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National park service comprehensive survey of the American public, 2008-2009: Racial and ethnic diversity of national park system visitors and non-visitors
Abstract
In 2009 the National Park Service (NPS) completed its second Comprehensive Survey of the American Public, a nationwide telephone survey consisting of 15-minute interviews with 4,103 respondents across the United States. Both landline and cellular phone numbers were randomly sampled, and interviews were conducted in Spanish as well as in English. As one of a series of technical reports from the survey, this paper compares major racial and ethnic groups on their visitation behavior and on related attitudes and opinions about the National Park System. Race is a social classification based on perceived differences in physical characteristics, whereas ethnic status is based on a shared cultural characteristic such asnational origin. Thus "African American" and "white" are racial categories, but "Hispanic American" is an ethnic category reflecting ancestral ties to Spain. The present report is part of an ongoing effort by the NPS to understand how different population groups relate to the National Park System. Highlights of the results include: 1. Those U.S. residents who could name a unit of the National Park System they had visited in the two years before the survey were disproportionately white and non-Hispanic. 2. Hispanic respondents (of any race) and African Americans each comprised a smaller share of recent visitors than their proportion of the total sample. Asian respondents and American Indians/Alaska Natives were represented among recent visitors in roughly the same proportions as their fractions of the sample as a whole. 3. Visitation differences by race/ethnic group seem not to have changed much since the previous iteration of the NPS Comprehensive Survey in 2000. 4. Among respondents who had not visited in the past two years, the reason for not visiting more often that was most widely endorsed was that they "just don't know that much about National Park System units." Hispanic, Asian, and African Americans were more likely to agree with this statement than were non-Hispanic whites, both among recent visitors and among non-visitors. 5. Very few non-Hispanic whites saw NPS units as unsafe, unpleasant, or providing poor service, whereas up to a quarter of those in other groups agreed with these reasons for not visiting. Hispanic nonvisitors more often expressed such concerns than did members of any other group. 6. Reasons for not visiting were more widely endorsed by Hispanic respondents when the interview was conducted in Spanish than when they were interviewed in English. Such differences serve as a reminder that diversity exists within race/ethnic groups, as well as between them. 7. During their most recent visit, Hispanic Americans were less likely than non-Hispanic whites or African Americans to talk informally with a park ranger and to view indoor exhibits, while Asian Americans were the most likely to view indoor exhibits and go to a visitor center. African American visitors were the most likely to view outdoor exhibits and to participate in cultural demonstrations and ranger-led tours. The report concludes with recommendations for ways to increase awareness of NPS units among diverse groups, to translate awareness into increased visits, and to create a welcoming atmosphere throughout the National Park System. Providing accessible, relevant, and desirable experiences to underserved populations can help to sustain broad public support for national parks in an increasingly diverse America.
... Undermining this sustainability is the chronic underrepresentation of racial/ethnic minority groups in the U.S. national parks (Solop, Hagen, andOstergren 2003, Perry, Xiao, andManning 2015). For example, a national survey of the American public in 2008 (CSAP 2) found that 53% of non-Hispanic Whites had visited a national park in the past 2 years, compared to 32% of Hispanics and 28% of Blacks (Taylor, Grandjean, and Gramann 2011). Although concern over this disparity began in the 1960s, studies on the underrepresentation of racial/ethnic minorities in national parks and outdoor recreation have expanded, especially as population projections suggest a shift toward a majority-minority U.S. population (Bonta and Jordan 2007). ...
... This lower level of knowledge and awareness can be a substantial barrier to visiting parks and protected areas. For instance, the CSAP 2 survey found that 56% of Black respondents rated lacking of information and knowledge about National Park Service (NPS) units as the greatest of 13 potential barriers to visiting national parks (Taylor, Grandjean, and Gramann 2011). Although studies have generally noted the potential importance of low awareness and knowledge about parks and protected areas, empirical research of awareness about national parks is generally lacking, and the effects of awareness and childhood visitation history on visitation to national parks among adult racial/ethnic minorities have rarely been addressed. ...
