P3-Vol 2.No3 Dec 96 - International Journal of Wilderness

4. Recreation use impacts and conflicts
have arisen between different types of
users such as hikers and horse users.
5. Management of uses such as livestock
grazing, mining rights, and aerial
access that existed prior to designation
of some wilderness areas and for which
Congress made exceptions in The Wilderness
Act have become controversial.
6. Population growth and development
on private lands near or adjacent to
wilderness have created impacts from
additional recreation, air pollution, fire,
and have disrupted wildlife habitat and
migration travel corridors.
7. Lack of any comprehensive system
for monitoring social and biophysical
change in the NWPS as a whole and
in its individual units has been problematic.
8. It has become increasingly difficult
to make and sustain management decisions
to protect the various components
of the wilderness resource, including
wilderness experiences. As recreation use
increases in popular locations, that use
may exceed the limits of what is acceptable
in terms of biophysical and
social impacts. Increasingly, as decisions
are made to assure that wilderness values
are maintained, those who object
seek reversal of management decisions
through the USFS administrative ap-
McDonald and McAvoy (1995) have reviewed
111 studies pertaining to outdoor
recreation and Native Americans. They
provide a useful introduction to relevant
literature about Native American’s participation,
cultural conceptions, and attitudes
and beliefs toward outdoor recreation.
McDonald and McAvoy found that
leisure research has given little attention
to Native American communities. Therefore,
they use literature from the related
concepts of cultural values; environmental
attitudes and land ethics; indigenous
land management; sacred sites and their
continued use; parks, protected areas, and
Cattle mill along the banks of a once “wet” creek in a wilderness in the Southwest United States. (Photo by Jerry Stokes.)
peals process, suits filed in federal courts,
and congressional intervention.
The Future
My vision for the future of wilderness
managed by the USFS is positive. I see
the enduring resource of wilderness
protected, nurtured, and sustained by
increasingly competent and commit-
Literature Review of Native Americans and Recreation:
Cultural Beliefs and Outdoor Recreation Behavior
native peoples; views of leisure; and the anthropological
focus on play. The examination
of literature is linked to proposed general traits
shared by Native Americans. Those traits include
a pervasive sacredness for all life, humans
are inseparable from nature, a heightened sense
of place or connection to a particular environment,
belief in the cyclical nature of life,
and the importance of verbal communication.
The authors also identify studies that give
recommendations for conducting research on
Native American people and their communities.
In summary, research should meet an
expressed community need and should be reviewed
and approved by tribal leadership.
ted managers, supported by expanded
scientific knowledge and growing political
support from a public that increasingly
appreciates and understands
wilderness. IJW
JERRY STOKES is national wilderness program leader
for the USFS in Washington, D.C. He holds B.S.
and M.S. degrees in forestry from the University
of Georgia and a Ph.D. in recreation resources from
Colorado State University.
Establishing relationships is of paramount
importance, and qualitative methodologies
have had the most success because of their
concordance with general shared traits.
They recommend that additional outdoor
recreation studies of Native Americans be
conducted.
For more information see McDonald,
D., & McAvoy, L.M. 1995. A Literature
Review of Native Americans and Recreation:
Cultural Beliefs & Outdoor Recreation Behavior.
Minneapolis, MN: University of
Minnesota Department of Kinesiology
and Leisure Studies.
(This review was submitted by Greg
Friese.)
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF WILDERNESS/Volume 2, Number 3, December 1996 21