Wildland Recreation Research Articles

Wildland encounter norms across time and activity type: Stable preferences and shifting thresholds

Social and ecological conditions are constantly changing, but research concerning how visitors to wildlands perceive such changes across time is both limited and narrow. With a focus on the social settings of recreation experiences, this study provides an understanding of how perceptions of wildland visitors have changed over time. Specifically, across three time periods (1989, 1994, and 2022) within a wildland unit in Montana (USA), we found that preferences for encounters with other visitors remained relatively stable, levels of acceptable encounters (or thresholds) increased across time in some instances, and levels of acceptable encounters varied across the activity types that visitors encountered. By expanding evaluative norms research to include both activity type and multiple time periods, we contribute to both theory and application of wildland recreation management.

The Effect of Place Attachment and Leisure Identity on Wildland Stewardship

With increasing outdoor recreation participation in the U.S., managers face the challenge of balancing visitor experiences with the protection of natural resources. To address declining management capacity, agencies seek to involve both new and established recreationists in local stewardship behaviors. However, community involvement in stewardship efforts is hindered by a lack of understanding of the connection between recreationists’ antecedent conditions and their behavioral intentions. This study focuses on a wildland recreation setting near a western U.S. city to examine the relationship between place attachment, leisure identity salience, and local environmental stewardship behavioral intention. The results show that place identity influences willingness to engage in place-specific proactive stewardship, while leisure identity is predictive of engagement in Leave-No-Trace behaviors. The findings highlight the importance of targeting place and leisure identity in messaging strategies and forming partnerships with recreation organizations to encourage stewardship and engage the local community in land management.

A data-driven and generalizable model for classifying outdoor recreation opportunities at multiple spatial extents

The Recreation Opportunity Spectrum (ROS) framework spatially delineates a landscape into discrete classes believed to provide relatively unique outdoor recreation opportunities. The framework is an integral component of numerous outdoor recreation and tourism planning efforts. However, the effectiveness of the framework as a management tool has been limited given: 1) its dependence on anecdotal perceptions of managers as opposed to objective and reliable metrics; 2) its application at a singular spatial extent; and 3) its limited ability to provide prescriptive guidance on how outdoor recreation should be managed. We present a data-driven and generalizable model to define and quantify ROS classifications at multiple spatial extents. The model is structured around the three setting characteristics (biophysical, managerial, and social) believed to influence the types of outdoor recreation opportunities provided in a particular place. Each characteristic is quantified using free and publicly available data. The model’s analytical workflow yields discrete ROS classifications unique to the spatial extent at which it is applied (e.g., statewide, across an entire national forest, across just a ranger district, etc.). We demonstrate the flexibility and utility of the model by applying it to three spatial extents (statewide, regional, and local) within Utah (USA). Each application yields meaningful characterizations of the outdoor recreation opportunities provided across the landscape, allowing the decision makers which operate at each of these extents (e.g., state legislatures [state], regional collaborative initiatives [regional], and land management agency line officers [site-specific]) to make decisions informed by data and a transparent analytical process. The model can serve as a catalyst capable of unifying disparate visitor use management frameworks around common data, and a common model, for classifying the distinct types of wildland recreation settings upon which outdoor recreation opportunities depend.

Time on the trail, smartphone use, and place attachment among Pacific Crest Trail thru-hikers

Five hundred fourteen (514) surveys were conducted at three intercept points along the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) in California and Oregon to gather information about time on the trail, smartphone use, and their relationship to thru-hikers’ place attachment levels. Ninety-seven (97) percent of the thru-hikers surveyed carried smartphones and reported using them an average of 3 h and 23 min a day. Increased smartphone use was significantly associated with the number of days on the trail. Results indicated further that with increased time on the trail, the thru-hikers’ sense of place identity and social bonding increased, while their sense of place dependence decreased. Finally, no relationship was found between smartphone use and place attachment. We conclude by tying the study’s results to the extant literature on technology in wildland recreation, and further discuss management implications, limitations of our study, and recommendations for future research.