... For example, a study examined community attitudes toward outdoor recreation areas in Sumter County, South Carolina and found that education level was an important factor in explaining awareness about outdoor recreation areas (Child et al. 2015). However, education level is not the only socioeconomic factor affecting awareness about parks and protected areas; research has found that other factors such as race/ethnicity and previous visit experience are important factors influencing awareness about parks and protected areas (Solop, Hagen, andOstergren 2003, Taylor, Grandjean, andGramann 2011). For example, one study examined visitors' knowledge of coral reefs in Ras Mohammed National Park (Egypt) and found that visitors' prior experiences have positive impacts on awareness about reef biology (Leujak and Ormond 2007). ...
National parks are an important manifestation of the United States’ democratic ideal and attract more than 300 million visits annually. However, racial/ethnic minorities are substantially underrepresented among visitors, and this has led to three hypotheses—marginality, subculture, and discrimination—designed to help explain this pattern of visitation. Moreover, research suggests that the awareness of and visitation to national parks may relate to several variables, including race/ethnicity, socio-economic characteristics, and childhood visitation history. To investigate these issues, an online general population survey of New York City residents was conducted. Study findings suggest that (1) racial/ethnic minorities are underrepresented at some types of parks but not others, (2) Hispanics and Blacks generally have lower rates of awareness about national parks than Whites, and (3) awareness and childhood visitation history significantly affect visitation to national parks. These findings suggest potential approaches to enable and encourage diverse racial/ethnic groups to engage with national parks.
... Although the racial/ethnic composition of the United States population is increasingly diverse, racial and ethnic minorities have historically been underrepresented in the national parks (Chavez, 2000;Manning, 2011;Solop, Hagen, & Ostergren, 2003;Taylor, Grandjean, & Gramann, 2011). This issue has been identified by both park and recreation agencies such as the National Park Service (NPS) (Solop et al., 2003;Taylor et al., 2011) and in a long string of studies in the scientific and professional literature (Chavez, 2000;Solop et al., 2003;Stodolska, Shinew, & Floyd, 2013;Taylor et al., 2011). ...
... Although the racial/ethnic composition of the United States population is increasingly diverse, racial and ethnic minorities have historically been underrepresented in the national parks (Chavez, 2000;Manning, 2011;Solop, Hagen, & Ostergren, 2003;Taylor, Grandjean, & Gramann, 2011). This issue has been identified by both park and recreation agencies such as the National Park Service (NPS) (Solop et al., 2003;Taylor et al., 2011) and in a long string of studies in the scientific and professional literature (Chavez, 2000;Solop et al., 2003;Stodolska, Shinew, & Floyd, 2013;Taylor et al., 2011). National parks are open to all, but there may be barriers to visiting national parks that are more acutely felt by minority groups than by the White majority, yielding disproportionate visitation rates to national parks. ...
... Although the racial/ethnic composition of the United States population is increasingly diverse, racial and ethnic minorities have historically been underrepresented in the national parks (Chavez, 2000;Manning, 2011;Solop, Hagen, & Ostergren, 2003;Taylor, Grandjean, & Gramann, 2011). This issue has been identified by both park and recreation agencies such as the National Park Service (NPS) (Solop et al., 2003;Taylor et al., 2011) and in a long string of studies in the scientific and professional literature (Chavez, 2000;Solop et al., 2003;Stodolska, Shinew, & Floyd, 2013;Taylor et al., 2011). National parks are open to all, but there may be barriers to visiting national parks that are more acutely felt by minority groups than by the White majority, yielding disproportionate visitation rates to national parks. ...
The demographic composition of the United States is increasingly diverse, but racial/ethnic minority groups are substantially underrepresented in visiting national parks. Transportation is needed to provide access to national parks but may not be equally accessible to all groups in society. This study uses a general population survey of New York City residents to examine the role of transportation in visiting national parks by three racial/ethnic groups (Hispanic, Black, and White). Principle study variables were perceived barriers to visiting national parks and the importance of transportation-related incentives in encouraging visits to national parks. Study results identified three categories of barriers: comfort and safety, expense, and accessibility; Hispanics perceive higher levels of barriers than do Whites and Blacks. Transportation incentives may increase national park visitation, especially by Hispanics. Survey findings partially support the marginality and discrimination hypotheses, and suggest potentially effective strategies to increase park visitation by minority racial/ethnic groups.
