Parks and People: Managing Outdoor Recreation at Acadia National Park

6. Research to Guide Trail Management at Acadia National Park

6Research to GuideTrail Management at Acadia National Park Acadia includes approximately 120 miles of trails, and hiking is one of the most popular recreation activities in the park (Littlejohn 1999). The popularity of the trail system presents a challenge to park staff in their efforts to protect trails from unacceptable visitor impacts, such as soil compaction and erosion, trampling of vegetation, trail widening, and creation of social or visitor-caused trails (Hammitt and Cole 1998). Trail use also must be managed to maintain the quality of visitor experience with regard to the social impacts of visitor use, including crowding and unacceptable trail management practices (Manning 1999). Management of trails can be guided by indicators and standards of quality as suggested in the National Park Service Visitor Experience and Resource Protection (nps verp) framework. This study was designed to support formulation of trail-related indicators and standards of quality and addressed the resource, social/experiential, and management components of park management. STUDY METHODS The first phase of research focused on identifying potential indicators of quality. A visitor survey incorporated a series of open- and close-ended questions. Open-ended questions asked visitors what they enjoyed most and least about hiking in Acadia, and close-ended questions asked visitors to rate the importance of several trail-related issues. The survey was admin-  This chapter is an edited version of the following publication: Kelly Goonan, Robert Manning, and William Valliere, “Research to Guide Trail Management at Acadia National Park,” Proceedings of the 2008 Northeastern Recreation Research Symposium, usda Forest Service General Technical Report nrs-p-42, 266–74, 2009. I N D I C A T O R S A N D S T A N D A R D S O F Q U A L I T Y  istered to a representative sample of hikers throughout the trail system yielding 249 completed questionnaires. The second phase of research focused on identifying potential standards of quality for selected indicator variables. A visitor survey incorporated a series of questions that asked respondents to judge the acceptability of range of impacts to resource, social/experiential, and managerial conditions of trails. These questions adopted normative theory and methods (Manning 1985; Shelby and Vaske 1991; Vaske et al. 1986; Vaske and Whittaker 2004), and used narrative/numerical, visual, and long and short question formats, and several evaluative dimensions, including “preference,” “acceptability,” “management action,” and “displacement” (Manning et al. 1999; Manning and Freimund 2004). (These theoretical and methodological issues are described in chapters 10, 12, and 13.) Three indicators were addressed: resource conditions, crowding, and type and intensity of management practices. The survey was administered to a representative sample of hikers throughout the trail system yielding 287 completed questionnaires. STUDY FINDINGS Indicators of Quality Respondents were asked several questions to determine potential indicators of quality of the recreation experience afforded by Acadia’s trail system. Questions addressed topics such as what visitors enjoyed most/least about their visit; the most desirable qualities of the park; and evaluation of problems or issues within the park. The results of this phase of research identified trail impacts (such as soil erosion and trail widening) and crowding as important indicators of quality. Level of trail development and management also was considered a potentially important indicator of quality, as trail impacts often are addressed through a range of development practices such as signage and trail surfacing. Standards of Quality Respondents were asked a series of questions to help identify standards of quality for each of the three indicator variables identified above. The first section of the survey addressed trail impacts. First, respondents were asked to evaluate the acceptability of five computer-generated photographs depicting increasing levels of visitor-caused soil and vegetation impact (figure 6.1). Acceptability was measured using a nine-point Likert-type scale rang- T R A I L M A N A G E M E N T A T A C A D I A N A T I O N A L P A R K  ing from 24 (“Very Unacceptable”) to 14 (“Very Acceptable”). The second question asked respondents to indicate which photograph showed the amount of trail impact they would prefer to see. The next question addressed visitor displacement, and asked respondents to report the photograph that showed the level of trail impact that is so unacceptable that they would no longer hike on park trails. Respondents were given the opportunity to...