Semester

Fall

Date of Graduation

2012

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Type

MS

College

Davis College of Agriculture, Natural Resources and Design

Department

Recreation, Parks and Tourism Resources

Committee Chair

Robert Burns.

Abstract

There is a continuing global increase in recreational visitor use of public land. This rise in visitation can be a good thing if a proactive management plan utilizing strong methodology to anticipate impacts to an area and sustain its natural and social resources is in place. Although a wide spectrum of issues is presented to each management, few of the concepts are new to any of the administrators. With increasing duties, newly emerging concerns, and decreasing time, there is little room or patience for error concerning the implementation of any management derivatives or techniques. If the existing research on all these policies and frameworks was made widely accessible, and some system for deciphering the level of their most universal relativity was reached for collaborative purposes, it would maximize the support system for the managers, thereby minimizing the guesswork and maximizing the efficiency of their plan. A Delphi study was conducted in 2010 to identify possible levels--or aspects of the management decision-making process--on which managers could effectively communicate details of the implementation of their techniques to international colleagues. Managers from protected areas in Austria and the Pacific-Northwest division of the US Forest Service were asked a series of questions about their area management plans pertaining to both biological and social sustainability. Once the frameworks or systems were broken down into the universal management concepts of values and actions, the idea of collaboration upon that level was presented to the participants to assess their willingness to participate in such studies. Regardless of the multitude or strength of the wide-reaching benefits that would be provided by any future collaborative efforts, it is the managers' active involvement that will ultimately determine the strength, relevance, and outcome of any future studies.

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