Juraj Švajda

Participatory conservation in a post-communist context: The Tatra National Park and Biosphere Reserve, Slovakia

Conservation in the post-communist countries of Central and Eastern Europe has become a very hot issue in recent years. This paper describes experiences and new approaches to planning with regard to the participatory and sustainable management of Tatra National Park (TANAP). The main purpose of the project was to support the development of a common vision among stakeholders and park authorities and to provide assistance to TANAP administration for their preparation of a new park plan using public participation in the planning process. The plan was developed using participatory methods to bring the many, and sometimes conflicting, interests together to provide a better balance for long-term sustainable management. The involvement of main stakeholders in the development of the plan, yet to be officially approved, was expected to ensure sustainability of project achievements. A popular version of the plan was produced and made available to the public. Experiences from the project were utilised for reviewing national legislation aiming for a national impact.

Examining crowding among winter recreationists in Rocky Mountain National Park

ABSTRACT Crowding in America’s national parks is a severe problem. Places like Arches National Park are witnessing such an influx of tourism that they are considering new management techniques. Understanding the social science of the situation through crowding studies assists park management in developing strategies for resource protection, recreation management, conflict prevention, and user satisfaction. The purpose of this research was to explore feelings and perceptions of crowding at the Bear Lake trailhead in Rocky Mountain National Park (RMNP). The main goals of the study were to obtain information about visitors of RMNP during the winter season while examining the type(s) of activities they were engaging in along with exploring any feelings of crowding they might have felt. There were 428 completed questionnaires for this study. Results showed fewer conditions of crowding compared to summer users at the park. However, the results of this study also show that some individuals did experience crowding and even conflict during their visit. Such results are valuable as a complementary source of information to the summer studies that have already been concluded. Photo elicitation methods also supported normative standards of low user encounters on the trail in order to deter greater feelings of crowding.

Perceptions of natural disturbance in Tatra National Park, Poland

Abstract Since the last decades, natural disturbances in forests including protected areas have intensified. They have the potential to impact visual quality and safety of visitors as well as spread beyond protected area boundaries. While economic and ecological impacts are well studied, there is still a lack of work focused on human dimensions and social aspects. This study examines visitor perceptions towards bark beetle infestation in Tatra National Park, Poland. The findings, based on visitor surveys collected during the summer of 2014, indicate the significance of different factors influencing visitor attitudes towards the bark beetle. Age of visitors and importance of the bark beetle issue for them (based on subjective ratings of importance of bark beetle issue for respondents) are the most prominent variables. Also place of origin and environmental worldview were recognized as significantly important variables in accordance with similar studies. Results suggest management implications for park authorities including public relations and environmental education in order to increase knowledge and support for natural disturbance and ecological integrity policies in the national park.

