Ryan L. Sharp

An island in a sea of development: an examination of place attachment, activity type, and crowding in an urban national park.

ABSTRACT As more people move to urban areas there will be increased pressure on existing green spaces to offer places for recreation, contemplation, historic interpretation, exercise, and nature appreciation. Development and a rise in population has led to too few public recreation sites available in many regions of the world resulting in unsustainable pressure being applied to parks. The objective of this study was to examine how place attachment may be related to type and frequency of park use and management issues regarding crowding. Data for this study were obtained via intercept survey of a random sample of visitors (N = 1088) at a park in the Metro Atlanta area, Georgia. Results suggest that place attachment had a significant relationship with frequency of visits and types of activities that visitors engaged in. There was, however, no significant relation between place attachment and crowding. First-time visitors and less frequent visitors felt most crowded, which may support the idea that the most frequent visitors expect it to be crowded and are, therefore, less sensitive to it. This study sheds light on how visitors to an urban park view their experience while recreating, and may inform policies and regulations that will help mitigate the unique management situations that urban parks present.

The impact of on-site educational outreach on recreational users’ perceptions of aquatic invasive species and their management

Abstract Aquatic invasive species (AIS) present a great challenge to ecosystems around the globe, and controlling AIS becomes increasingly difficult when the potential vectors are related to recreational activities. An approach combining education and outreach efforts to control AIS may be the best course of action. A survey was designed to measure public perceptions, knowledge of, and attitudes towards AIS, as well as public support for various management actions. Surveys were administered during the summer of 2013 at two boat launches where one launch had active outreach the previous summer and one that did not. A total of 400 surveys were completed with a response rate of 89%. There was support for most proposed management options, and respondents understood the urgency of managing AIS. There was a difference between the launches in how people responded, highlighting that educational programming may need to be tailored for specific recreational uses and recreational settings.

A method to value nature-related webcam viewing: the value of virtual use with application to brown bear webcam viewing

ABSTRACT There are an estimated 16,000 nature related remote web cameras that provide users around the world with an opportunity to view wildlife. Because there is no monetary price to view the webcams, we utilise variations in the viewers’ opportunity cost of time to estimate consumer surplus. We apply this model to a large sample (nu2009=u20092649) of the more than 10 million viewers of Alaskas Katmai National Park and Preserve brown bear webcams. The resulting consumer surplus is around

A Methodological Evaluation of an Environmental Education Survey: Is There a Technological Advantage

11 per hour of viewing. When applied to the 2.42 million viewer hours, this yields a benefit of

Perceived Benefits of Service Learning: A Comparison of Collegiate Recreation Concentrations:

27 million annually. Since there are limits on the number of visitors as well as high costs of visiting this remote site, the aggregate webcam viewing value is more than twice the aggregate on-site viewing value. With minimal survey data required to apply this model, we believe it has broad applicability to other nature-related webcams around the world.

Evaluation of the Brown Bear Viewing Experience at Katmai National Park and Preserve: Implications for Management

Environmental education represents a conceivable way to counter the effects of youth’s lack of exposure to the natural environment. However, the effectiveness of these programs is often not evaluated, and when they are, the methods for doing so are not consistent. Without proper and reliable methods of data collection, the results may be inaccurate and lead to false claims. Middle school children were given surveys to measure interest in nature, importance of nature, and environmental stewardship. The students were split into two groups, one that took the survey through a conventional pencil-and-paper method and one that took the survey on a tablet computer (e.g., iPad). The results revealed a difference in how students responded based on how they took the survey. Children may be more willing to provide more truthful responses through digital means and may associate paper surveys with exams or other less desirable activities. Subscribe to JOREL

Climbing out of Poverty: The Economic Impact of Rock Climbing in and around Eastern Kentucky's Red River Gorge

Service learning is becoming a more utilized method of instruction in collegiate settings, and holds the potential to provide a deeper, more transferable meaning of course material for students. The purpose of this research was to examine if therapeutic recreation (TR) concentration students perceived service learning to be more personally and academically beneficial than non-TR concentrations in a collegiate recreation program. Undergraduate and graduate students in a recreation program at a regional, American university were asked to complete a survey in a class with a service learning component. A total of 307 surveys were completed, for a response rate of 76%. Results showed that the TR students perceived service learning as more personally and academically beneficial than the non-TR concentrations. Due to the scant amount of research available related to cognitive and affective effects of service learning on collegiate recreation students, this study will help bridge the gap between academia and the recreation workforce. The results of this study support future implementation of service learning at the collegiate level, specifically in recreation-related academic departments, and highlights possible discrepancies between TR and non-TR concentrations in the effectiveness of service learning on personal and academic outcomes.

Identifying the Economic Impact of Endurance Races Held in Rural Kentucky Counties: A Pike County Case Study

ABSTRACT Bear experts regularly recommend limiting visitor access to areas critical to bear survival (e.g., feeding grounds). Seeing a bear in the wild, however, is a highly prized visitor experience. This article measured how viewing bears influenced visitors’ connection to bears (conservation caring), park interest, and support for restrictive management. Data were obtained from 235 visitors at Katmai National Park and Preserve. Conservation caring and support for restrictive management were consistent until visitors spent 11 hours or more watching bears. Thus, managers may not need to focus on increasing duration of time spent on viewing platforms. Conservation caring predicted levels of park interest (β = .51) and support for restrictive management (β = .44). These data suggested anytime spent watching bears is capable of producing moderate emotional connections and strong support for management. As visitors form an emotional connection to a resource, they are more supportive of stricter management actions.