... In particular, visitors represent a less racially/ethnically diverse microcosm (i.e., mainly non-Hispanic White) than the American public (Taylor, Grandjean, & Anatchkova, 2011a;Weber & Sultana, 2013a). Replicating recreation trends reported for decades (Chavez, 2000;Gómez & Malega, 2007;Manning, 2011;Solop, Hagen, & Ostergren, 2003), recent studies in the national parks (Stodolska, Shinew, Floyd, & Walker, 2014;Taylor, Grandjean, & Gramann, 2011b) have found disparate visitation rates between non-Hispanic Whites and other groups. In a 2000 study (Solop et al., 2003), 36% of non-Hispanic Whites had visited a National Park Service (NPS) unit in the past two years, compared with only 27% of Hispanics and 13% of Blacks. ...
... In a 2000 study (Solop et al., 2003), 36% of non-Hispanic Whites had visited a National Park Service (NPS) unit in the past two years, compared with only 27% of Hispanics and 13% of Blacks. A more recent investigation (Taylor et al., 2011b) reported visitation rates of 53% for Whites, 32% for Hispanics and 28% for Blacks. Differences in visitation rates in these two studies may be explained by methodological issues (Taylor et al., 2011a), but both studies demonstrate the gap in visitation rates between Whites and non-White groups. ...
... Aspects of transportation, such as the availability and cost of transit choices and travel distance, have been shown to be greater perceived barriers to visitation among racial/ethnic minorities than among Whites (Benson, Watson, Taylor, Cook, & Hollenhorst, 2013;Gómez & Malega, 2007;Solop et al., 2003;West, 1989). For example, Taylor et al. (2011b) found that, of visitors to NPS units in the past two years, 33% of Whites agreed with the statement "It takes too long to get to any NPS unit from my home," compared to 54% of Blacks. However, more detailed information about transportation (e.g., alternative modes, costs and options to/through national parks) is needed. ...
A cornerstone of US national parks is their democratic ideal; the country’s most iconic history and natural features should be accessible to all. However, this ideal has not yet been fully realized. Racial/ethnic minorities are substantially underrepresented in the national parks, and lack of transportation may contribute to this issue. This study examines national park visitation patterns of three racial/ethnic groups (Hispanic, Black and White) and transportation barriers and incentives to visiting national parks. An Internet-based survey was administered to a stratified panel of New York City residents. The survey found that Blacks had the lowest rate of national park visitation and Hispanics reported the greatest number of transportation constraints (“barriers”) to visiting national parks and the greatest responsiveness to transportation incentives (“bridges”). Whites had the highest rate of park visitation and reported the lowest number of transportation barriers and the lowest responsiveness to transportation bridges. Study findings help inform management of transportation to encourage more equitable access to national parks and offer insights into theories explaining underrepresentation of racial/ethnic groups in parks and outdoor recreation.
... A nearly 60% growth rate in the Asian population has occurred in metropolitan St. Louis during 2000-2012(Missouri Census Data Center, 2014, a trend that will likely yield increased visitation from this ethnic group. Underutilization of NPS sites by minorities, including Asians, has been discussed in the literature (Floyd, 1999;Taylor, Grandjean, & Gramann, 2011), yet management applications are lacking. This study examined Koreans, one segment of the Asian visitor population in the United States. ...
... By studying a sample of Korean visitors at the Gateway Arch, it may be possible to improve their leisure experiences through some simple educational strategies designed to promote understanding. Raising awareness among minorities is a pressing issue for the NPS, but supplying information is of less importance than providing relevant experiences for those who they are hoping to attract (Taylor et al., 2011). Interpretive programming is one way to address this issue, which can be tailored to meet the needs of international visitors. ...
