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J. L. Marion

Publications and source records attributed to J. L. Marion.

At least 55 records · Page 3Linked to original sources
USGS1999

Spatial strategies for managing visitor impacts in National Parks

Resource and social impacts caused by recreationists and tourists have become a management concern in national parks and equivalent protected areas. The need to contain visitor impacts within acceptable limits has prompted park and protected area managers to implement a wide variety of strategies and actions, many of which are spatial in nature. This paper classifies and illustrates the basic spatial strategies for managing visitor impacts in parks and protected areas. A typology of four spatial strategies was proposed based on the recreation and park management literature. Spatial segregation is a common strategy for shielding sensitive resources from visitor impacts or for separating potentially conflicting types of use. Two forms of spatial segregation are zoning and closure. A spatial containment strategy is intended to minimize the aggregate extent of visitor impacts by confining use to limited designated or established Iocations. In contrast, a spatial dispersal strategy seeks to spread visitor use, reducing the frequency of use to levels that avoid or minimize permanent resource impacts or visitor crowding and conflict. Finally, a spatial configuration strategy minimizes impacting visitor behavior though the judicious spatial arrangement of facilities. These four spatial strategics can be implemented separately or in combination at varying spatial scales within a single park. A survey of national park managers provides an empirical example of the diversity of implemented spatial strategies in managing visitor impacts. Spatial segregation is frequently applied in the form of camping restrictions or closures to protect sensitive natural or cultural resources and to separate incompatible visitor activities. Spatial containment is the most widely applied strategy for minimizing the areal extent of resource impacts. Spatial dispersal is commonly applied to reduce visitor crowding or conflicts in popular destination areas but is less frequently applied or effective in minimizing resource impacts. Spatial configuration was only minimally evaluated, as it was not included in the survey. The proposed typology of spatial strategies offers a useful means of organizing and understanding the wide variety of management strategies and actions applied in managing visitor impacts in parks and protected areas. Examples from U.S. national parks demonstrate the diversity of these basic strategies and their flexibility in implementation at various spatial scales. Documentation of these examples helps illustrate their application and inform managers of the multitude of options. Further analysis from the spatial perspective is needed Io extend the applicability of this typology to other recreational activities and management issues.

Journal of Park and Recreation Administration↗
USGS1998

A survey of whitewater recreation impacts along five West Virginia rivers

Results are reported from an assessment of whitewater river recreation impacts at river accesses and recreation sites along five West Virginia rivers: the New, Gauley, Cheat, Tygart, and Shenandoah. Procedures were developed and applied to assess resource conditions on 24 river access roads, 68 river accesses, and 151 recreation sites. The majority of river accesses and recreation sites are located on the New and Gauley rivers, which account for most of the state?s whitewater recreation use. Site conditions are variable. While some river accesses and sites are situated on resistant rocky substrates, many are poorly designed and/or located on erodible soil and sand substrates. Recreation site sizes and other areal measures of site disturbance are quite large, coincident with the large group sizes associated with commercially outfitted whitewater rafting trips. Recommendations are offered for managing river accesses and sites and whitewater visitation and the selection of indicators and standards as part of a Limits of Acceptable Change management process. Procedures and recommendations for continued visitor impact monitoring are also offered.

Book↗
USGS1998

An evaluation of camping impacts and their management at Isle Royale National Park

Results from the development and application of a monitoring program to assess visitor impacts on back-country campsites at Isle Royale National Park are presented. Survey staff assessed conditions on 244 sites within 36 back-country campgrounds, including 113 individual campsites, 43 group campsites, and 88 shelters. Site conditions are generally quite good. Site size and other areal measures of disturbance are exceptionally small attributed to the placement of most sites on cut-and-fill constructed ?benches? within sloping terrain. Relational analyses revealed that campsites in Spruce and Fir forests and under more open forest canopies have significantly lower areal measures of disturbance. Areal disturbance is also reduced on sites where shelters and picnic tables are present, suggesting that these facilities act to concentrate visitor use. Site locational attributes, such as intersite visibility and proximity to trails, indicate a low potential for solitude within some campgrounds. Recommendations regarding site number, distribution, arrangement, facilities, maintenance, and monitoring are offered for management consideration.

