Derrick Taff

Human Responses to Simulated Motorized Noise in National Parks

Natural sounds contribute to high-quality experiences for visitors to protected areas. This study investigated the effects of three common sources of recreational motorized noise on laboratory participants’ evaluations of landscape scenes. Seventy-five study participants completed landscape assessments along eight aesthetic and experiential dimensions while listening to audio clips of natural sounds, propeller planes, motorcycles, and snowmobiles. The change from the natural sound baseline for each motorized source of noise was calculated. Results indicated that all motorized sources of noise had detrimental impacts on evaluations of landscape quality compared with natural sounds. Motorcycle noise was demonstrated to have the largest negative impact on landscape assessments. In addition to confirming that noise from motorized recreation has significant impacts on the experiences of potential park visitors, this simulation suggests that the specific source of the noise is an important factor in determining observer evaluations of the quality of the natural environment.

The effects of local ecological knowledge, minimum-impact knowledge, and prior experience on visitor perceptions of the ecological impacts of backcountry recreation.

An on-site visitor survey instrument was developed to examine visitor perceptions of resource impacts resulting from backcountry hiking activities. The survey was conducted in the Bear Lake Corridor of Rocky Mountain National Park, CO and examined visitor characteristics that may influence visitor perceptions of specific resource conditions. Findings indicate that visitors are more perceptive of recreation-related resource impacts that are the result of undesirable behavior and, while visitors do perceive resource impacts, visitors tend to be more affected by crowding. Factors such as local ecological knowledge and knowledge of minimal-impact practices positively influence visitor perceptions of resource impacts. These findings support the use of visitor education on ecological knowledge and minimum-impact as a means of increasing visitor awareness of recreation impact issues.

Day-User Beliefs Regarding Leave No Trace in Rocky Mountain National Park

Resource degradation due to depreciative behaviors continues to be of concern for park and protected area managers and many of the visitors that recreate in these pristine areas. Land managers must maintain a delicate balance between use and preservation amidst increasing visitation, particularly in popular frontcountry areas. Visitor education has become a prominent and, often successful, technique used to curb depreciative behaviors (Hammit & Cole, 1998; Hendee & Dawson, 2002; Lucas, 1983; Manning, 1999, 2003, 2007; Marion & Reid, 2001). In most protected areas, education concerning Leave No Trace (LNT) practices is the most prevalent form of minimum-impact messaging applied to encourage correct behavior and discourage depreciative behavior (Harmon, 1997; Marion & Reid, 2001; Vagias, 2009). Despite improved efficacy and practice concerning LNT, depreciative behaviors causing resource impacts still occur. Theory suggests that attitudes lead to specific behaviors (Ajzen, 1991; Ajzen & Fishbein, 1980; Fishbein & Manfredo, 1992; Ham & Krumpe, 1996; Vagias, 2009), and by gaining deeper understanding about specific attitudes, we can discover why visitors of protected areas maintain particular beliefs, norms, and ultimately, behaviors. Therefore, this study evaluated frontcountry-day-user attitudes pertaining to LNT minimum impact behaviors. Results provide insight concerning visitor attitudes and the level of knowledge respondents had about LNT practices. These findings offer greater understanding concerning those LNT Principles that may be confusing or misinterpreted by visitors, thus enabling land managers and outdoor recreation educators to enhance educational strategies.

Wilderness in Higher Education: Considerations for Educating Professionals for the Next 50 Years.

Over the past 50 years, an evolution has occurred in the instruction of wilderness professionals and practitioners within the higher education realm. The National Wilderness Conference, commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Wilderness Act, provided a timely opportunity to discuss the current and future role of higher education and wilderness among academics and wilderness practitioners. During this conference, directives were released through a vision document, providing a set of shared interagency goals, priorities, and actions to guide future collaborative stewardship of designated wilderness. In this commentary stemming from this conference and aligning with the vision directives, we discuss the role of higher education and wilderness-based curriculum in the historical development of instruction, current academic practices through examples, challenges that should be considered, and suggestions for moving forward to enhance wilderness preservation and professionalism.