The Benefits of Live Interpretive Programs to Great Smoky Mountains National Park
Stern MJ, Powell RB, Cook C. 2011. The Benefits of Live Interpretive Programs to Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Park Science. 27(3):62-66
We conducted a visitor survey at Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Tennessee and North Carolina, to investigate attendance at live (ranger-led) interpretive programs, visitors’ attitudes toward those programs, and the impacts of the programs on visitors’ appreciation and awareness of park resources. We found that more than a quarter of the park visitors we contacted during the nineday study had attended a ranger-led program at the park, either on this or a prior visit. This is substantially more than the most recent general visitor survey at the park in the prior year, which considered only the current visit. Results suggest that visitors to Great Smoky Mountains National Park highly value ranger-led interpretive experiences regardless of their direct participation in them. Most program attendees also suggested that the programs had increased their appreciation of this national park and the National Park Service (NPS), increased the likelihood that they would donate to the park if asked, and made them more aware of this country’s cultural heritage and environmental issues and concerns. The study affi rms the importance of live interpretive programs for enhancing the visitor experience and promoting positive attitudes toward Great Smoky
- Type
- Journal Article
- Authors
- Stern, Marc; Powell, Robert; Cook, Cathleen
- Units
- GRSM
- Keywords
- Evaluation, GRSM-00883, Interpretation, interpretive programs, Survey Research, Visitation
- Subjects
- Ecological Framework: Human Use | Visitor and Recreation Use | Visitor Use