Page 11 - A bird’s-eye view of recreation - Rogier Pouwels

1.1 Introduction 1
Achieving objectives for outdoor recreation as well as species conservation in nature areas is a challenge (Bell et al. 2007, Dustin and Schneider 2004). Since the end of the 19th century natural areas have been given protected status to safeguard them against the deleterious impacts of economic and urban development. In these protected areas land managers are expected to realize not only conservation objectives, but also social and economic objectives (Watson et al. 2014). One of these objectives is often outdoor recreation (Reed and Merenlender 2008). For example, the first National Parks in the USA were established for future generations to experience tranquillity and solitude and to enjoy the scenery. The declaration of Yellowstone as a National Park on 1 March 1872 stated that the park was ‘dedicated and set apart as a public park or pleasuring ground for the benefit and enjoyment of the people’ (Yellowstone Act, 1872: PL 17 Stat. 32; https://www.ourdocuments.gov/doc.php?doc=45&page=transcript).
Nowadays, outdoor recreation is permitted in most nature areas, areas where nature conservation is one of the main functions (Eagles et al. 2002, Balmford et al. 2015). Outdoor recreation has positive impacts on visitors, but can have negative impacts on nature (Archer et al. 2005). By visiting nature areas people develop an awareness of the importance of nature (Zylstra et al. 2014), which may result in an increased willingness to support nature conservation policy (Zaradic et al. 2009, Cooper et al. 2015, Halpenny and Caissie 2003). Visitors appreciate areas with high natural values (Siikamäki et al. 2015, Hornigold et al. 2016) and being active in nature areas has a positive impact on their health (Maller et al. 2006, Fuller et al. 2007, White et al. 2016, Bratman et al. 2015). On the negative side, outdoor recreation has a widespread impact on the ecological values in nature areas (Newsome et al. 2012, Larson et al. 2016). In response to these negative impacts, protective management actions are taken and outdoor recreation is limited by legislation (Hoffman et al. 2010, Geldmann et al. 2013, Gray et al. 2016). In many cases such limitations are felt to be a constraint on the development of outdoor recreation (Pröbstl 2003, Gaston et al. 2006, Bryan 2012) and as such may diminish public support for conservation actions (Mace 2014).
Conflicts between outdoor recreation and nature conservation have intensified (McCool 2016). In many areas site managers, responsible for recreation management as well as for achieving conservation aims in the nature area, are under increasing pressure to meet ambitious conservation targets (Butchart et al. 2015), but they are
General introduction
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