Mountain research in protected areas in the Carpathians – a brief overview

The Carpathians, as European mountains with exceptional natural and cultural values, are facing many challenges connected with sustainable development. Research provides important information for decision makers, planners and managers on how to deal with these issues. Here, we analyse by a systematic quantitative literature review 520 contributions to Forum Carpaticum conferences. Most of the research was conducted in Romania and Poland by universities and research institutes. Particular attention was paid to the topics of conservation and biodiversity, forestry and ecology, and land use and land cover change. Field research and data analysis, including modelling using modern tools, are among the most frequent approaches or technologies used for research. Research patterns potentially reflect the demand for, and supply of information and analysis in particular geographical areas and on specific topics. There are also growing impacts of technology and social media in this field. Our results could be used for indications of key future research directions and to identify current gaps in research in the Carpathians. The Carpathians are a prominent European mountain range with a unique natural and cultural diversity. They are experiencing rapid socio-economic transformation, which creates a number of challenges for sustainable development (land use change, depopulation of marginal areas, environmental degradation, pressure on natural resources). Research is a particularly important tool for decision makers, planners and managers for how to deal with these challenges. In this article, we offer a brief overview of the proceedings from the first four Forum Carpaticum conferences (2010, 2012, 2014, 2016), assessing who does the research and where, and what the main research themes are. The results could be used to identify current gaps and key future research directions. We used a systematic quantitative literature review methodology to identify topics in the contributions to Forum Carpaticum. For each oral abstract or poster presentation, information was coded into a database for the following fields: where the research was conducted (country, and location of any protected area mentioned in the paper); who did the research (number of authors, lead author’s origin and affiliation / institution type); what the main theme of the research was. Finally, we also recorded what approaches, methods or technologies were used for the research. Across the four sets of proceedings, there were 520 contributions by nearly 1 800 authors (some of whom had multiple inputs). The lead authors associated with most of the research presented at the conferences were affiliated with institutions located in Carpathian countries (Poland 24.4%, Romania 23.7% and Slovakia 14.8%). Countries outside the Carpathians were mostly represented by authors from the United States (3.7%). Most of the research was conducted in Romania (23.7%) and Poland (21.2%). Our results show that research is still largely the domain of universities (58.1%) and research institutes (35.0%). There is scope for governmental institutions, such as national park authorities, as well as NGOs and private companies with research in their portfolios, to carry out considerably more research, especially in collaboration with universities and research institutes. The majority of contributions were prepared as team work (only 20% of contributions were by a single author). We also analysed whether the research was conducted in protected areas, basing this on information in the contributions themselves. Only 15.8% of contributions named specific protected areas (including not just national park but also Natura 2000 sites, biosphere reserves, world heritage sites and forest reserves) as their study areas. However, we know that the proportion of researchers working in protected areas is in reality higher. It was certainly a missed opportunity that researchers didn’t highlight the fact in their papers, not least because research is a priority in some categories of protected area (or internationally recognized areas): these labels could serve to attract both funding and researchers. We aimed to cluster all contributions according topics which were outlined in the texts (conservation and biodiversity 18.3%, forest and ecology 16.7%, land use and land cover 12.1%). Although there is often overlap between themes, it is possible to discern a shift towards an agenda which reflects current issues (e. g. tourism, ecosystem services, water resources, or climate change, as well as impacts of human activity on biodiversity). Just one demonstration of this shift: while a few years ago a significant amount of work focused on air quality assessment (concentration of pollutants), a larger proportion of later work analyses the impact of air pollution on living ecosystems, and recent research models future scenarios or adaptation strategies to environmental change. There is still great potential for comparative case studies and long-term monitoring, in both social and economic sciences. Approximately 25% of contributions were supported by grants, as stated in the final section of the texts analysed, and there is certainly scope for a more 78 10th anniversary report in-depth analysis of the sufficiency of funds and possible resources (domestic, EU or international funds and projects). Lastly, we focused on the approaches, methods and technologies used for research. We tried to identify the prevailing content of contributions (some focused on collecting data, some on analysing and others on interpreting it). However, often a combination of approaches was used. For example, direct field surveys are frequently supplemented by analysis of existing data from databases, and current changes in the field are analysed by use of satellite data. We also see an increasing use of modern tools, depending on the topic of research (e. g. habitat modelling using GIS tools, or the genetic analysis of species). Analysis of historical maps and photographs has been replaced by remote sensing for studies of land use and changes in land cover. Purely theoretical contributions accounted for only 22.1% of the corpus analysed. Field research (37.7%) is the most common way of collecting data in the natural sciences; questionnaires and interviews for data collection are used mostly in social sciences. Contributions focused mainly on data processing; GIS modelling including the analysis of satellite imagery was a feature of 37.4% of the papers. Research patterns potentially reflect the demand for, and supply of, information and analysis in particular geographical areas and on specific topics. The current shift towards research that focuses on or uses new technologies and social media is visible also in the subtitles of the individual conference proceedings. Integrating nature and society towards sustainability in 2010 linked research with practice in the field of coupled human-environmental systems in mountain regions. The 2012 topic, From data to knowledge – from knowledge to action, stressed the need for information, knowledge and follow-up steps in management. Local responses to global challenges in 2014 addressed global challenges in the local and regional contexts. The topic for 2016, Future of Carpathians – smart, sustainable, inclusive, reflected debates around the main priorities for the near future (technologies, innovations, adaptation strategies, green jobs etc.). The Science for Carpathians (S4C) initiative, a platform connecting scientists and fostering dialogue between research, policy and practice, aims to establish a new research agenda for the Carpathians, for 2016–2020, and is still open for comments. The aim of the agenda is to highlight all the issues which are of particular importance in terms of sustainable mountain development in the region. Other ideas include reinforcement of cooperation with the Alps, which are facing similar issues, e. g. a regular symposium for research in protected areas, or creating of new research portal for Carpathian protected areas which could serve not only for data storage, reporting and tracking, but also for highlighting research needs. Finally, it should be noted that research is very important for evidence-based decision making. Maybe we as researchers should focus more on how to increase support for research into protected areas, and how, using objective facts, we might influence and shape public opinion (through citizen science), as well as the attitudes of policy makers. This, in the so-called post-truth era, is the real challenge.

