L Mendel

Assessing temporal changes in the reservation of the natural aesthetic resource using pictorial content analysis and a grid-based scoring system – the example of Tasmania, Australia

One of the main aims of National Park systems is to preserve in perpetuity areas of outstanding natural aesthetic significance. There is both historical and contemporary interest in understanding the degree to which these systems capture the natural aesthetic resource. In Tasmania, pictorial content analysis was used to quantify the relative contributions of different natural landscape elements to the resource, using pictorial content analysis in three time periods. The relative weights of the elements differed little between the time periods. Scores for the resource within 10 km × 10 km grid squares were derived, based largely on these weights, and changes in reservation of the resource were quantified for 1937, 1970 and 1992. There was a marked increase in the absolute representation of the natural aesthetic resource through time, although mean scores for grid squares declined in toto and for all scenic elements except coasts. The techniques used could be valuable for both assessing and planning the expansion of reserve systems.

The Consequences for Wilderness Conservation in the Development of the National Park System in Tasmania, Australia

Statewide extents of wilderness are mapped and calculated for four historic time-slices that reflect major periods of national park development in Tasmania. The representation of wilderness in the Tasmanian reserve system is calculated for 1937, 1970 and 1992. National parks were established in wilderness areas during all major periods of reserve development. While the total core wilderness area in Tasmania decreased by 63% between 1916 and 1992, the core wilderness area captured in the reserve system increased by 618%, with the largest increase being in the post-1970 period. However, those parks established prior to 1970 suffered an enormous attrition of their wilderness resource. This reflects man-agement policies inconsistent with the maintenance of wilderness during early periods of national park development. The huge increase in wilderness area captured in the reserve system after 1970 suggests that wilderness conservation only became a significant motive behind the expansion of the reserve system in the later decades of the twentieth century.