A Systematic Review of the Physical and Mental Health Benefits of Wildland Recreation

Non-motorized outdoor recreation contributes significantly to the U.S. economy by providing over six million jobs and $88 billion in federal and state tax revenues (Southwick Associates, 2013). Participation in non-motorized wildland recreation, defined in this paper as non-motorized outdoor recreation that is dependent on the natural resources of an undeveloped natural setting, has increased in recent years with half of Americans participating annually (Outdoor Foundation, 2017). There has been a growing field of evidence demonstrating the relationship between natural settings and human health (e.g., Frumkin, 2001). This research suggests that the qualities and characteristics of setting may enhance or inhibit health outcomes (e.g., Kellert, Heerwagen, & Mador, 2011). Wildland settings (e.g., national parks, national forests, refuges) have unique characteristics that are thought to contribute to human health through the activities that take place in these settings. Similar to the components outlined by Hammitt, Cole, and Monz (2015), our study focuses on wildland recreation and explores the potential relationships between recreation on wildlands and physical and mental health.To date, there has not been a comprehensive and systematic review of the literature exploring how recreation that takes place in wildland settings influences physical and mental health and if these health outcomes differ from recreation in other more urban and exurban outdoor settings (e.g., urban green space). This is particularly important because society faces a range of chronic and acute health challenges and many argue that outdoor recreation in wildland settings offers an important antidote to many of these health challenges. Yet, without investigating and summarizing the results of peer-reviewed investigations, we have little understanding of the potential for wildland recreation improving mental and physical health.To address this gap, we conducted a systematic literature review of peer-reviewed empirical studies of wildland recreation activities and assessed physical and mental health outcomes. We investigated whether wildland recreation positively contributed to a range of physical and mental health outcomes, the type of recreation activity, where the activity occurred, and if outcomes were positive, why the health benefit occurred.Our analysis explores aspects and focus areas wildland recreation health research (i.e., most studies focused on hiking; how recreational activities impact mental and physical health; and aspects of the physical setting, the recreational activity, and the social atmosphere that influence health). We discuss these trends and outline recommendations for future research to expand our understanding of the linkages between wildland recreation and human health.Our research has implications for managers and researchers. For researchers studying the connections between wildland recreation and human health, this review facilitated identification of trends and gaps which can inform and strengthen this area of research. For managers of wildlands and individuals working to address physical and mental health, our study offers empirical evidence of the connections between wildlands and human health, and can inform how best to manage such lands to promote health benefits.Subscribe to JPRA

A Systematic Review of the Psychological, Social, and Educational Outcomes Associated With Participation in Wildland Recreational Activities

Participation in wildland recreation is associated with a range of individual-level outcomes. Although these outcomes have been extensively studied, few studies have systematically examined and summarized this empirical evidence. Therefore, the goals of this study include identifying (1) the breadth of individual-level outcomes associated with wildland recreation, (2) the setting and programmatic attributes that research suggests are driving these outcomes, and (3) the gaps in the peer-reviewed literature regarding the outcomes associated with wildland recreation. We systematically examined 235 articles published between 2000 and 2016 that evaluated the psychological, social, and educational outcomes associated with participation in wildland recreation. We identified 11 broad categories, the most common related to personal development (59%), pro-social behaviors (52%), mental restoration (42%), and environmental stewardship (36%). Results highlight gaps in our knowledge regarding outcomes and their potential causes. We conclude by discussing trends and implications for managers and future research. Subscribe to JOREL

Wildland recreation disturbance: broad‐scale spatial analysis and management

Wildland recreation that does not involve animal harvests (non‐consumptive recreation) often influences various components of natural systems, including soils, water, air, soundscapes, vegetation, and wildlife. The effects of non‐consumptive recreation on wildlife have typically been assessed at spatial scales that are not only much smaller than the overall distributions of this disturbance but also much smaller than the areas that species use during a season or year. This disparity in scales has prevented effective assessment and management of broad‐scale recreation disturbance for many species, especially wildlife. We applied three software systems (ArcGIS, FRAGSTATS, and Conefor) to demonstrate how metrics commonly measured by landscape ecologists can be used to quantify broad‐scale patterns of non‐consumptive recreation. Analysts can employ such metrics to develop predictive models of how recreation disturbance – by itself and in additive or interactive combinations with other landscape characteristics – may affect wildlife responses across large areas. In turn, these models can inform decision making in broad‐scale recreation management.