... Asians are an underserved group at most NPS sites. For example, Asians were more likely to agree with the statements, "I just don't know that much about NPS units," "NPS units are too crowded," and "NPS employees give poor service to visitors," as compared to the average responses of other NPS visitors, segmented by race (Taylor et al., 2011). Compounding this problem is the absence of published studies on Asian tourists in the interpretive literature. ...
The Jefferson National Expansion Memorial (Gateway Arch) is a National Park Service
(NPS) monument in St. Louis, Missouri, that serves as a symbol of westward expansion
and frontier life in America during the 19th century. Most of the nearly 2.5 million
annual visitors are interested in learning about its history and significance. Although
the Gateway Arch is an international tourism destination, few attempts have addressed
the language requirements of foreign visitors. This study evaluated thematic-based
interpretation at the Gateway Arch using a sample of Korean visitors. A total of 148
subjects were recruited from the Asian Affairs Center (AAC) at the University of
Missouri (MU) and assigned to one of three conditions: control group (n=42), watching
a DVD prior to the visit (n=62), or participating in an on-site, ranger-led tour (n=44).
Individuals were asked to evaluate five interpretive themes developed by NPS staff
(by condition) using a questionnaire that was translated into Korean and checked for
accuracy. Results indicated that theme perception was relatively poor in the control
group, but improved significantly (p< 0.05) after watching a DVD and attending a NPS
ranger-led tour. Managerial implications of this study focused on improving visitor
experiences for international audiences, especially Koreans.
... do not visit national parks at the same rates as White visitors (Solop, Hagen, & Ostergren, 2003; Taylor, Grandjean, & Gramann, 2011). Reports by the NPS Visitor Services Project (VSP) show that on average, visitor groups at many national park units are overwhelmingly White, non-Hispanics (90% or greater). ...
... The 2000 NPS Comprehensive Survey of the American Public (2003) found that 36% of non-Hispanic Whites had visited a national park in the past two years compared to 27% of Hispanics and 13% of African Americans (Solop et al., 2003). The 2008–2009 NPS Comprehensive Survey found that 53% of non-Hispanic Whites, 32% of Hispanics, and 28% of African Americans had visited a national park in the two years prior to the survey (Taylor et al., 2011). The 2010 U.S. Census showed that the U. S. population grew by 27.3 million between 2000 and 2010. ...
... k/African American (Shields, Littlejohn, & Hollenhorst, 2004), yet the U.S. Census Bureau (2010) reported that 35.8% of the Brooklyn, NY population was Black or African American. Similarly, only 9% of respondents identified as Hispanic or Latino (Shields et al.) even though 19.8% of Brooklyn's population was Hispanic or Latino (U.S. Census Bureau). Taylor et al. (2011) concluded that " Despite efforts by the National Park Service and its partners to engage underserved populations, these visitation differences by race/ethnic group seem not to have changed much over the past decade " (p. 17). Moreover, there is limited social science information on effective means for increasing racial/ethnic diversity ...
As the U.S. becomes more racially and ethnically diverse, the National Park Service (NPS) is challenged to overcome the disparity in visitation between racial and ethnic minorities and White visitors. The NPS has developed several strategies to help overcome the disparity in visitation including promoting use of urban national park units. The purpose of this study was to explore NPS visitor services staff perceptions toward efforts to increase racial and ethnic diversity at two urban national park units. During the summer of 2010, in-depth interviews were conducted with a range of staff from superintendent down to frontline staff with visitor services responsibilities at two National Parks close to urban centers. Three themes emerged from the data. The first theme, youth engagement beyond threshold experiences, describes whether targeted programs primarily meant for local youth were an effective means to make lifelong park visitors. The second theme, NPS traditional and organizational culture, describes whether the organizational culture of the NPS influenced visitor diversity strategies. The last theme, talking the talk, describes some of the perceived struggles related to adequate funding and training to implement visitor diversity programs. The results from the study showed that the employees at these parks have a desire to increase visitor diversity. The results suggested that for visitor diversity strategies to be successful the NPS should plan programs that promote long-term relationships with youth and diverse communities, employ more non-traditional methods, and devote resources and support from upper management within the NPS. Further research is needed to help the NPS negotiate organizational constraints that affect strategies to encourage greater visitor diversity.
