyses and mapping. Factor analysis of 195 established campsites on eight impact indicator variables revealed three dimensions of campsite impact: land disturbance, soil and groundcover damage, and tree-related damage. Cluster analysis yielded three distinctive campsite types that characterize both the intensity and areal extent of camping impacts. Spatial patterns and site attributes of these three campsite types and an additional group of primitive campsites were illustrated and discussed. The purpose of the second paper was to examine the influence of sampling interval on the accuracy of selected trail impact indicator estimates for the widely applied systematic point sampling method. A resampling-simulation method was developed and applied. Simulation results indicated that using systematic point sampling for estimating lineal extent of trail impact problems can achieve an excellent level of accuracy at sampling intervals of less than 100 m, and a reasonably good level of accuracy at intervals between 100 and 500 m. The magnitude of accuracy loss could be higher when the directions of loss are not considered. The responses of accuracy loss on frequency of occurrence estimates to increasing sampling intervals were consistent across impact types, approximating an inverse asymptotic curve. These findings suggest that systematic point sampling using an interval of less than 500 m can be an appropriate method for estimating the lineal extent, but not for estimating occurrence of trail impacts. Further investigations are called for to examine the generalizability of these results to other areas. The purpose of the third paper was to expand the scope of indices used for evaluating recreation resource impacts. Two specific objectives were to synthesize the recreation ecology and recreation resource management literature on the use of spatial indicators and indices, and to propose and apply selected spatial indices that are mostly lacking in the literature. Three spatial indices primarily adapted from the geography and ecology literature were proposed for application in recreation impact evaluation. Application results demonstrated that the Lorenz curve and associated Gini coefficient, and the linear nearest-neighbor analysis and associated LR ratio were effective in quantifying the spatial distribution patterns of trail impacts at landscape and trail scales, respectively. Application results of the third index, the impact association index, were less promising and require further refinements. Management implications and future directions of research were discussed in light of the findings of this dissertation. As the field of recreation ecology is emerging, this dissertation has demonstrated: (1) the value of recreation impact assessment and monitoring programs in providing data for examining the spatial dimension of impacts, and (2) the utility of spatial analytical approaches in understanding recreation impact assessment and evaluation. / Ph. D.

This research investigates the influence of layout and design on the severity of trail degradation. Previous trail studies have been restricted by relatively small study areas which provide a limited range of environmental conditions and therefore produce findings with limited applicability; this research improves on this limitation by analyzing a representative sample of the Appalachian Trail with significant ecological diversity. Most trail science studies have also focused on a singular form of trail degradation, whereas this study investigates trail soil loss, widening and muddiness, providing a more cohesive analysis and revealing interrelationships between trail degradation processes. ANOVA testing of the mean values of three trail impact indicators for trail transects within several trail layout frameworks confirms the broad relevance of core trail design principles, specifically the sustainability advantages of trails with low grades and side-hill alignments. Findings also reveal the importance of landform grade in determining the susceptibility of trails to degradation and the influence of routing decisions; these relationships have received relatively little attention in the literature. The results also reveal several methodological considerations for trail alignment metrics and trail impact indicators. / Master of Science / Natural surfaced trails are an essential infrastructure component in parks and protected natural areas. They provide transportation routes through otherwise undeveloped areas and outdoor recreation opportunities for hikers, mountain bikers, and equestrians. Over time, recreational use and natural processes such as rainfall can lead to negative ecological impacts that damage trail treads in ways that impair their utility for visitors and require costly repairs. Environmental factors like unstable soils or extreme precipitation can make trails more susceptible to degradation. However, sustainable trail layouts and effective maintenance can reduce the rate and severity of degradation. This research investigates the influence of trail layout on three chief forms of trail degradation: trail soil loss, muddiness, and widening. Many trail science studies have occurred in small protected natural areas where the limited range of represented environmental conditions reduces the applicability of their findings in dissimilar settings. This study investigates a dataset from a large and ecologically diverse representative sample of the entire Appalachian Trail from Georgia to Maine which significantly broadens the relevance of its findings. Furthermore, many previous trail studies have focused on single forms of trail degradation whereas this study which investigates three, which provides a more cohesive analysis and reveals interrelationships between impacts. Findings confirm the broad pertinence of core sustainable trail design principles, specifically the benefits of low trail grades and side-hill alignments, and suggests that landform grade is an important factor which has received little attention in the literature. The study also revealed several methodological improvements and considerations which may be useful to trail scientists and practitioners.