Modeling the trust-risk relationship in a wildland recreation setting: A social exchange perspective

We empirically tested relationships among the characteristics of trustworthiness, trust instilled in river guides, and risks perceived by whitewater recreationists that rafted a Wild and Scenic River in the Southern Sierra Nevada, CA. Drawing on a social exchange framework, we used survey data to address the following objectives: 1) investigate three dimensions of trustworthiness, including ability, integrity, and benevolence; 2) examine trust in decisions and trust in values that recreationists associated with their river guides; and 3) determine the effects of trustworthiness and trust on recreationists' beliefs that river guides minimized psychological and social risks from rafting the Kern River. Results from a latent variable path model revealed that the ability and integrity of river guides played important roles in explaining why they were trusted by recreationists, which in turn positively influenced the extent to which guides were believed to minimize risk. Contrary to previous research, we found that trust in values did not play a substantive role in predicting risk perception. A greater understanding of the trust-risk relationship will shed light on how public land management agencies can effectively navigate risk in dangerous wildland environments and provide access to otherwise inaccessible resources owned and valued by the public. Management ImplicationsOur results offer insight on how public land management agencies can negotiate risk and maintain high quality recreational opportunities afforded by wildland environments. Specifically, our study findings suggest:●Whitewater recreationists may not be able to access and/or enjoy wildland environments without trust and trustworthiness garnered from the assistance of guides.●The trust-risk relationship can be understood from a social exchange perspective.●Trustworthiness is an important mechanism for explaining trust in decisions and trust in values.●The extent to which river guides are thought to minimize risks can be predicted by the ability and integrity of a river guide and trust placed on their decisions.●The benevolence of river guides does not factor into the formation of trust or the risk perceptions of whitewater recreationists.

A Retrospective View of My Development as an Environmental Sociologist

Initially hoping just to contribute increments of useful knowledge by genuinely scientific social research, this formerly “mainstream” sociologist was alerted to environmental concerns by encounters with urban growth, burgeoning university enrollment, and impacts of overuse in wildland recreation areas. Enlightening research collaboration with foresters, exposure to ecological themes in interpretive exhibits at National Parks in New Zealand and North America, and encounters with significant literature in biological sciences contradicted conventional notions that human societies are somehow exempt from influences by non-social aspects of the ecosystems of which they are part. It became apparent that biogeochemical processes and other extra-societal variables must be taken into account to understand humanity's inescapable adjustments to carrying capacity deficit after an era of thriving on a carrying capacity surplus.

Wilderness and Primitive Area Recreation Participation and Consumption: An Examination of Demographic and Spatial Factors

This paper explores the influence of demographic and spatial variables on individual participation and consumption of wildland area recreation. Data from the National Survey on Recreation and the Environment are combined with geographical information system-based distance measures to develop nonlinear regression models used to predict both participation and the number of days of participation in wilderness and primitive area recreation. The estimated models corroborate previous findings indicating that race (black), ethnicity (Hispanic), immigrant status, age, and urban dwelling are negatively correlated with wildland visitation, while income, gender (male), and education positively affect wild-land recreation participation and use. The presence of a distance or proximity factor mitigates some of the influence of race and ethnicity. The results of the cross-sectional models are combined with U.S. Census projections of total population, changes in population characteristics, and estimates of current National Forest Wilderness visitation estimates to give some insight into pressure that might be expected on the nation's designated wilderness during the next half century. Results generally indicate that per-capita participation and visitation rates will decline over time as society changes. Total wilderness participation and visitation will, however, increase, but at a rate less than population growth.

