Studies in Outdoor Recreation: Search and Research for Satisfaction

14. Principles and Practices of Outdoor Recreation Knowledge into Action

322 14 Principles and Practices of Outdoor Recreation Knowledge into Action Knowledge into Action At the beginning of this book, it was suggested that management implications of outdoor recreation research become evident after the findings from a number of studies have been reviewed, synthesized, and integrated. The purpose of this final chapter is to examine the body of knowledge presented in the book and to develop a series of management implications based on this knowledge. This task is approached in two stages. First, a series of emerging “principles of outdoor recreation” is suggested. These principles are necessarily broad and are drawn from findings that recur throughout the preceding chapters. Second, a framework is developed to guide management of outdoor recreation. This framework provides a basic structure for planning and managing outdoor recreation and incorporates the principles of outdoor recreation noted above. Finally, several observations are offered on outdoor recreation management and research. Principles of Outdoor Recreation Principle 1. Outdoor recreation should be considered within a threefold framework of concerns: the resource environment, the social environment, and the management environment. The multidisciplinary character of outdoor recreation noted at the beginning of the book was evident in the review and discussion of a number of outdoor recreation issues. This basic threefold framework was found to be useful in the analysis of a number of issues, including visitor preferences, carrying capacity, diversity of outdoor recreation opportunities, indicators and standards of quality, the Recreation Opportunity Spectrum, and attitudes toward management. Moreover, there are potentially important interrelationships among these components. For example, recreation-related impacts to trails and campsites PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICES OF OUTDOOR RECREATION 323 can degrade the quality of the visitor experience and this may require management action. Each of the three components holds potentially important implications for defining and managing outdoor recreation opportunities and experiences, and failure to give explicit consideration to each component and the interactions among them may leave outdoor recreation unmanaged in important ways. This threefold framework is a useful way to consider and analyze outdoor recreation in a comprehensive, multidisciplinary fashion. Principle 2. Quality in outdoor recreation is most appropriately defined and measured as the degree to which recreation opportunities meet the needs of visitors for whom they are designed. This approach can be applied at three levels. For visitors, quality is the degree to which recreation opportunities meet their needs. For managers, quality is the degree to which recreation opportunities meet the objectives for which they are designed and managed. For society more broadly, quality is provision of a system of recreation opportunities that meets the diverse needs of all people. Quality and visitor satisfaction can be distinct concepts. High levels of visitor satisfaction are desirable, but satisfaction should be measured and considered within the context of the management objectives for a recreation area, activity, or opportunity. In this way, satisfaction might best be interpreted as a necessary but insufficient measure of quality. Principle 3. Satisfaction of visitors to outdoor recreation areas is a multifaceted concept. Visitors are perceptive of and sensitive to many aspects of the resource, social, and management environments that comprise outdoor recreation areas and opportunities(asaddressedinPrinciple1).Thoughsomeaspectsaremoreimportant than others, many considerations may affect visitor satisfaction. Management of outdoor recreation should be broad-based, providing explicit attention to as many of these aspects as are known and manageable. In the context and terminology of contemporary recreation management frameworks, consideration should be given to a wide range of potential indicators and standards of quality (as addressed in Principle 11). Principle 4. There is substantial diversity in outdoor recreation. Diversity is found in many aspects of outdoor recreation, including recreation activities, socio-economic and cultural characteristics of participants, visitor attitudes and preferences, experience level of visitors and their sensitivity to crowding and conflict, levels of specialization, and motivations for outdoor recreation. Averages or majority opinions can obscure this inherent diversity, which recreation research and management should be careful to acknowledge. 324 STUDIES IN OUTDOOR RECREATION Principle 5. Diversity is needed in outdoor recreation opportunities. Recognition of diversity in outdoor recreation as suggested in Principle 4 leads logically to the need for diversity in outdoor recreation opportunities. The resource, social, and management environments that define outdoor recreation opportunities should be combined in a variety of alternative arrangements to produce diversity in the greater system of parks and outdoor recreation areas. The concepts underlying the Recreation Opportunity Spectrum as described in Chapter 8 can be useful...