Corridas de Aventura são um multiesporte de resistência aeróbia e resistência de força de alta demanda física que combinam diferentes modalidades esportivas em competições que podem durar de horas a dias, caracterizando expedições. As Unidades de Conservação abertas ao uso público, como é o caso de Parques Nacionais e Estaduais, são comumente cenários para esse tipo de atividade esportiva, além de outras. O grande fluxo de visitantes (praticantes e espectadores dos eventos) em áreas naturais e consequente aumento da pressão antrópica desporto-recreativa sobre os ecossistemas provocam preocupação com os impactos negativos que podem ser gerados por estes eventos em ambientes naturais. Apesar do destaque dado aos impactos positivos como a geração de renda local e aproximação do homem com a natureza, é sabido que atividades desporto-recreativas têm potencial para afetar negativamente o solo, a vegetação, a fauna e os recursos hídricos. Particularmente no caso das Corridas de Aventura, a longa extensão dos eventos em tempo e distância somada ao grande número de competidores exige avaliação e discussão para que medidas preventivas e compensatórias destes impactos sejam incluídas no planejamento dos eventos possibilitando assim o que a conservação de áreas naturais propõe: uso consciente e contínuo. Neste trabalho foram analisados regulamentos de eventos de Corrida de Aventura ocorridos no Brasil, e aplicados questionários a organizadores e atletas participantes destes eventos procurando estabelecer se existem o conhecimento e a preocupação com relação aos potenciais impactos sugeridos na bibliografia fundamental da Ecologia da Recreação. Gestores de unidades de conservação federais abertas ao uso público foram também questionados sobre os impactos positivos e negativos da realização de eventos de Corrida de Aventura em áreas naturais protegidas. A partir das informações obtidas o objetivo foi auxiliar o estabelecimento de medidas de planejamento e manejo para melhor acomodar tais manifestações esportivas considerando as realidades da demanda do uso público recreativo e dos objetivos de conservação das unidades de conservação brasileiras. / Adventure Races are an endurance multisport composed of several physical activities. Races may endure hours or days, featuring outdoor expeditions. Protected areas opened to the general public, such as National and State Parks, are often settings for Adventure Races. Thus, the increasing flow of visitors (athletes and spectators) in protected areas and the stress they may impose on ecosystems due to recreational activities raise concerns that despite the positive effects on local micro economy brought by recreational use in protected areas, such use might also bring negative effects. Specifically in the case of Adventure Races the long extension in time and space of the events added to increasing popularity among participants and spectators demands evaluations regarding ecosystem impacts and management so that recreational use in this particular form might continue in a sustainable manner. This research aimed to analyse Adventure Races\' rules as well as to interview races\' organizers and participants in search of trends in Adventure Races\' organization in Brazil. It also sought whether or not, and to which extent these organizers and adventure sports\' consumers took into consideration environmental issues and not only logistical and financial factors when choosing the location, date and rules for a race. Finally, national park managers were also questioned about their professional perceptions towards the positive and negative impacts that Adventure Races had in their work areas. Based on the information gathered from the tree stakeholders the final goal was to aid the establishment of proper management actions focused on developing Adventure Races so that they will better meet the demands in public use and the objectives of conservation in protected areas.

O crescente fluxo de visitantes em áreas naturais, com a conseqüente pressão sobre os recursos naturais, provocou o aumento da preocupação com os impactos negativos gerados. A Ecologia de Recreação estuda os impactos das atividades recreativas nos ambientes visitados, ocupando-se de fornecer resultados que sejam úteis ao manejo desses impactos. Os efeitos do pisoteio humano sobre a vegetação têm despertado particular interesse em diversos ecossistemas do mundo, com publicações concentradas basicamente nas regiões temperadas. No presente trabalho foi realizado um estudo experimental de pisoteio para avaliar a resposta da vegetação em áreas de Floresta Pluvial Tropical Atlântica em três Unidades de Conservação no Estado de São Paulo, Brasil. O desenho experimental foi em blocos randômicos, tendo sido aplicados quatro níveis de intensidade de pisoteio, em uma única estação, com medidas feitas imediatamente antes do impacto e repetidas em vários períodos, de modo a acompanhar a recuperação da vegetação. As variáveis analisadas foram: a cobertura vegetal total, a riqueza de tipos vegetais morfo-funcionais, a cobertura de cada tipo e a quantidade de solo exposto. No geral, confirmando estudos anteriores em outras regiões, os resultados mostraram relações não-lineares entre o nível de impacto e o efeito nas variáveis medidas na vegetação. As três áreas estudadas tiveram respostas diferentes, duas mostraram-se pouco resistentes e resilientes e outra apresentou resistência moderada e recuperação após um ano. Esses resultados podem subsidiar futuras estratégias de manejo em ambientes semelhantes. / The growing flow of visitors at natural areas, with the consequent pressure over natural resources caused an increase on concerns about the produced negative impacts. Recreation Ecology studies the impacts of recreational activities at visited environments, aiming to provide results which are useful for the management of these impacts. The effects of human trampling on vegetation have raised particular interest in several ecosystems in the world, with publications basically centered in temperate regions. An experimental trampling study was carried out in the present work to evaluate the response of vegetation in areas of Atlantic Tropical Rain Forest, at three protected areas in São Paulo State, Brazil. A randomized block design was done, on which four trampling intensity levels have been applied during an only Season with measurements taken immediately before the impact and repeated at various periods, to follow vegetation recovery. The variables analyzed were: herbaceous plant total cover, richness of plant morpho-functional types, coverage of each type and the amount of bare ground. In general, confirming previous studies in other regions, the results showed non-linear relationships between impact level and effect on measured variables on vegetation. The three studied areas had different responses, two were little resistant and resilient and the other showed moderate resistance and recovery after a year. These results can be used to subsidize future management strategies in similar areas.

