Stakeholder Engagement in All-Terrain Vehicle Recreation Planning and Implementation in Northcentral Pennsylvania
Open Access
- Author:
- Du Preez, Lisa
- Graduate Program:
- Forest Resources
- Degree:
- Master of Science
- Document Type:
- Master Thesis
- Date of Defense:
- April 26, 2024
- Committee Members:
- Michael Gregory Jacobson, Thesis Advisor/Co-Advisor
Christopher Scott, Committee Member
Margot Kaye, Program Head/Chair
Tim Kelsey, Thesis Advisor/Co-Advisor - Keywords:
- Forest management
Outdoor recreation
ATV recreation
Stakeholder
Environmental decision-making
sustainable recreation
All-terrain vehicle
ATV
Pennsylvania forests
economic impact
ATV monitoring
ecosystem management
DCNR
Department of Conservation and Natural Resources
stakeholder engagement
ATV Pilot - Abstract:
- Stakeholder engagement is growing in popularity in environmental decision-making due to public distrust and the growing knowledge and interest of citizens in environmental decisions. Participation in environmental decision-making is increasingly considered a democratic right, especially when public lands are involved. As more people look to the outdoors for recreation purposes, managers need to balance the long-term impacts with the benefits of outdoor recreation. All-terrain vehicle (ATV) recreation is a controversial topic in land management, evoking strong opinions from stakeholder groups. ATV recreation can have impacts on health and safety, other recreation groups, the environment, the quality of roads, management and enforcement capacity, and more. Additionally, ATV planning across the landscape level requires cooperation in planning from multiple jurisdictions and agencies. For these reasons, it is critical to involve stakeholders from a broad range of groups in planning ATV recreation to produce higher-quality decisions, build trust, and foster public acceptance. In Pennsylvania, the expansion of ATV recreation development on state forests has faced obstacles in policy and enforcement. The state agency responsible for managing state forests, the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR), had a longstanding moratorium on ATV expansion in state forests from 2001 to 2020. All of this changed in December 2020, when the Pennsylvania General Assembly mandated the formation of a three-year “ATV Pilot” in the rural northcentral region of Pennsylvania. The purpose of the ATV Pilot was to provide long-distance riding opportunities and bring economic opportunities to the surrounding rural communities. In addition, DCNR was tasked to provide a monitoring study at the end of the three-year pilot in December 2023. To balance the legal requirements of the legislative mandate with DCNR’s principles of ecosystem management and dispersed low-density recreation, DCNR fulfilled the mandate by establishing connectors amongst preexisting ATV trails. While DCNR was the sole authority tasked with the project, the ATV Pilot’s planning and implementation required cooperation from multiple agencies across varying levels of government. The ATV Pilot was officially established as an ATV Connector in January 2024. Its future success depends on the continued monitoring, as well as the acceptance and cooperation of a wide range of stakeholder groups: ATV riders, other recreation groups, residents, business owners, and environmental groups. This study documents the history of ATV usage on DCNR state forestland, the changes leading up to the 2020 legislative mandate, and the process that DCNR managers undertook to plan and implement the ATV Pilot. The principles of stakeholder engagement are discussed in a literature review and a framework is selected to assess stakeholder involvement in the ATV Pilot. A stakeholder engagement assessment was conducted using data from interviews and recommendations are provided for future planning opportunities. The stakeholder engagement assessment critiqued how DCNR engaged with stakeholders, how stakeholder feedback influenced the ATV pilot, and whether stakeholders were satisfied with the outcomes. Appendix I features additional work that was carried out to assess the economic impact of the ATV Pilot. Appendix II contains a case study discussion of the Water-Energy-Food-Ecosystem Nexus in the Umgeni Catchment of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa—a study that was conducted to fulfill a dual degree in International Agriculture and Development.