... BIPOC communities also report feeling unsafe when engaging in outdoor spaces and recreation and that accessing nature may require dealing with racism or uncomfortable moments (Machado, 2020;Spillman, 2016). In a survey completed by the National Park Service, 16 percent of Black respondents indicated that they had not visited a national park because of a perceived lack of personal safety (Graham, 2018;Taylor, 2013). Shockingly, this safety concern was not necessarily rooted in poor behavior from other outdoor participants but in the fear of racist treatment from predominantly White Park staffers (Golash-Boza et al., 2015). ...
This research aims to identify the quantity, quality, and condition of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) efforts in environmental education in Wisconsin. Researchers surveyed environmental education organizations across the state to collect and disseminate data related to the status and needs of these initiatives, and to identify areas of strength, improvement, or future staff learning opportunities. Some of the current DEI concerns in environmental education focus on the lack of diversity represented by staffing, achievement gaps represented by marginalized students, and a lack of overall accessibility to the outdoors or outdoor education for diverse communities. Findings from this study reinforce existing DEI deficits in the field, and support a need for reexamination of practices and continued development for DEI initiatives in environmental education.
... In the outdoor recreation field, numerous empirical studies report that nonwhites have low visitation rates to national parks and other protected areas (Gramann, 1996;Taylor et al., 2011;U.S. Forest Service, 2016). Many federal agencies have leveraged Relevancy Diversity Inclusion (RDI) programming as an opportunity to explore and implement more initiatives to support the increase in diversity. ...
... NPS relevance initiatives, in general, have routinely been directed at including racial/ethnic minorities in greater numbers as visitors (e.g. Lee, Casper, and Floyd 2019;Taylor, Grandjean, and Gramann 2011;Xiao, Lee, and Larson 2022) and addressing access barriers to visitation (e.g. Byrne 2012; Lee, Casper, and Floyd 2019;McCown et al. 2012;Perry, Xiao, and Manning 2015). ...
... Connecting with a growing Black community has been a critical challenge facing the NPS in the 21st century. National surveys of the American public have found that White, non-Hispanics were about two times more likely to visit a national park in the past two years compared to African Americans (Taylor et al., 2011;Xiao et al., 2017). Low rates of visitation by African Americans to national parks present a barrier to building philanthropic partnerships with the Black community. ...
Philanthropic partners have always played a critical role in the management and maintenance of national parks in the U.S. Cultivating strong relationships with the communities of color, particularly African Americans, has been a major challenge for the National Park Service (NPS). As ethnic populations increase in share of the U.S. total population, the lack of diversity in NPS partnerships will be increasingly problematic for national parks funding and stewardship. Building philanthropic partnerships with African American audiences will be critical to the long-term sustainability of the NPS. While philanthropy is present and strong in the Black community, further research is needed to ascertain how the NPS can inspire and sustain philanthropic actions among Black donors in support of national parks. This paper presents an overview of the literature on Black philanthropy and the findings from focus group interviews to understand how African Americans perceive their philanthropy and the ways they connect their giving to national parks. The focus group interviews occurred between February and June 2018 in Raleigh, NC; Atlanta, GA; Charlotte, NC; and Washington, DC. Participants included mostly African American donors who were actively involved in community foundations, philanthropic associations, and giving circles. The study found that Black philanthropy is embedded in the community life; measured not only in money, but also in time and talent; and, driven by race and humanity. Participants also noted that a general lack of awareness as an important reason why they had not considered giving in support of national parks in the past. They suggested that making more visible the Black history of national parks would likely increase African American donors’ interests and stewardship. We suggest the NPS broaden its lens in forming strategies for connecting to Black donors (and audiences in general). Findings in this report present unique opportunities for the NPS to cultivate enduring and meaningful relationships with African American communities in support of national parks. Specifically, the NPS should leverage Black philanthropy to build partnerships, recognize the importance of social empowerment, expand cultural memory as part of the NPS visitor experience, and build on the concept of giving circles.
