Recreation, tourism and nature in a changing world : proceedings of the fifth international conference on monitoring and management of visitor flows in recreational and protected areas : Wageningen, the Netherlands, May 30-June 3, 2010

Proceedings of the fifth international conference on monitoring and management of visitor flows in recreational and protected areas : Wageningen, the Netherlands, May 30-June 3, 201

Behavioral Phenomena and Population Estimation of White-Tailed Deer Based on Camera Trap Data

When shaping management actions and conservation programs, it is essential to understand the population dynamics of a species. One species that sees extensive management and research effort is the white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus), as it is both ecologically and recreationally important in many places. Although there are a multitude of ways to study and estimate the population dynamics of white-tailed deer, one method in particular comes with significant advantages: camera trapping. For this study, nine camera traps were set up at deer scrapes across a private ranch in south Texas. After collecting images during the fall/winter rut of 2015, the cameras’ photos were amassed, and photographed bucks were identified based on unique antler formations. The photo data were then analyzed for a variety of purposes: (a) to determine whether bucks visit scrapes non- randomly; (b) to examine patterns in the ranges of dominant individuals; (c) to assess whether diversity indexes identify fundamental differences in the collections of bucks visiting scrapes. Finally, a novel population estimation technique was applied by adapting and applying the program EstimateS. There were a total of 129 bucks identified over the study region. I determined that bucks did indeed visit camera sites non-randomly and that they visited certain scrapes preferentially. This might have to do with the resources available in specific areas. Additionally, I observed that particular dominant individuals have home ranges that overlap, while others are much more solitary. This suggests that the sites themselves are differentially defensible, and that whether a location is dominated has to do with both the resources it offers and its ability to be monopolized. Results of the population estimation technique suggested that there were a number of bucks that remained undetected by the cameras. Future research could work to ascertain the accuracy of the population estimations made by EstimateS.Integrative Biolog

Human experience in the natural and built environment : implications for research policy and practice

22nd IAPS conference. Edited book of abstracts. 427 pp. University of Strathclyde, Sheffield and West of Scotland Publication. ISBN: 978-0-94-764988-3

Stakeholder Preference, Dependence and Attitude towards Conservation of Mangrove Eco-System in South-East Coast of India

A study was undertaken to analyze the relationship between mangrove ecosystem and livelihood security of the local stakeholders in Pichavaram Mangrove Forest (PMF) in Cuddalore district of Tamil Nadu, India. Data were collected from different types of respondents viz., i)  Fisherman cum farmer, ii) Tourist dependents and iii) Tourist. The tourist dependents were found to be better educated and better off with their income compared to the fishermen cum farmer.  About 75 per cent of the respondents depended mangrove area for fishing. Most of tourists were young and middle aged and also have permanent income. Educated youth showed more interest in visiting places of natural origin. People who travelled by own vehicles had higher visitation rate of 50 per cent than those travelling by hired vehicles owing to the high cost towards logistics.  From the analysis it was understood that the visitation rate was inelastic with respect to the travel cost. The fishermen cum farmer and tourist dependents were willing to pay an amount of Rs.688, Rs.643/annum respectively towards internalizing externalities. The catchment area, monthly income, duration of fishing and education were positively related to WTP and were significant. The average monthly per capita consumption expenditure was Rs.799 for fisherman cum farmer and Rs.859 for tourist dependent households in PMF.           It is obvious that the people who entered into fishing and other mangrove dependent occupations had extensively improved their standard of living. Positive externalities were shoreline protection, increased fish catch and enhanced income, utilization of non – timber forest products, control of soil erosion and water retention. The study comes out with a policy that both the state and central government institutions should protect the mangrove ecology and sea-shore through stringent adoption of regulatory mechanisms. The local social institutions should restrict people from over exploitation and they should provide adequate facilities to the visitors too to encourage the concept of eco-tourism; so that the mangroves would be promoted and conserved significantly.  Key words: Mangroves- Willingness to Pay- Contingent Valuation- Consumptive Use - Tourism- Externalities- Travel Cost- Institution. Â

Human Bonds with Public Wildland Places: Segmenting Communities to Inform Natural Resource Management

