Guidelines for Design and Implementation of Monitoring Programs to Assess Visitor Impacts In and Around Aquatic Ecosystems Within Protected Areas

Abstract

This report is divided into four chapters. The first chapter introduces the field sites used in the field trials and documents the visitor survey instrument developed to assess visitor perceptions and activities at these sites. In addition, the data generated from the visitor surveys are presented and discussed. The second chapter introduces the critical components of the design of the field trials, including indicator selection and the importance of selecting relevant upstream and downstream control sites in this type of monitoring. The third chapter presents the outcome of field trials and includes critical elements of hypothesis testing and the need to relate indicator responses to spatially and temporally relevant aspects of visitation. The final chapter integrates the outcomes of the first three chapters and outlines the approach that protected area managers need to follow in order to develop and implement their own defendable and tailored monitoring programs in and around high use aquatic sites within their jurisdictions