At the same time resources are becoming more scarce there is
an increase in the use of parks, wilderness and other natural
environments for recreational purposes. This is evident in
British Columbia where much of provincial parks planning is
concerned with the accommodation of an ever increasing diversity
of outdoor recreation activities. For a variety of reasons the
people engaged in those activities do not always get along
therefore resolving these social conflicts is becoming an ever
larger part of recreation resource planners’ and managers’ jobs.
The problem with conflict management in outdoor recreation is
that the methods which are commonly used do not address the
sources of conflict. Even though it is the recreationists who
are experiencing conflict the focus remains on managing the
resource.
The traditional conflict management prescription is to
separate activities that are considered to be incompatible. This
action is necessary in some cases but it can often exacerbate the
conflict. Since the reasons for conflict are largely
sociological and psychological it is necessary that the groups in
conflict get together to find a solution. Conflict management
methods based on the spatial separation of activities that do not
include this step will not be as effective as those that do.
This thesis establishes a number of weaknesses in activity
based conflict prevention by examining both the sources of conflict in outdoor recreation and the methods of conflict
management which are traditionally used. These weaknesses are
then considered in a two part examination. First, the conflict
management policies of BC Parks are examined. Second, a closer
look is taken at a specific conflict issue: the Garibaldi Master
Plan and its treatment of the issue of mountain biking in the
park.
In general, without a formal conflict management policy in
place users of BC’S provincial parks who find themselves in
conflict with other users can not be assured that the sources of
conflict will be addressed. In the Garibaldi Park case study, BC
Parks focused on managing the resource rather than managing the
social conflict that was occurring. They took steps in the right
direction but failed to take the most crucial step which is
getting the parties in conflict talking to each other. Even
though the sources of conflict are recognized they are not the
prime consideration in resolving the conflict.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:BVAU.2429/4970 |
| Date | 05 1900 |
| Creators | Thompson, Paul David |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Relation | UBC Retrospective Theses Digitization Project [http://www.library.ubc.ca/archives/retro_theses/] |
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