Evaluation of the attention capture and holding power of interpretive signs among visitors to a self-guided trail in the High Tatras National Park (Slovakia)

Naucne stezky se staly popularnim a siroce rozsiřeným prostředkem interpretace přirodniho a kulturniho dědictvi. Cilem prezentovane připadove studie je přispět ke zvýseni jejich kvality. Text předklada výsledky evaluacniho výzkumu naucne stezky v Narodnim parku Vysoke Tatry (Slovensko). Na zakladě pozorovani byly v ramci výzkumu vyhodnocovany atraktivita a sila jednotlivých panelů a provedeny souvisejici analýzy hodnotici význam dalsich faktorů, jako je napřiklad umistěni panelů. Evaluace ukazala, že naucna stezka je přesycena textem a dostatecně nepropojuje komunikovaný obsah se svým okolim. Jednotlive panely vykazuji relativně malou hladinu sily a atraktivity. Evaluace dale ukazuje na důležitost kvalitni a promyslene interpretace přirodniho dědictvi. Celkově take studie poukazuje na problemy souvisejici s využitim statistických metod pro analýzu přinosu vybraných rysů naucne stezky. Pro hlubsi poznani problematiky pak navrhuje provedeni dalsich výzkumů, ktere by cerpaly ze zahranicnich zkusenosti při zohledněni interpretacnich tradic cerpajicich z jineho kontextu.

Microbial Investigation of Recreation Effects on Water and Soil in the Tatra National Park

Abstract Tatra National Park is considered as the most visited protected area in Slovakia. Striking a balance between the preservation of natural resources and opportunities for public recreation often forces responsible authorities to make compromises between visitation impacts and protection. In this case, the microbial investigation of recreation effects on water and soil in the Tatra National Park were studied. The study areas were two valleys – Malá Studená, accessible by trail from south with higher human impact and visitation, including mountain huts Téryho and Zamkovského chata and Javorová, accessible from the northern part with a low number of visitors. Soil samples were taken from the main path, 30 cm away from it and water samples from or near the main path in both valleys. The selected colonies, after the cultivation on TSA medium were also analysed according to the dry and semi-extraction procedure of MALDI–TOF method. Most of the obtained strains are endospore forming, psychrotolerant species like Pseudomonas, Bacillus or Paenibacillus away of path, which corresponds with the climate and geographical conditions. But, the relatedness of soil sample strains in both valleys increases with rising altitude, with distance away from path; in contrast, the relatedness of water samples strains in both valleys increases with increasing distance sample areas from chalet and frequent visitors’ places. Water and soil samples were processed for community level physiological profiling using Biolog EcoPlates. The obtained results of carbon source utilization abilities of bacterial communities in both valleys suggested lower diversity in Javorová Valley, which corresponds probably with less visitor intensity, with less anthropogenic impact as well as with less risk of xenobiotics presence in environment.