Visitor capacities in protected areas: a biophysical and a conceptual approach

Abstract

Two manuscripts are presented that examine the issue of visitor capacities in protected areas from different approaches. The first paper entitled "The response of arctic tundra plant communities to human trampling disturbance" examines the tolerance of tussock and dryas tundra communities to simulated dispersed recreation use over a four-year period. Treatments of 25, 75, 200 and 500 trampling passes were applied to 0.75m2 vegetation plots approximately at the time of peak seasonal aboveground plant biomass. Plots where low and moderate levels of trampling were applied returned to pre-disturbance conditions by four years after trampling, but impact was still evident in plots subjected to high levels of disturbance. These results suggest that with adequate visitor management, these tundra communities can tolerate low to moderate numbers of visitors with minimal long-term observable resource impact. The second paper entitled "The principles of visitor capacity in parks and protected areas" identifies a set of principles that can provide additional guidance for managers in the decision process for setting visitor capacities in parks and protected areas. These principles are a synthesis of related sets of principles such as those proposed for ethical land use, outdoor recreation, and ecosystem management and the consensus on this issue from an intensive work session sponsored by the Federal Interagency Task Force on Visitor Capacity on Public Lands. It is proposed that these principles will be of significant assistance to managers in the effort to make visitor capacity decisions that are comprehensive, defensible and appropriate in protected areas.