Research/Resources Management Report.↗
USGS1998

International impact research and management

To be sustainable, ecotourism requires the protection of natural environments and processes both from development and operation of the tourism infrastructure, and from the activities of ecotourists within protected areas. This book chapter reviews the international literature on the study of visitor or recreation-related resource impacts with special reference to ecotourism. Four case examples are presented to characterize the geographic scope, focus, and principal findings of this recreation ecology literature and its relevance to ecotourism management. Case examples include the Cairngorms National Nature Reserve, Scotland; the Great Barrier Reef, Australia; the Central American tropics; and wildlife viewing in Kenya?s protected areas. Implications for the management of international protected areas and ecotourism resources are discussed.

Book chapter↗
USGS1998

Managing ecotourism visitation in protected areas

Ecotourism management seeks to integrate and balance several potentially conflicting objectives: protection of natural and cultural resources, provision of recreation opportunities and generation of economic benefits. In the absence of effective planning and management, ecotourism can lead to significant negative impacts on vegetation, soil, water, wildlife, historic resources, cultures, and visitor experiences. This chapter reviews visitor-related natural resource and experience impacts associated with ecotourism within protected areas. The influence of factors that control the nature and extent of impacts are also reviewed, including type and amount of use, the variable resistance and resilience of environmental attributes such as vegetation and soil types, and the role of management in shaping visitation, resources and facilities to support visitation while minimizing associated impacts. Implications for managing the effects of protected area visitation are highlighted, including carrying capacity decision frameworks and selecting management strategies and tactics.

Book chapter↗
USGS1998

Recreation ecology research findings: Implications for wilderness and park managers

Recreationists unintentionally trample vegetation, erode soil, and disturb wildlife. Such human-related impacts present a dilemma for managers charged with the dual objectives of providing recreational opportunities and preserving natural environments. This paper presents some of the principal findings and management implications from research on visitor impacts to protected areas, termed recreation ecology research. This field of study seeks to identify the type and extent of resource impacts and to evaluate relationships between use-related, environmental, and managerial factors. The capabilities and managerial utility of recreation impact monitoring are also described.

Book chapter↗
USGS1998

Campsite survey implications for managing designated campsites at Great Smoky Mountains National Park

Backcountry campsites and shelters in Great Smoky Mountains National Park were surveyed in 1993 as part of a new impact monitoring program. A total of 395 campsites and shelters were located and assessed, including 309 legal campsites located at 84 designated campgrounds, 68 illegal campsites, and 18 shelters. Primary campsite management problems identified by the survey include: (1) campsite proliferation, (2) campsite expansion and excessive size, (3) excessive vegetation loss and soil exposure, (4) lack of visitor solitude at campsites, (5) excessive tree damage, and (6) illegal camping. A number of potential management options are recommended to address the identified campsite management problems. Many problems are linked to the ability of visitors to determine the location and number of individual campsites within each designated campground. A principal recommendation is that managers apply site-selection criteria to existing and potential new campsite locations to identify and designate campsites that will resist and constrain the areal extent of impacts and enhance visitor solitude. Educational solutions are also offered.

