Understanding and managing the off-road vehicle experience: indicators of quality

Abstract

Off-road vehicle (ORV) use is one of the most popular and fastest growing leisure activities in the United States. Most research on ORV use has focused on its potential environmental impacts and conflicts with other types of recreation, while relatively little research has examined the ORV experience itself. The concept of indicators and standards of quality has emerged in the literature as a conceptual framework for understanding and managing outdoor recreation. This study applies the concept of indicators of quality to ORV use at Cape Cod National Seashore (Cape Cod). (Standards of quality for indicator variables are addressed in a companion paper in a later issue of Managing Leisure.) Qualitative interviews were conducted during the 2004 use season with 61 ORV users at Cape Cod to gather information on indicators of quality for the ORV experience. A content analysis was performed on the transcripts, and results suggest that crowding, the portion of the ORV route open, ease of obtaining a permit, amount of litter, availability of support facilities, and the behavior and actions of ORV users are potential indicators of quality. The portion of the ORV route open may be a less useful indicator because it is not easily adaptable due to current legislative and regulatory guidance for the management of threatened shorebirds. The other variables are better potential indicators because they may be more readily measured and managed.