RBSim: Geographic Simulation of Wilderness Recreation Behavior

Abstract Simulation techniques are used to explore the complex spatial interactions between recreationists and their environment as a way to improve wildland recreation management. The Recreation Behavior Simulator (RBSim) uses rule-driven autonomous agents as surrogates for human visitors coupled with geographic information systems to represent the environment for dynamically simulating recreation behavior. Behavioral rules are derived from visitor surveys conducted in Broken Arrow Canyon, Sedona, Arizona. Model runs allow both statistical and spatial analysis to quantify and explore recreationists' movement patterns, encounters, and the influence of management actions on visitor use levels.

Managing Recreational Trail Environments for Mountain Bike User Preferences.

/ The carrying capacity model is an effective tool for the management of a wildland recreation resource. Within the model are four primary subcapacities, namely, physical capacity, biological capacity, social capacity, and facility capacity; combined, they are essential to the appropriate management of wildland recreation resource environments. This study focuses on environmental factors of recreational environments that are primarily used by mountain bikers. Little research has been conducted on the social carrying capacity of mountain biking environments, relative to the amount of physical and biological capacity research that has been conducted. The objective of this study was to further resource management knowledge of the mountain bike user in order to better incorporate social carrying capacity into the management of bike use environments. An email survey was used to identify such issues as mountain biker preference of soil erosion management techniques and to measure the effect on experience of resultant factors of soil erosion and trail design. Other issues, such as environmental concern, biker perception of other users, and biker commitment, were also measured. A 58% response rate was achieved. Data gathered from bikers in the United States, United Kingdom, Australia, and New Zealand (N = 406), highlight some important issues concerning the design and management of wildland recreation environments that are primarily used for mountain biking. For example, bikers were found to significantly prefer water bars above all other tested soil erosion management techniques; trail erosion factors, including the presence of rocks, roots, and gullies, all added to biking experiences on average; trail design factors, such as the presence of turns, bumps, jumps, and obstacles, all added to biking experiences in general. These findings were used to address questions that resource managers should consider when striving to effectively manage wildland recreation areas primarily used for mountain biking.

Meeting the Challenge of Wild Land Recreation Management: Demographic Shifts and Social Inequality

(2000). Meeting the Challenge of Wild Land Recreation Management: Demographic Shifts and Social Inequality. Journal of Leisure Research: Vol. 32, No. 1, pp. 171-179.

Wildland Recreation Ecology and Management

Wildland Recreation Ecology and Management

Wildland Recreation in the Rural South: An Examination of Marginality and Ethnicity Theory

The ethnicity and marginality explanations of minority recreation participation provide the conceptual basis for our inquiry. These theories are examined for a sample of rural African Americans and whites. Using logistic regression, we test for black and white differences in: 1) visitation to wildland areas in general; 2) visitation to National Forest wildland areas; and 3) household visitation to the Apalachicola National Forest. Next, we test the marginality/ethnicity paradigm by examining reasons for non-visitation and latent demand for visitation. Our findings show that race, sex, and age as well as a race/poor (poor black) interaction term are strong predictors of visitation. However, race appears to be less effective in predicting reasons for non-visitation and latent demand for wildland visitation. Overall, results do not provide strong support for either ethnicity or marginality as a sole explicator of racial differences in wildland recreation. Rather, results indicate that the two probably work in combination to explain racial differences. The poor black interaction also suggests that rural black visitation to wildlands varies depending upon income, with less affluent blacks actually participating more than those with higher incomes. This contradicts the marginality assertion that recreation participation varies positively with income and suggests that marginality theory may need to be qualified depending upon residence (rural versus urban) and type of activity.