Visitor use in parks and protected areas inevitably leads to resource impacts. In order to effectively manage for resource impacts, it is important for managers to not only understand ecological aspects of their system but sociological aspects as well. The two papers presented in this thesis used integrated approaches to better understand the current level of resource impacts within the Bear Lake Road Corridor of Rocky Mountain National Park and to explore visitor perceptions of these impacts. The first paper used traditional monitoring and assessment techniques, as well as recently developed methodologies, to determine the current level of resource impacts and examine areas for potential future resource change. Findings showed that there is significant impact in the trail system, particularly at popular hiking destinations. At two of these popular hiking destinations, with current use levels, there is potential for future resource change. Integration with measures of social norms showed that visitors are frequently experiencing resource conditions within the Bear Lake Road Corridor that are considered unacceptable.

O crescente fluxo de visitantes em áreas naturais, com a conseqüente pressão sobre os recursos naturais, provocou o aumento da preocupação com os impactos negativos gerados. A Ecologia de Recreação estuda os impactos das atividades recreativas nos ambientes visitados, ocupando-se de fornecer resultados que sejam úteis ao manejo desses impactos. Os efeitos do pisoteio humano sobre a vegetação têm despertado particular interesse em diversos ecossistemas do mundo, com publicações concentradas basicamente nas regiões temperadas. No presente trabalho foi realizado um estudo experimental de pisoteio para avaliar a resposta da vegetação em áreas de Floresta Pluvial Tropical Atlântica em três Unidades de Conservação no Estado de São Paulo, Brasil. O desenho experimental foi em blocos randômicos, tendo sido aplicados quatro níveis de intensidade de pisoteio, em uma única estação, com medidas feitas imediatamente antes do impacto e repetidas em vários períodos, de modo a acompanhar a recuperação da vegetação. As variáveis analisadas foram: a cobertura vegetal total, a riqueza de tipos vegetais morfo-funcionais, a cobertura de cada tipo e a quantidade de solo exposto. No geral, confirmando estudos anteriores em outras regiões, os resultados mostraram relações não-lineares entre o nível de impacto e o efeito nas variáveis medidas na vegetação. As três áreas estudadas tiveram respostas diferentes, duas mostraram-se pouco resistentes e resilientes e outra apresentou resistência moderada e recuperação após um ano. Esses resultados podem subsidiar futuras estratégias de manejo em ambientes semelhantes. / The growing flow of visitors at natural areas, with the consequent pressure over natural resources caused an increase on concerns about the produced negative impacts. Recreation Ecology studies the impacts of recreational activities at visited environments, aiming to provide results which are useful for the management of these impacts. The effects of human trampling on vegetation have raised particular interest in several ecosystems in the world, with publications basically centered in temperate regions. An experimental trampling study was carried out in the present work to evaluate the response of vegetation in areas of Atlantic Tropical Rain Forest, at three protected areas in São Paulo State, Brazil. A randomized block design was done, on which four trampling intensity levels have been applied during an only Season with measurements taken immediately before the impact and repeated at various periods, to follow vegetation recovery. The variables analyzed were: herbaceous plant total cover, richness of plant morpho-functional types, coverage of each type and the amount of bare ground. In general, confirming previous studies in other regions, the results showed non-linear relationships between impact level and effect on measured variables on vegetation. The three studied areas had different responses, two were little resistant and resilient and the other showed moderate resistance and recovery after a year. These results can be used to subsidize future management strategies in similar areas.