Sport NZ Sport and Recreation Knowledge Library: New Zealand-based sport and recreation research

An assessment of frameworks useful for public land recreation planning Research Completed

Title

An assessment of frameworks useful for public land recreation planning

Lead Author

McCool, Stephen F., Clark, Roger N., Stankey, G. H.

Organisation(s)

US Forest Service

Publication Year

2007

Publisher

US Forest Service

Contacts

Further information is available on the US Forest Service website and publications page.

Department of Conservation publications also cover NZ Wilderness

Abstract

Public land managers are confronted with an ever-growing and diversifying set of demands for providing recreation opportunities. Coupled with a variety of trends (devolution of governance and decisionmaking, population growth, technological innovation, shifts in public values, economic restructuring) and reduced organizational capacity, these demands represent a significant and complex challenge to public land management. One way of dealing with this situation is to use a framework to assist in working through this complexity. A framework, for the purpose of this report, is a process using a set of steps, based on sound science, that assists managers in framing a particular problem, working through it, and arriving at a set of defendable decisions. Several such frameworks exist for providing recreation opportunities on public lands. These include the Recreation Opportunity Spectrum, Limits of Acceptable Change, Visitor Experience and Resource Protection, Visitor Impact Management, and Benefits-Based Management. The report traces the development of each of these frameworks, describes the fundamental premises and concepts used within them, and provides an assessment of the experience with their use. Each of the frameworks has been used with varying success, depending on the organizations will, its technical capacity, the extent to which the process is inclusive of varying value systems, how open and deliberative the process is, the extent to which the organization is concerned with effectiveness, and the extent to which issues are confronted at the systems level.

Keywords:

Parks, Management, Access, Recreation, Planning, America, Forest Service, New Zealand, Australia

How to access

Areas of Focus

Provision (delivery type & infrastructure)

National Parks

Topics

Capability, Delivery, Governance, Impacts - environmental, Management, Planning, Volunteers, Workforce