Three measures of recreational ecosystem services in protected areas: Studies from U.S. national parks

Open Access
- Author:
- Rice, William Luttrell
- Graduate Program:
- Recreation, Park and Tourism Management
- Degree:
- Doctor of Philosophy
- Document Type:
- Dissertation
- Date of Defense:
- April 17, 2020
- Committee Members:
- Brendan Derrick Taff, Dissertation Advisor/Co-Advisor
Peter Newman, Committee Chair/Co-Chair
Bing Pan, Committee Member
Brendan Derrick Taff, Committee Chair/Co-Chair
Katherine Yoder Zipp, Outside Member
Brendan Derrick Taff, Program Head/Chair
Peter Newman, Dissertation Advisor/Co-Advisor - Keywords:
- ecosystem services
recreation
parks
protected areas
outdoor recreation
recreational ecosystem services
leisure
grand canyon
grand teton
death valley
choice experiment
structural equation modelling
participatory mapping
spatial analysis
cultural ecosystem services - Abstract:
- For over half a century, the field of protected area recreation research has sought to understand the benefits provisioned through outdoor recreation and those factors that prohibit the attainment of recreational benefits. Throughout this period, a variety of frameworks and measurements have been put forward to conceptualize and quantify benefits. Recreational ecosystem service (RES) science is the latest iteration of these approaches. This method of conceptualizing recreation experiences and the benefits provisioned therein presents an improved means of linking ecosystems and their management to recreational outcomes. However, it remains without sufficient measures of the ecosystem services that are provisioned and the attributes of the settings that provision them. Protected area managers are in need of measures, or levers, through which they can alter aspects of the ecological, managerial, and social setting to improve the provisioning of RES. Therefore, the purpose of this dissertation is to put forward three new measures for RES to improve park and protected area recreation management. In service of this goal, data were collected in three U.S. national parks: Death Valley, Grand Canyon, and Grand Teton. The first chapter of this dissertation introduces the conceptual framework and supporting theory that forms the basis for this study. Chapter 2 presents the spatial measure of “area of concern” for RES management through a mixed-methods study of key stakeholders’ perceptions of ecosystem service provisioning and degradation at Grand Canyon National Park. Chapter 3 adopts choice experiment methodology by developing the measure of “RES-derived utility”—analyzing the tradeoff between freedom and natural quiet in Death Valley National Park. Chapter 4 puts forward a new method of measuring the quality of the recreation experience by rigorously assessing the attainment of RES in Grand Teton National Park. Finally, Chapter 5 includes a summary of key findings and presents directions for future research.