... The enthusiasts and the big-hearted profiles held the highest intentions to engage in all three types of CB and were younger and more educated. Future research should consider how the value-behavior relationship performs in samples that are more representative of the general public given that visitors to protected areas tend to be less sociodemographically diverse than the U.S. public (Taylor et al. 2011). It could be that individuals with higher socioeconomic status are driven to different degrees by eudaimonic values given that they may have more capacity to plan for the future after basic needs are met. ...
Values are the fundamental reasons why people engage in conservation behaviors. Recent research has called for a more refined approach to studying values in a way that accounts for the concept of eudaimonia. However, the empirical properties for a eudaimonic value scale have not been tested given that previous investigations have remained at the theoretical level. Drawing from an on‐site survey of visitors to Denali National Park and Preserve, Alaska, we used a latent profile analysis to better understand the expression of multiple values of nature. Specifically, we segmented respondents by their value orientations with a particular focus on evaluating eudaimonic and hedonic values, alongside the established dimensions of altruistic, biospheric, and egoistic values. We identified 4 distinct subgroups defined by value orientations and validated these subgroups based on measures of conservation behavior and sociodemographic characteristics (e.g., age). These results indicated campaign messaging should harness a combination of eudaimonic, biospheric, and altruistic values to propel individual behavior. We also observed that hedonic and egoistic values defined how people related to nature and played a role, albeit less pronounced, in motivating them to take action. Our study is one of the first efforts to operationalize eudaimonia in a conservation context; thus, we have opened a new avenue for protected‐area managers to align their strategies with the underlying values of stakeholders.
... Little is known about Asians who visit NPS sites because they are often combined with other ethnic groups to form a small and meaningless "other" category (Floyd, 1999). Yet, one study revealed that Asians were more likely to agree with the statements, "I just don't know that much about NPS units," "NPS units are too crowded," and "NPS employees give poor service to visitors," as compared to other NPS visitors when segmented by race (Taylor, Grandjean, & Gramann, 2011). Morgan and Hwang (2014) measured interpretive theme perception of Korean visitors who toured the Gateway Arch in St. Louis, Missouri, and found that simple educational interventions (DVD and a guided tour) led to a significant improvement in scores. ...
If the White majority becomes a minority population in the United States by 2050, as predicted, this shift might result in a dilemma for the National Park Service (NPS) because Caucasians have provided the mainstay of agency support over the past century. According to published reports, recommendations to improve park awareness and relevance for underserved groups are being addressed by the National Parks Conservation Association. Although Asians are one of the fastest growing minorities in the U.S., they are infrequent NPS visitors. One possible explanation is language barriers, compounded by English-only websites and printed material. A service-quality test using a Chinese confederate was designed to examine some performance measures. Of the 370 national parks queried, less than 18% had any information for Chinese visitors. Some managerial implications for Asian inclusiveness are discussed.
... Comparative studies of the summer and winter seasonal experiences, of visitor experiences based on modes of transport, and of value orientations between visitors and nonvisitors (including park staff, concessioner staff, and citizens of the local community as well as the public at large who does not visit the park) could provide useful insights for park managers. Another possibility would be to explore the dynamics surrounding traditionally underrepresented groups in national parks, such as visible minorities (Taylor et al. 2011), as well as displaced concessioners during the winter season. ...
Technical report for the National Park Service. Salt Lake City: Department of Parks, Recreation and Tourism, University of Utah.
... The enthusiasts and the big-hearted profiles held the highest intentions to engage in all three types of CB and were younger and more educated. Future research should consider how the value-behavior relationship performs in samples that are more representative of the general public given that visitors to protected areas tend to be less sociodemographically diverse than the U.S. public (Taylor et al. 2011). It could be that individuals with higher socioeconomic status are driven to different degrees by eudaimonic values given that they may have more capacity to plan for the future after basic needs are met. ...