Getting Beyond Marginality and Ethnicity: The Challenge for Race and Ethnic Studies in Leisure Research

Over the past 30 years leisure scholars have produced a substantial literature around the dynamics of race and ethnicity in leisure behavior. Two major social forces have impelled research questions involving race and ethnicity to the foreground of leisure studies. During the 1960s, the marginal social and economic conditions of racial and ethnic minorities in the U.S. and abroad arrested attention of public policymakers and social scientists. In the U.S., the Civil Rights movement climaxed, leading to the dismantling of longstanding institutional barriers to political participation and public accommodations, including specific actions targeted at public parks and other recreation areas (Murphy, 1972). The heightened awareness of racial inequality during this period brought about sharper focus on black-white differentials in outdoor recreation participation and leisure activity preferences. Initial research questions dealing with race and ethnicity were contextualized by the socio-political agenda of this era. Thus, it is not surprising that differential rates of participation in public recreation and leisure programs exhibited by different ethnic groups, primarily between the minority and white majority, received the greatest scrutiny from researchers. More recent demographic changes in North America represent the second major factor drawing attention to racial and ethnic issues. Numerous books, articles, and governmental reports have called attention to the rate of growth and projected increase of ethnic minorities relative to nonHispanic whites (e.g., Murdock, 1995; O'Hare, 1992; U.S. Bureau of the Census, 1994). Using detailed cohort-projection techniques, Murdock and associates (1990, 1991, 1996) and Dwyer (1994) have examined how growth of ethnic minority populations is likely to impact participation in a variety of outdoor recreation activities. Their analyses suggest that racial and ethnic minority population growth will be reflected in the composition of activity participants. Specifically, they project that growth in the number of participants in several leisure activities will be due primarily to increases among non-white populations. While only in the last several years have these trends been reported in the scholarly literature, practitioners have witnessed the shift in demographic trends up-close and have been challenged to re-orient programs and services to meet the needs of a more racially and ethnically diverse clientele. Largely in response to such factors, researchers have sought to understand ethnic patterns in leisure participation, attempting to make sense of the race and ethnicity dynamic in leisure settings. It is fitting that the Journal of Leisure Research would devote a special issue to race and ethnicity some 30 years removed from the Civil Rights era and in the midst of the current ethnic transformation of North America. Coincidentally, this issue appears exactly 20 years after Randel Washburne's (1978) seminal article on black underparticipation in wildland recreation in Leisure Sciences. Washburne's piece was not the first empirical study of race and ethnic effects on leisure participation. Several research reports, symposium papers, books, and book chapters predate his publication (e.g., Jones, 1927; Mueller & Gurin, 1962; Meeker, Woods, & Lucas, 1972; Cheek, Field, & Burch, 1976). His contribution was the articulation of a conceptual basis-marginality and ethnicity-for interpreting race and ethnic effects in leisure participation. This special issue provides an opportunity to evaluate the extent of progress in understanding race and ethnic effects in leisure. Moreover, the marginality-ethnicity framework stands as a useful benchmark to gauge where the current literature is positioned both theoretically and empirically with respect to race and ethnic concerns. As part of the special issue, several observations about the state of the race and ethnic studies literature within the leisure field will be discussed. …

Race, Rural Residence, and Wildland Visitation: Examining the Influence of Sociocultural Meaning1

Abstract Previous studies have shown that African Americans have less favorable impressions about wildlands and recreate on wildland areas less frequently than do whites. However, most of these investigations have been conducted on non‐rural populations. Rural perceptions of wildlands and visitation to such areas have received relatively little attention. In this exploratory study, we propose that race operates on wildland recreation visitation through the different meanings rural blacks and whites attribute to wildlands. We examine this hypothesis with a structural model which specifies wildland meaning as an intervening factor between race and visitation. Single equation results show blacks visit wildlands less, and have less favorable definitions of wildlands, compared to whites. However, when wildland meaning is included in the structural model, racial differences become insignificant. This suggests that the meanings different racial groups attach to wildlands help explain visitation. Both sex and age are also significant predictors of both wildland meaning and visitation.

