RIVER AMENITY EVALUATION: A REVIEW AND COMMENTARY1

ABSTRACT: During the past 15 years a number of methods have been developed that purport to evaluate the amenity values of rivers. Most methods are designed to identify the physical, biological, cultural, and esthetic features of a river or river corridor that are conducive to recreation, preservation, and other amenity values. This paper reviews and comments on 13 methods that evaluate amenity values. The methods are reviewed and discussed under three general headings: River Recreation Potential Evaluation, River Esthetic Evaluation, and River Preservation Evaluation. A final section of the paper identifies areas where improvements and further research are needed.     

Managing bog environments for recreational experiences

Bogs are of interest to outdoor recreationists, but little information exists concerning how recreation resource managers might manage these areas to enhance visitor benefits. This study evaluates bog visitor characteristics and experiences, visual preferences, and reasons for visiting. Implications for recreational resource management of bogs include the location and design of boardwalk trails and management of understory vegetation to meet the visual preferences and motives of bog visitors.     

Environmental management of the Colorado River within the Grand Canyon

Irreversible environmental changes are occurring along the Colorado River in the Grand Canyon as a result of regulation of the river flow by the Glen Canyon Dam. The questions of primary importance in managing this great natural resource are 1) in what manner and how rapidly are the physical and ecological adjustments taking place, and 2) is the increased use of the river for recreational boating contributing to the degradation? Human use along the Colorado River is limited, for the most part, to the relic, pre-dam fluvial deposits colloquially called “beaches.” With the new river regime these deposits are positioned well above the present high-water stage, 27,000 cubic feet/second (cfs), or 765 cubic meters/second (cms), so they are not replenished periodically as they were prior to construction of the dam in 1963. The dominant natural processes now are aeolian sand transport and mass wasting. The float-trip passengers use the river beaches for hiking, camping, and. lunch stops. At the most desirable sites thirty to forty people camp on the beaches each night over a four to five month season. Human impact includes incorporation of campsite litter, burial of chemically treated waste, and the direct stress associated with people walking on the vegetation and unstable sedimentary deposits. Results of our investigations indicate that the rate of degradation at the most heavily used sites exceeds the capacity of aeolian processes to reestablish natural landscapes. Therefore, careful management of float trjps is needed if these environments are to be maintained in a natural state rather than a “sand-box” state.     

COST OF WASH HOUSES AND COMFORT STATIONS AT RECREATION AREAS1

ABSTRACT: The cost of sanitary facilities is a major cost item in recreation areas at water resources projects. Often planners wish to analyze the tradeoffs in providing different levels of service at these areas. Cost functions are presented in this paper to enable the planner to make quick comparisons between different types of buildings, sizes, exterior treatments, and number of fixtures.     

A BASIS FOR ASSESSING DIFFERENTIAL PARTICIPATION IN WATER-BASED RECREATION1

ABSTRACT: Participation in water-based recreation activities does not arise in random fashion nor simply as a result of having a water resource immediately available. Neither do individuals and groups engage in the same activities or a specific activity in the same way. The purpose of the present paper is to describe an alternative framework whereby differences among recreation users can be identified. Prior to this time, research directed toward understanding participation patterns at a recreational site have emphasized the activities while ignoring the human behavior factors which determine how participation arises. People consider recreation sites to be leisure settings in which the definition of such places has a broader socio-cultural meaning than that the site was designed. These definitions are reflected within the context of the social group and can be observed in the subsequent orientation to leisure and play. When activities are considered in the context of a human group, differences in participation patterns can be discovered.     

Evaluating the acceptability of recreation rationing policies used on rivers

Research shows that users and managers have different perceptions of acceptable policies that ration or limit recreational use on rivers. The acceptability of seven rationing policies was evaluated using Thurstone's method of paired comparisons, which provided a rank ordering of advance reservation, lottery, first-come/first-served, merit, priority for first time users, zoning, and price. Chi-squared tests were used to determine if users and managers have significantly different levels of acceptability for the policies. River users and managers were found to be significantly different according to their evaluation of advance reservation, zoning, and merit. The results also indicated that river users collectively divide the policies into three categories corresponding to high, moderate, and low levels of acceptability, while river managers divide the policies into two levels corresponding to acceptable and unacceptable.     

SOCIAL CLASS DIFFERENCES IN RESERVOIR VISITS1

ABSTRACT: Previous research provides evidence of a socioeconomic bias in outdoor recreational participation. One explanation of this bias is that socioeconomic groups have differential opportunities to participate, with the “costs” of this participation especially serving to restrict the recreational access of lower class persons living in urban areas. Using driving distance as a measure of cost, this study assessed the effects of travel costs on the attendance of three social class groups from an urban population at rural reservoir facilities. Findings support the contention that, while increased driving distance has a dampening effect on recreational participation, this effect is most pronounced for the lower class person. These findings point to the importance of equity considerations in the planning of outdoor recreational facilities.     

Review of studies on environmental impacts of recreation and tourism in Australia

The paper provides a review of available information on the impact of recreation and tourism on environments, particularly on vegetation and soil, in Australia, with an emphasis on forests. Efforts have been made to compare the current research and development situation in Australia with some overseas countries such as the United States and the United Kingdom. While many documents reveal that Australia has been experiencing an increasingly high level of recreation and tourism use in its environments, only limited studies of environmental impacts of recreation and tourism have been published. Compared with other developed countries, particularly the United Kingdom and the United States, Australia lags behind in undertaking research in this area. The results of these limited studies and some observations indicate that the most common recreational and tourist activities (such as bush walking, camping, horse-riding) can, if not well managed, adversely affect the values of Australian natural and semi-natural resources. Overall, they can affect the vegetation and other recreational sites physically and biologically. Physical effects include track formation, soil loss and/or compaction and an increase in fire frequency. Littering and water pollution are also seen as impacts associated with bush walking and camping. Biological effects include causing damage to vegetation, increasing risk of myrtle wilt disease and the spread of the soil pathogen,Phytophthora cinnamomi, as well as assisting weed dispersal. Based on the information reviewed, the authors suggest the following areas as priorities for future research into the environmental impact of recreation and tourism in Australia: determine the type of natural features that attract recreation use; determine the quantitative relationship between the impact and the level of recreation and tourism use for different activities within major vegetation habitats; ascertain site carrying capacity or environment thresholds for major vegetation habitats and recreation activities; and determine the impacts of recreation and tourism for major regions and major vegetation habitats where there have been considerable nature-based recreation and tourism activities.1998 Academic Press     

Is this trail too crowded? A choice experiment to evaluate tradeoffs and preferences of park visitors in Garibaldi Park,British Columbia

Large crowds in parks can be a problem for park managers and visitors. However, perceptions of crowding are difficult to measure due to coping mechanisms deployed by park visitors. Furthermore, perceptions of crowding should not be measured in isolation, but rather as part of a suite of conditions that comprise the visitors’ outdoor experience. We used a dichotomous choice experiment with visual images and eight attributes to estimate park users’ utilities associated with their visitor experience in Garibaldi Provincial Park in British Columbia, Canada. Our visual method allowed us to control for background view and compare user preferences on hiking trails with preferences at final destinations. We find that utilities are more sensitive to crowding at viewpoints than to other aspects of the outdoor experience. Thus, visitor satisfaction and crowding perceptions are more likely to be defined by where visitors have these encounters rather than the total number of encounters.