Public land managers must consider a broad range of information to develop effective and equitable plans for addressing contentious management issues. Appropriately designed social science research may contribute to better understanding of public interests regarding resource use, thus reducing conflict and contributing to cooperative solutions. This dissertation describes a social science methodology for developing understanding of human / place bonds using indicators of human expression of behaviors, beliefs, and emotions. The dissertation develops the concept of human / place bonds with a goal to better reflect the publics\u27 views and desires for management of public lands. The purpose of the human / place bond segmentation research approach developed in this dissertation is to provide information that may improve consideration of these ties to place in contentious planning decisions. The research approach focuses on a combination of on-site activity participation, assigned values, and emotional attachment to place to understand human / place bonds. These measures are often considered in recreation management studies, but this methodology goes further in simultaneously considering these three types of indicators of human / place bonds to develop understanding about the public\u27s views on management. In both case studies presented here segmentation of local communities based on multiple components of their human / place bonds identifies groups that statistically differ in their views about planning decisions on local public lands. This research presents evidence suggesting this technique may help improve understanding of attitudes about management of public lands. The dissertation also presents evidence that the human / place bond research approach can be efficiently applied and is flexible in design. The understanding gained from this process may ultimately bring stakeholders together to increase dialog and develop cooperative solutions. In this way the human / place bond research approach may help to influence policy aimed at resolving conflict among stakeholders in contested public wildland management decisions

The Use of visitor management techniques to protect a fragile environment.

Tourism, as a human activity, is not likely to be managed effectively if there was a lack of management focus on the visitors. Visitor management plays a vital role in a tourism destination in terms of increasing visitors' experience and level of enjoyment, as well as modifying their on-site behaviour to be more appropriate. Through a combination of various techniques, visitors are provided with controlled access to experience the tourism resources. In so doing, visitors' understanding and appreciation of the features at a site may be increased through the use of interpretation, while restrictions, regulations and resource alteration methods are used to protect the resources from inappropriate visitor activity. Interpretation, restrictions, regulations and other management-related/administrative information need to be delivered to visitors. Furthermore, persuasive communication is effective to modify visitors' on-site behaviour. Regulations and restrictions are usually law-enforced. Because their persuasive function is of coercive type (the managing agencies have the ability to administer punishment if visitors fall to comply with the regulations), visitors' level of enjoyment and understanding of the features at a site is less likely to be increased. A softer style of persuasive communication with visitors (interpretation, marketing and visitor codes) is therefore necessary in order to advise visitors about the sensitivity of the resources and the appropriate behaviour to conduct during their visit. In other words, the hard and soft approaches of visitor management should be used interdependently. Hence, the understanding of (1) how people's intention to behave in a particular manner is formed, and (2) how to maximise the effectiveness of communication, is necessary in order to plan and implement successful visitor management. The visitor survey was carried out in the calendar year of 1999, and 1,053 visitors participated in the research.T he questionnaire-baseds urvey of visitors was conducted at several locations in the New Forest, and the number of surveys to be carried out was distributed throughout the year of 1999 based on the tourism seasonality of the New Forest. The research findings point out that imposing more regulations is not perceived necessary in the current visitor management in the New Forest. Instead, the sampled visitors would like to know more about the environmental aspects about the site, and the appropriate activities to participate in. Moreover, infori-nation provided through interpretive panels and bulletin boards is thought to be less than adequate by the visitors, and they think the signage in the site is not maintained to a high standard. Give the fact that signage is one of the favoured media, the quality and information contents of signage in the New Forest need to be improved. Moreover, with respect to the interpretation of the New Forest, visitors thought the information relating to the envirom-nental aspects of the site and the appropriate visitor activities to be carried out should be improved in terms of the quantity. The analysis shows that in general, visitors would be willing to alter their behaviour to be more appropriate if they were made aware of such interpretive information. In addition, the majority of the visitors, except for the New Forest District local residents, do not object to be charged for the use of tourism facilities such as car parks, providing the revenue is used for resource protection purpose. In other words, visitors value the significance of the New Forest in terms of being resource rich and being an important site that offers recreational opportunities to them. Thus, they expressed their willingness to contribute financially to help the management and protection of the site. The research findings are expected to provide organisations that are responsible for the management of tourism destinations with information relating to the planning and implementation of effective visitor management approaches, because successful visitor management is a step forward towards the long-ten-n sustainable tourism development

An investigation of domestic tourists\u27 loyalty to a nature-based tourist setting from a relational and transactional perspective at the Victoria Falls World Heritage site

It is a common belief that Zambian citizens would prefer to vacation in other countries rather than visiting their own natural tourist settings. The primary goal of this study was to understand how to foster loyal relationships between Zambian domestic tourists and a natural setting by investigating factors that influence domestic tourists\u27 loyalty to the Victoria Falls World Heritage site. Destination loyalty was the central concept employed in this study and was examined from both a relational and transactional perspective. Place attachment constituted the relational variable, while satisfaction, service quality and perceived value were the transactional variables