Perceptions of Discrimination in a Recreation Context

IntroductionRecently the effect of perceived discrimination on recreation participation has been the subject of number of empirical investigations. West (1989) found that African Americans in the Detroit area were less frequent users of regional parks partly because of perceptions of prejudice and discrimination. Blahna and Black (1993) in series of focus group interviews found that discrimination was significant inhibitor of park use among African American and Hispanic college students in the Chicago area. Floyd, Gramann, and Saenz (1993) reported that perceived discrimination among Mexican Americans tends to be negatively correlated with use of some public recreation facilities in the Southwest U.S.In these studies discrimination is treated as an explanatory variable in relation to recreation behavior. This approach reflects the longstanding concern with matters of equality and equity regarding minority access to public recreation facilities. For example, the marginality hypothesis has been used to explain under-participation of minority groups in wildland recreation (Washburne, 1978). The marginal status of African Americans in the U.S. society attributed to historical patterns of discrimination is hypothesized to negatively impact their recreation participation. This paper represents different approach to and rationale for examining perceptions of discrimination in recreation settings.In this analysis, perceived discrimination is treated as dependent variable in order to understand how perceived discrimination varies across different segments of an ethnic minority group. This analytical strategy could lead to policy actions that are designed to address specific discrimination concerns rather than broad actions based on assumptions of homogeneity within minority groups. Investigating perceptions of discrimination in recreation context also contributes to an extensive literature on intergroup relations, particularly the present state of inter-ethnic relationships in the U.S.Theoretical FrameworkTwo competing theoretical perspectives provide empirical expectations with respect to perceptions of discrimination. The first, known as the ethnic enclosure hypothesis, is largely based on Gordon's (1964) theory of ethnic assimilation. Assimilation refers to a process of boundary reduction that can occur when members of two or more societies or of smaller cultural groups meet (Yinger, 1981, p. 249). According to Gordon, this progresses along seven dimensions (cultural assimilation, structural assimilation, marital assimilation, identificational assimilation, attitude receptional assimilation, behavioral receptional assimilation, and civic assimilation), albeit at different rates. Of these seven dimensions, Gordon suggested that cultural assimilation is the first to occur. However its achievement does not necessarily lead to the subsequent types. Structural assimilation is viewed as the key subprocess as intergroup interaction begins to occur in primary group relationships (e.g. friendships, family). Its occurrence is thought to lead to the remaining types of assimilation. Thus, behavioral receptional assimilation, the absence of discrimination, should be predicted by increased cultural and structural assimilation. In other words, assimilation theory suggests that as ethnic minority group members acquire greater knowledge of the dominant culture, become socially integrated, and experience upward social mobility they should experience greater acceptance among majority group members and perceive less discrimination.An alternative view, the ethnic competition hypothesis, makes the opposite prediction. This perspective grew out of the work of Glazer and Moynihan (1963) and others who have argued that ethnicity is an emergent phenomenon aroused in the defense of social or economic interests. Recently, it has been highlighted in the work of Portes and colleagues. The hypothesis suggests that increased knowledge of the dominant culture and increased socioeconomic standing leads to greater perception of discrimination and more critical assessments of the dominant society (Portes, 1984; Portes, Parker & Cobas, 1980). …

Ewert, Alan; Chavez, Deborah; and Magill, Art (Eds.). (1993).Culture, conflict, and communication in the wildland-urban interface

