UVM Theses and Dissertations
Format:
Print
Author:
Van Riper, Carena J.
Dept./Program:
Natural Resources
Year:
2009
Degree:
MS
Abstract:
Outdoor recreation opportunities are comprised of three dimensions, including resource, social and managerial conditions. Park and outdoor recreation managers are often challenged to make tradeoffs among these conditions because the three dimensions of recreation opportunities cannot be optimized simultaneously, especially under conditions of high demand. In an effort to assist managers of mountain summits in the Northern Forest in making such tradeoffs, surveys were administered to representative samples of visitors on three mountain summits in summer and fall 2008. The three mountain summits -Cadillac Mountain, Maine, Camel's Hump, Vennont, and Cascade Mountain, New York -were selected using the Recreation Opportunity Spectrum framework and ranged from high to low levels of use and development.
A stated choice modeling approach was used to design the survey and computer-generated photographs were used to represent pairs of stated choice scenarios that contained combinations of six indicators of quality and a range of associated standards of quality. Study findings documented the tradeoffs that visitors preferred to make among the conditions that comprise recreation opportunities on mountain summits. In general, visitors preferred to see little resource impact, few other people, and little management presence. However, when faced with inherent tradeoffs among these conditions, most respondents were willing to accept more intensive management actions designed to discourage visitors from walking off official, maintained trails. Although there were similarities in findings among the three mountain summits included in the study, there were also a number of significant differences, suggesting that each mountain summit should be managed to provide a distinctly different type of recreation opportunity.
A stated choice modeling approach was used to design the survey and computer-generated photographs were used to represent pairs of stated choice scenarios that contained combinations of six indicators of quality and a range of associated standards of quality. Study findings documented the tradeoffs that visitors preferred to make among the conditions that comprise recreation opportunities on mountain summits. In general, visitors preferred to see little resource impact, few other people, and little management presence. However, when faced with inherent tradeoffs among these conditions, most respondents were willing to accept more intensive management actions designed to discourage visitors from walking off official, maintained trails. Although there were similarities in findings among the three mountain summits included in the study, there were also a number of significant differences, suggesting that each mountain summit should be managed to provide a distinctly different type of recreation opportunity.