Research to guide trail management at Acadia National Park, Maine
Goonan K, Manning R, Valliere W. 2009. Research to guide trail management at Acadia National Park, Maine. Pages 266-274. In Proceedings of the 2008 Northeastern Recreation Research Symposium. Bolton Landing, Ny. March 30 - April 1, 2008. United States Department of Agriculture, Forest Service
From official abstract: "Acadia National Park, Maine, is the tenth most-visited national park in the United States. Managers face the challenge of protecting the park’s trail system from damage while maintaining a high quality recreation experience. For this study, an initial phase of research was conducted to identify potential indicators of quality for trail resources and the visitor experience. Trail impacts, crowding, and type and level of trail development were identified as important indicators of quality. A second phase of research focused on formulating standards for each of these indicators. Findings identified the resource and trail conditions that respondents prefer, find minimally acceptable, think the National Park Service should allow, and find so unacceptable that they would no longer hike the trails in the park. Responses from hikers on high- and low-use trails were compared. Overall, visitors to Acadia report that they find the trails in good condition and that they are receiving a relatively high quality recreation experience."
- Type
- Conference Proceeding Paper
- Authors
- Goonan, Kelly; Manning, Robert; Valliere, William
- Date of Issue
- 2008
- Units
- ACAD
- Keywords
- hiking, natural resource management, recreation, trail use, trails, visitor use, visitors