... A long-noted issue with park visitation, especially in NPS-managed areas, is that although these places are preserved for all, they are not visited by all. In particular, minority racial and ethnic groups have been chronically underrepresented [6][7][8]. Expanding upon the intergenerational equity emphasis of both sustainability and the NPS mission [9], relevance aims for inclusive practices that broaden and deepen these settings' and stories' resonance, usefulness, or applicability to people's own experiences and quality of life [10,11]. In this way, relevance is an unending process of connecting two entities (in this case, organizations and individuals) through a shared goal(s) [12]. ...
“Parknerships” (park partnerships) are an innovative means of enhancing people’s connections with conserved spaces and stories, drawing on the combined strengths of multiple organizations. As a specific type of collaboration, a parknership is focused among parks-related organizations sharing common goals of building positive experiences for individuals, the community, and the environment. The need for parknerships is heightened in complex settings like urban areas, and with national organizations concerned with local relevance, such as the National Park Service (NPS). Although parknerships have emerged as a crucial mode of local connection and are increasingly highlighted in park guidance, scant information exists on what mechanisms contribute to their long-term, multi-effort success. We seek to address this by investigating what elements contribute to a sustainable and successful parknership. To frame this inquiry, we drew from the concept of relevance and framework of collective impact. Using semi-structured interviews (n = 14) with NPS and partners in the San Francisco Bay Area (an urban area with rich cultural diversity and long environmental history), we elicited understanding of sustainable parknerships. Participants emphasized the importance of the parknerships’ context, process, and goal. Consideration of these intersectional themes may be critical to sustainable, relevance-related collaborations among parknerships.
... Comparative studies of the summer and winter seasonal experiences, of visitor experiences based on modes of transport, and of value orientations between visitors and nonvisitors (including park staff, concessioner staff, and citizens of the local community as well as the public at large who does not visit the park) could provide useful insights for park managers. Another possibility would be to explore the dynamics surrounding traditionally underrepresented groups in national parks, such as visible minorities (Taylor et al. 2011), as well as displaced concessioners during the winter season. ...
This article summarizes findings from a literature review of scholarly publications and government documents related to winter use in Yellowstone National Park (Bricker et al. 2013). The researchers synthesized peer-reviewed periodicals and conference proceedings, government documents, and technical reports published between 1972 and 2013. We discerned and analyzed the following five research themes: (1) stakeholders and their experiences, (2) recreation impacts on park resources, (3) park management, (4) the Greater Yellowstone Area, and (5) methodology. We identified knowledge gaps that frame opportunities for further inquiry that can be useful to park managers and researchers interested in Yellowstone National Park and other protected areas with high winter use.
Open access article available here: https://www.nps.gov/articles/parkscience34-1_70-78_gatti_et_al_3881.htm
... These stipulations, which privileged the interests of the early environmental movement's elite white leaders and disregarded uses valued by racial/ethnic minorities and working class groups, continue to inform wilderness management in national parks. This legacy of exclusion is evidenced by national park visitation statistics showing overrepresentation 1 of whites and underrepresentation of African Americans (Meeker, Woods, & Lucas, 1973; P. A. Taylor, Grandjean, & Gramann, 2011). The purpose of this study is to understand how wilderness management at Congaree National Park (CNP) impacts local African Americans' traditional fishing activities, how fishers perceive those impacts and the implications for visitation. ...