Ewert, Alan; Chavez, Deborah; and Magill, Art (Eds.). (1993). Culture, conflict, and communication in the wildland-urban interface. Boulder, CO: Westview Press, ISBN 0-8133-8440-0, $49.95 softcover, 410 pp.The conventional definition of the wildland-urban interface is an area where urban and wildland landscapes occur near or adjacent to each other (Bradley, 1984). In some situations, relatively large expanses of nature and urbanity are dichotomized and segregated with sharp lines of demarcation. This classic interface can be seen anywhere human development abuts designated park, forest, or otherwise natural area (Davis, 1990). Everywhere else, the location of the interface is more fuzzy. In these areas the interface is best thought of as an ecotone (Ewert, 1993), an area of transition between two socio-ecological communities. In the ecotone, land use patterns can vary from predominantly natural landscapes with scattered developments, as is common within the national forests, to urban areas with islands of nature protected in municipal parks and greenways. Thus, the interface can be as thin as boundary line or as wide as several hundred miles.The interface is also the point at which landscape changes are occurring most rapidly. While in few areas wildlands are being restored and reclaimed from industrial sites, farms, ranches, and other areas in which development has run its course, the story is usually one of steady, incremental, and relentless transformation of wild nature -- the humanization of the landscape.The interface is interesting to us as point of tension that says much about the human-nature relationship. Like the frontier, the interface sparkles as geographic symbol of what is good and bad about North American culture and the environment. It marks how far we have come and what we have sacrificed to get here. It also represents human constraint and the extent to which we are willing to limit growth for the sake of other values. The concept of the wildland-urban interface is rich and multifaceted. It has not, however, received much scholarly attention.Culture, conflict, and communication in the wildland-urban interface is collection of thirty essays by well-known scholars in the field of recreation and leisure. Other disciplines represented include rural sociology, social ecology, forestry, and natural resource policy. The overriding message that emerges is captured in an essay written by William R. Burch in which he asserts that the wildland-urban interface serves as a benchmark for how to live better with nature and ourselves.The editors, social scientists with the USDA Forest Service, have attempted to bring together original essays that explore variety of interface issues and problems. The choice of outdoor recreation and leisure scholars for most of the essays is indicative of the background of the editors.The book is divided into seven parts. Each part is introduced and summarized by the editors. Part I provides brief overview meant to lay the foundation for the ensuing essays. Part 2 explores the role cultural diversity and ethnicity play in the wildland-urban interface. Essays cover theory and research on the delivery of wildland recreation opportunities to culturally diverse populations, along with specific research on the leisure values and environmental attitudes of diverse groups. Part 3 includes discussions of the communication problems presented by language and cultural differences, along with strategies for effective cross-cultural communication, and recent advances in persuasion theory as applied to the interface. Part 4 explores the relationship of place, activity, participant characteristics, and social context. Part 5 covers topics such as multicultural responsiveness among land managing agencies, cultural foundations of environmental attitudes, perspectives of Forest Service employees towards cultural resources, and review of land ethic research with diverse groups. …

Use Patterns and Solitude Preferences of Shelter Campers in Great Smoky Mountains National, U.S.A.

Visitor use management in wildland recreation areas depends on visitor use and preference information about various types of users. This study reports on the user characteristics, use patterns and encounter preferences of backcountry shelter campers, a type of user little studied in the past. In 1987, 252 backpackers to shelters in Great Smoky Mountains National Park (GSMNP) were surveyed on-site and by a mail questionnaire. Only one person per party was sampled, resulting in a final response rate of 73%. Results indicated the "typical" shelter user averaged 33 years of age, was college educated ( X̄ = 15·6 years of education) and came from urban areas of nearby states. Eighty-four per cent had previous backpacking experience, averaging 6·8 total years of experience. Most backpackers (59%) took three or fewer trips per year ( X̄) = 3·9 trips/year). Backpacking experience restricted to only GSMNP showed 65% repeat users, averaging 5·4 years of previous use and 3·1 trips per year in the study area. Trips in the study area consisted of 3-day hikes ( X̄ = 3·2 days), with 94% of users backpacking less than 5 days. Distance hiked ranged from 3 to 80 miles ( X̄ = 24 miles), and 73% of the parties contained 2-4 individuals. Encounter levels were highest on trails ( X̄ = 10·2 parties/trip), with shelter encounters ( X̄ = 2·7 parties/trip) being less. A third of users reported that they felt the number of encounters detracted from their solitude experience. Results are discussed and compared with similar data reported for backcountry areas in the south-east and western U.S.