Linking Culture and the Environment

26 Recreation Ecology in Sustainable Tourism and Ecotourism
trampling disturbance following the designation of campsites and installation
of anchored fire rings.
Educational messaging has also been evaluated, as reviewed by Marion
and Reid (2007). Such messaging is commonly used to discourage off-trail hiking
in areas with sensitive vegetation or rare species. Kernan and Drogin (1995)
employed visitor observation to demonstrate a significant reduction in off-trail
hiking (from 64% to 42%) by interpretive verbal messages asking hikers to stay
on designated trails. The minimum-impact hiking messages included multiple
reasons for complying with the request. Winter (2006) evaluated the wording
of interpretive messages, finding that an injunctive-proscriptive sign (‘Please
don’t go off the established paths and trails, in order to protect the Sequoias
and natural vegetation in this park’) was more effective than the descriptiveproscriptive,
injunctive-prescriptive and descriptive-prescriptive messages in
reducing off-trail hiking at Kings Canyon National Park.
For sites already damaged by visitor uses, site restoration work can be
applied to restore natural conditions. However, an empirical evaluation of
site restoration options completed by Cole (2007) demonstrated that such
work can be expensive, time-consuming, and requires decades of sustained
effort. This study compared four different techniques, including scarification,
soil amendments, mulch and seeding, for restoring subalpine forest
campsites in Oregon. Closure alone yielded little recovery. Vegetation recovery
was greatest on plots that were planted and amended with organics and
compost soil amendments. However, vegetation cover remained diminished
after 10 years, with little recovery by shrubs.
Recreation Ecology in Sustainable Tourism and Ecotourism
Recreation and tourism are similar with respect to their potentially undesirable
effects on the environment, especially those associated with visitor activities
and behaviour (Wall and Mathieson, 2006); recreation ecology knowledge may
therefore inform tourism and ecotourism resource management about ecological
sustainability within protected areas. The dramatic worldwide growth of
ecotourism within protected areas has prompted an expansion of environmental
impact research, including recreation ecology. There is evidence of strengthening
connections between ecotourism and recreation ecology research.
First, there are an increasing number of empirical studies on ecological
impacts of ecotourist activities in destination areas, which are situated within
the primitive core zone in Fig. 2.1. Table 2.1 illustrates the diversity of recent
studies, many of which focused on site deterioration occurring along trails
and campsites, but there are an increasing number of impact studies on birds
and wildlife.
Second, ecotourism impact studies are increasingly applying techniques
and procedures developed in the recreation ecology literature. For instance,
Obua and Harding (1997) adapted procedures developed by Cole (1987) in
their survey of campsite and trail conditions in Kibale National Park in
Uganda. Assessment procedures developed for US national parks (Marion,