Book chapter↗
USGS1997

An assessment of campsite conditions in Great Smoky Mountains National Park

This research effort designed and implemented a backcountry campsite monitoring program for Great Smoky Mountains National Park (GSMNP). This report reviews the need for visitor impact monitoring programs, describes monitoring procedures developed and applied at GSMNP, presents results from the first monitoring cycle, evaluates current park camping management policies, and provides recommendations for reducing campingrelated visitor impacts. Field staff assessed 377 campsites at 82 designated backcountry campgrounds, and all 18 shelters. Campgrounds are frequently bisected by park trails and more than half (188, 58%) of legal campsites are within 100 feet of a park trail. High campsite intervisibility diminishes the potential for solitude; 79% of the campsites have at least one other site visible, 26% have three or more other sites visible. Campsite conditions are quite variable, with some campgrounds exhibiting generally good conditions while others are exceptionally large, with substantial vegetation loss, soil exposure, and damage to trees. Evaluations of campsite condition data reveal a number of potential problems, most notably: 1) campsite proliferation, 2) campsite expansion and excessive size, 3) excessive vegetation loss and soil exposure, 4) excessive campfire-related degradation, and 5) low visitor solitude at campsites. Data are used to characterize these problems and evaluate influential relationships and contributing causes. Recreation ecology findings from other studies are considered in evaluating alternative management responses. Park backcountry management policies are also reviewed and recommendations are offered for management consideration.

Research/Resources Management Report.↗
USGS1996

Trail degradation as influenced by environmental factors: A state-of-the-knowledge review

Excerpt: Human use and misuse of land has been causing extensive degradation of the very natural resources on which we depend. National parks, wilderness and other protected natural or semi-natural areas (referred to as natural areas hereafter) represent efforts to preserve our natural heritage from further exploitation. Such areas also provide outstanding recreational, research, and educational opportunities. However, resource impacts resulting from overuse and inappropriate management increasingly threaten these protected areas and erode their natural and cultural values. Among the many forms of recreational impact, those associated with trail development and use are often a major concern of natural area managers and visitors. Such impacts impair and degrade the functions that trails serve, including (1) protecting resources by concentrating traffic on a hardened tread, (2) providing recreational opportunities along aesthetically pleasing trail routes, and (3) facilitating recreational use by providing a transportation network. The extensive distribution of trails and their degrading condition in many natural areas can have pervasive environmental effects through alteration of natural drainage patterns, erosion and deposition of soil, introduction of exotic vegetation, and increasing human-wildlife conflicts. Degraded trails also threaten the quality of visitor experiences by making travel difficult or unsafe, or by diminishing visitors ?

Journal of Soil and Water Conservation↗
USGS1995

Environmental auditing: Capabilities and management utility of recreation impact monitoring programs

A recreation impact monitoring system was developed and applied in 1984?1986 and in 1991 to all backcountry river-accessed campsites within Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area, Pennsylvania and New Jersey. Results suggest that actions implemented by park managers in response to problems identified by the initial survey were highly effective in reducing resource degradation caused by camping. In particular, the elimination of some designated campsites and installation of anchored firegrates reduced the total area of disturbance by 50%. Firegrate installation provided a focal point that increased the concentration of camping activities, allowing peripheral areas to recover. As suggested by predictive models, additional resource degradation caused by increased camping intensities is more than offset by improvements in the condition of areas where use is eliminated. The capabilities and management utility of recreation impact monitoring programs, illustrated by the Delaware Water Gap monitoring program, are also presented and discussed.

Environmental Management↗
USGS1994

The applicability of terrestrial visitor impact management strategies to the protection of coral reefs

A dramatic expansion in nature-based tourism to tropical coastal destinations has occurred in the past 20 years. Tourism development, combined with intense recreational pressures, has irreversibly transformed and degraded many popular scenic natural environments. This paper examines the management of recreational impacts to coral reefs using Virgin Islands National Park as a case study. A review of terrestrial recreational ecology research explores the implications and potential applicability of some principal findings to the protection of coral reefs. Visitor impact management recommendations for the protection of coral reefs are offered. Managers can minimize coral reef recreational impacts by (1) restricting high-impact uses, (2) containing rather than dispersing recreational use, (3) encouraging the use of resistant environments, (4) teaching low-impact recreational practices, and (5) enforcing park rules and regulations.

Ocean and Coastal Management↗