The Role of Crowding in Visitor Displacement at Mount Rainier and Olympic National Parks

Gramann, James

One thousand telephone interviews were conducted in the six western Washington counties of Clallam, King, Kitsap, Pierce, Snohomish, and Thurston. Two research questions addressed in the telephone survey included: 1) the amount of spatial and temporal displacement due to crowding at Mount Rainier and Olympic National Parks, and 2) the differences between displaced and non-displaced visitors in terms of demographic characteristics, crowding perceptions, and recreation motives. The survey found that 20.4% of Mount Rainier visitors and 20.6% of Olympic visitors reported inter-site displacement, i.e., they were previous visitors who were either somewhat unlikely or very unlikely to return to the parks in the foreseeable future. The most important reasons for this were time and distance constraints and lack of travel companions. Crowding-related causes also were reasons for not planning to return, although more so at Mount Rainier than at Olympic. Among the crowding-associated reasons for displacement were traffic congestion in the parks, too many visitors, and difficulty getting campsites or lodging. ... Analysis suggested that, among the most crowd-averse visitors, intra-site displacement may be a robust predictor of subsequent displacement away from a park. Intra-site displacement could be monitored as an indicator of experience quality, and lesser-used locations receiving these visitors might be considered for designation as areas of critical capacity concern in general management plans.