This thesis contains two studies that explore different methods of visitor management in recreation. The management strategies studied here are both relatively indirect approaches intended to minimize the environmental and social impacts that visitors cause in protected areas. The Annapolis Rocks study focuses on visitors' evaluations of a site management strategy that shifted camping from a flat, open area to constructed side-hill campsites. A visitor questionnaire was administered before and after the treatment to determine visitors' ratings of importance and satisfaction for various campsite attributes. We found some evidence of visitor displacement but concluded that the site management strategy supported the intentions of the managers. The Leave No Trace study evaluates the effectiveness of the Trainer courses in improving the knowledge, ethics, and behavior of the participants and encouraging them to teach others in the community. This study employed pre-course, post-course, and follow-up questionnaires to evaluate the participants' short-term and long-term gains from the course. Trainer course participants showed significant short-term and long-term gains from the course, with a slight decline in the total gain four months after the course. The participants showed improvements in low-impact behaviors, suggesting that education is an effective visitor management strategy. These studies demonstrate that managers can be successful at controlling visitor impacts without relying on stringent regulations and enforcement. / Master of Science

As an applied approach to recreation management, adaptive management allows researchers and protected area managers to cooperatively improve management policies, and achieve the dual mandate to protect natural resources and provide high-quality recreational experiences. Through an evaluation of the efficacy of campsite and campfire management policies, this research provides land managers with an empirical assessment to aid in the adaptation and improvement of their visitor management strategies. Results from the Shenandoah National Park camping management study suggest that an established camping visitor containment strategy succeeded in reducing the areal extent of camping impacts while minimizing restrictions on visitor campsite selection options. Findings from the campfire research in seven protected areas indicate that current campfire policies have been largely ineffectual at reducing resource damage, and may exact a heavy toll in visitor experiences via campfire restrictions. The incorporation of resource and social research in this research offers a holistic approach to the evaluation of management objectives and affords protected area managers a more balanced perspective on the assessment of their policies. The conclusions reached by this integrated research will provide land managers with germane and timely information that will allow them to adapt their policies to better achieve their recreation management objectives. / Master of Science

The rock outcrops and cliffs of Shenandoah National Park provide habitat for several rare and endangered plant and animal species. The location of the world-famous ridgeline parkway, Skyline Drive, makes many outcrops and cliffs within the park readily accessible to the park's 1.2 million annual visitors. Consequently, visitor use of cliff areas has led to natural resource impacts, including marked decreases in size and vigor of known rare plant populations. Despite the clear ecological value and potential threats to the natural resources at cliff areas in the park, managers possess little information on visitor use of cliff sites and presently have no formal planning document to guide management. Thus, a park wide study of cliff sites was initiated during the 2005 visitor use season. As part of this research effort, the study presented in this thesis integrated data from resource impact measurements and visitor use observation to help assess the effects of recreational use on the natural resources of one heavily used cliff site in the park, Little Stony Man Cliffs. Results of resource impact measurements indicate that several nodal areas of high disturbance (bare soil) are present on the cliff-top and cliff-bottom. Additionally, visitor observation data point to several possible visitor use factors that may contribute to cliff-top impacts, including concentrated levels of use during certain times of day and days of the week, and frequent trampling of soil and vegetation by visitors. The information from the study presented in this thesis will help assist Shenandoah National Park staff in developing a cliff resource management plan that will protect park resources while providing opportunities for visitor enjoyment. / Master of Science

With visitation to natural areas increasing, the appropriate management of these areas is important. There are a number of management tools available which endeavour to minimise environmental impacts of visitors. One such management tool is interpretation. Interpretation is widely used as a management tool because: it is perceived to be the most cost effective method; it is a light-handed approach and allows visitors the freedom of choice; and it enhances visitor experiences and satisfaction. However, the ability of interpretation to bring about a reduction in the impacts of visitors to natural areas, has rarely been quantified. This study was designed to determine the extent to which an interpretive program reduced the environmental impacts of visitors to national parks. Fieldwork was undertaken in Lamington National Park, where 41 guided walks were examined. To measure the actual behaviour or resulting impacts of visitors in a national park, three appropriate environmental indicators were chosen: shortcutting of corners, picking up litter already on the track, and noise levels. Five interpretive programs were created, each with a different combination of environmental interpretation, role modelling and verbal appeals. For the shortcutting results, the interpretive program with the combination of environmental interpretation, role modelling by the guide and verbal appeals from the guide, was always the most effective in reducing shortcutting. Visitors in this interpretive program were always, statistically, less likely to shortcut than visitors on all the other interpretive programs. The programs with only environmental interpretation or no environmental interpretation, were always least effective in reducing shortcutting. The interpretive programs with environment interpretation plus role modelling, or verbal appeals, were always in the middle of these extremes. They were more effective than having neither role modelling or verbal appeals, but less effective than having both. Results for the amount of litter picked up found that the inclusion of verbal appeals in an interpretive program was the only factor that influenced whether visitors picked up litter. In addition, there was no difference in the amount of litter picked up, by the interpretive program with environmental interpretation only, and the program with no environmental interpretation. Results for the noise levels of visitors, found that no interpretive program reduced the amount of shouting and talking loudly of visitors. Although not statistically significant, it did appear that there were lower proportions of shouting and talking loudly, following a verbal appeal and/or role modelling. Additionally, there was no influence of the interpretive program on the proportion of time visitors were talking, or quiet, during their walk. Overall, this research found that interpretation can be an effective management tool in reducing visitor impacts. Interpretation is most effective in reducing impacts when those impacts are specifically addressed through verbal appeals, combined with positive role modelling of appropriate behaviours. However, interpretation did not reduce all the impacts studied and therefore is not the solution to all problems. Implications of this study are that those using interpretation as a means of reducing visitor impacts, must ensure that they have a high standard of interpretation, which specifically addresses the impacts that need to be reduced. It also highlights the importance of the role of the guide, and that those employed should be well trained and competent in their position.

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.