FOREST RECREATION MANAGEMENT

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FOREST RECREATION MANAGEMENT

• RECREATION MANAGEMENT IS CHALLENGING!
• The challenge is great because
• Demand for forest-based recreation is growing
• Outdoor recreation sites perceived differently by
  various user groups
• Managers must address
• Physical/biological site issues
• Social issues

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OUR TOPICS

• What is Recreation?
• Priorities
• Planning
• A Few Closing Points

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RECREATION DIFFERS FROM OTHER BEHAVIORS

• Characteristics of recreation
• Requires commitment by recreationist
• Self-rewarding i.e. pleasant in and of itself
• Requires personal and free choice
• Occurs during leisure time

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RECREATION MANAGEMENT ENVIRONMENT

• Recreation is a highly visible forest use
• Many people relate easily to forest recreation
  (and have strong opinions!)
• Yet management of forest recreation
• Less understood historically than that of other
  forest resources
• Historically a reaction to
• problems (i.e. unplanned)

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FOREST RECREATION COMPONENTS

• Components of forest recreation include
• 1. Resource base
• 2. Visitors (users)
• 3. Development of site facilities
• To permit recreational use
• To enhance recreational use

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FOREST RECREATIONWhat is the product?

• Recreation Product ? User Satisfaction
• Product is produced by user
• Recreation manager
• Provides recreation opportunity
• Does not provide the product

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FOREST RECREATION MANAGEMENT PRIORITIES

• High priorities
• Dissemination of information, e.g.
• Environmental interpretation
• Visitor safety advice
• Indirect management of visitors
• Low priorities
• Resource manipulation
• Visitor manipulation
• Enforcement (except in heavy-use areas)

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FOREST RECREATION MANAGEMENT PLANNING

• DEFINITION
• Planning ? process that zones space based on
  program objectives (i.e. type and level of use
  desired)
• Planning necessary prior to
• Development of access transportation system
• Development of site facilities

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FOREST RECREATION MANAGEMENT PLANNING

• Trade-offs are often necessary, e.g.
• Timber extraction vs. recreation
• Developed recreation vs. wilderness recreation
• Functional compatibility sometimes possible
• E.g., hiking timber management if hiking trails
  are located appropriately

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FOREST RECREATION MANAGEMENT PLANNING

• Users have variety of desires
• Recreation managers must accommodate this variety
• Recreation Opportunity Spectrum (ROS) see
  Figs. 17.2 17.3
• Visitor Norms vary across the ROS

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FOREST RECREATION MANAGEMENT PLANNING
See Fig. 17.2 in your text (Recreation
Opportunity Spectrum) Visitor Norms vary
across the ROS
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FOREST RECREATION MANAGEMENT PLANNING

• Recreation opportunities are provided by a
  combination of
• Management by Objectives
• (planning phase establishes goals)
• Management by Design
• (implementation phase)

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RECREATION PLANNINGMANAGEMENT BY OBJECTIVES

• Establishes program goals objectives
• Inputs include
• Resource capability (imposes limitations)
• Institutional constraints (may reduce options)
• Existing situation (may dictate initial plan)
• User preferences (IMPORTANT)
• Coordination (if gt 1 landowner)
• Output
• Recreation program objectives

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RECREATION PLANNING RESOURCE CAPABILITY

• Carrying Capacity
• Sustained level of use without degrading
• Physical environment
• Visitor experience
• Easily measured in some situations, e.g.
• Campgrounds
• Picnic sites
• Not easy to measure in, e.g., wilderness
• Important factor because
• Demand often gt carrying capacity
• Sites deteriorating in some areas

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RECREATION PLANNINGMANAGEMENT BY DESIGN

• Implementation phase
• Zoning site design are used to achieve the
  objectives
• For example, a good campground design
• Emphasizes aesthetics informal socialization
• Subtly directs where to pitch tent, park car,
  etc.
• Tends to attract a particular
• visitor norm
• Needs little direct management

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RECREATION PLANNERS MUST BE FLEXIBLE!

• Social Succession
• Displacement of one user group by another
• Often due to failure to follow original plan
  (e.g., small changes in development -- widening a
  road, installing a footbridge . . .)
• Negative for some, beneficial for others
• May lead to conflict

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FOREST RECREATION MANAGEMENT PLANNING

• Managers seek to maximize benefit to users (not
  to managers!)

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RECREATION MANAGEMENTA FEW CLOSING POINTS

• Decisions often controversial, especially in
  wilderness or areas heavily used by several
  visitor norms
• If goal is status quo, planning is necessary
• If goal is change, planning is necessary
• Failure to plan is a decision (with
  consequences!)
• Management requires not only planning, but also
  implementation

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RECREATION MANAGEMENTA FEW CLOSING POINTS

• Recreation management plans never final
• Managers must be responsive to changing
  conditions public pressures