The campers’ conundrum: Examining setting’s influence on campsite choice using big data

Demand for national park campgrounds has risen at an increasing rate over the last decade (Rice et al., 2019). Additionally, camping is becoming an increasingly sought-after form of tourism accommodation (Craig, 2020). As available campsites become scarcer and booking windows increase, institutional knowledge becomes more important in locating and booking campsites further in advance (Gursoy & Chen, 2012)—thus impacting distributive justice (Shelby et al., 1989). It is thus important to understand how campers reach decisions on the selection of campsites and how attributes of 1) the campsite and 2) the surrounding recreational setting drive this demand. Using campsite reservation data from Zion National Park, we address the following research questions: R1: What aspects of the setting are most influential on campsite demand? R2: How can allocation of campsites be improved to support the distributive justice of camping resources

Managing Cultural Resources On The Alaska Peninsula

Twentieth-century cultural resources provide physical evidence of human relationships with a landscape that has shaped the wilderness areas we know today. These cultural resources enrich the meaning of an area as wilderness, but also present multiple management challenges surrounding visitor use in designated wilderness areas. The National Geographic Society Katmai Expeditions of the 1910s present a case study of how historic trails and their associated artifacts interact not only with present issues toward the dual-enforcement of the National Historic Preservation Act and Wilderness Act, but also with the management of visitor use along a corridor containing relatively recent traces of historically significant activities and events. This study draws on the findings of a 2 018 expedition identifying convergence of a historically significant trail w ith a popular path for backpackers through the Katmai Wilderness and explores the importance of cultural resources in long-distance trail planning and cultural resource management in designated wilderness