Skiers' expectations as a challenge for managers of protected areas : a case study from the Tatra National Parks in Poland and Slovakia

Mountain areas are particularly attractive for the development of winter activities such as skiing, owing to both morphological and climatic conditions. However, mountain areas are at the same time vulnerable. For this reason, they are often under protection. This study focuses on two important and heavily used ski resorts in the Tatra National Parks, Kasprowy Wierch (Poland) and Skalnaté Pleso (Slovakia), looking at skiers’ opinions and complaints regarding the resorts. In addition, a comparison between the resorts was conducted. In order to verify the relationship between socio-demographic variables and the skiers’ opinions, two types of statistical tests were used: Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient and Chi-square. The results show that the Kasprowy Wierch ski resort received a larger number of negative comments than Skalnate Pleso. However, Skalnate Pleso drew more negative opinions regarding the impact of the cable car and ski area on the landscape. The consequences of fulfilling visitors’ expectations can be used practically by the managers of the protected areas

Physico-geographical mesoregions of Poland : verification and adjustment of boundaries on the basis of contemporary spatial data

The programme of identification, cataloguing and evaluation of Polish landscapes, part of the implementation of the European Landscape Convention, has caused an increase in interest in physico-geographical regionalisation over recent years. The commonly accepted regionalisation of Poland developed by J. Kondracki (Kondracki & Richling 1994) is sufficient for work at an overview scale (e.g. 1:500,000), whereas its spatial accuracy is too low to make use of it for the purpose of Polish landscape cataloguing. The aim of this article is to present a more up-to-date and detailed division of Poland into mesoregions, adjusted to the 1:50,000 scale. In comparison with older work, the number of mesoregions has increased from 316 to 344. In many cases, some far-reaching changes in meso- and macroregions were made. Nevertheless, in most cases the previous system of units was maintained, with more detailed adjustment of boundaries based on the latest geological and geomorphological data and the use of GIS tools for the DEM analysis. The division presented here is a creatively developing new work aligning the proposals of the majority of Polish researchers. At the same time, it is a regionalisation maintaining the idea of the work developed by J. Kondracki as well as his theoretical assumptions and the criteria used to distinguish units, which makes it a logical continuation of his regional division