The Wilderness Act of 1964 limits acceptable activities in federally designated wilderness areas to those associated with leisure, scenic viewing, education and scientific inquiry. These stipulations, which privileged the interests of the early environmental movement’s elite white leaders and disregarded uses valued by racial/ethnic minorities and working class groups, continue to inform wilderness management in national parks. This legacy of exclusion is evidenced by national park visitation statistics showing overrepresentation1 of whites and underrepresentation of African Americans (Meeker, Woods, & Lucas, 1973; P. A. Taylor, Grandjean, & Gramann, 2011). The purpose of this study is to understand how wilderness management at Congaree National Park (CNP) impacts local African Americans’ traditional fishing activities, how fishers perceive those impacts and the implications for visitation. Through participant observation, semi-structured interviews and document analysis, I discovered how a landscape supporting the livelihoods and social bonding of community members became fractured and restricted when it was designated as federal wilderness. This institutional landscape enacted racial and class biases embedded in the Wilderness Act through policies which banned or limited traditional fishing practices while supporting and promoting activities associated with the park’s white visitors. Resultantly, most fishers perceived park policies as discriminatory and adjusted their recreation behaviors in a variety of ways. This study contributes to literatures examining the reasons for high rates of nonvisitation to national parks among African Americans as well as African American environmental relations and justice issues beyond those associated with urban industrial pollution. It also calls attention to how open-ended historical and place processes aid in the production racialized spaces in national parks.
... National parks, then, are not parks unless they are visited (see Beltrán 2000;Eagles and McCool 2002;Taylor et al. 2011). While nature preservation is a key goal, it does not trump providing recreational and transcendental opportunities to people. ...
... There are few National Park Service (NPS) statistics available that report the racial or ethnic characteristics of visitors, but a 2003 survey showed that only 13% of African Americans visited a park in the previous two years, compared to 27% of Hispanics, 29% of Asians, 33% of Native Americans, and 36% of non-Hispanic Whites ( Solop et al. 2003). A follow up survey in 2009 ( Taylor et al. 2011) reported similar patterns. This difference has been much discussed in recent years (for example, Smith 2008;Fimrite 2009;Khokha 2009;Navarro 2010), and is disturbing because at the heart of the park system idea is the political construction of national identity and history and the ideals of democracy and freedom. ...
The U.S. National Park System contains places of world-renowned beauty and tremendous historical significance that represent some of the central values and experiences in American culture, democracy, and freedom for everyone, for all time. However, the vast majority of visitors to these parks are white, which has increasingly been seen as a problem as it suggests a lack of full participation by all members of society. While there are several perspectives on low minority visitation, it is possible that park policies or interpretation may not appeal to, or may unintentionally exclude minority visitors. This study examines how efforts to expand the inclusiveness and representativeness of the park system may affect its geography. Recent National Park Service plans to commemorate the Civil Rights movement are examined with the goal of understanding how the geography and purpose of the park system may be changed over time. The expansion of the park system into cultural themes will likely necessitate a continual expansion of the number and kinds of park units.
... regardless of median family income. This makes distance relationships with minority populations complicated by trip purpose and their geographic location. Minorities will travel farther than whites if they live farther from destinations, as many do, yet can still be expected to find distance a constraint to visiting parks ( Bultena and Field 1978;P. A. Taylor, Grandjean, and Gramann 2011). There is no study that has examined these issues comprehensively at the national scale in a way that will allow the proximity of populations to all national parks, as well as the relative location of population and ethnic groups and parks in different areas of the country, to be assessed. Studies of race, ethnicity, and accessibility ...
It has been said that national parks are “America's Best Idea,” they are among the most famous and instantly recognizable places in the country, and they attract visitors from all over the world. Yet visitors to these sites are overwhelmingly white. A number of theoretical perspectives have been proposed for the absence of minority visitors, including socioeconomic marginality, differing cultural norms, and the lingering legacy of discrimination, but geography is not one of the usual explanations. Given the strong associations between particular regions of the country and the locations of parks, as well as the uneven spatial distribution of population, the absence of geography as an explanation is striking. We examine this issue with the expectation that geography is an important part of the explanation for low minority visitation rates. Put simply, do potential minority visitors live anywhere near national park units? Are they more likely to visit the ones to which they live nearest? This study uses the geographic concept of accessibility to examine the spatial relationships between national parks and potential minority visitors. Accessibility was measured using driving times between each of 285 parks and county populations, with the results compared to a visitation database compiled for fifty-one park units. There is clearly a relationship between park visitation and the location of minority populations, in the sense that racial or ethnic minorities are disproportionately represented at closer and smaller national parks.
Although nature-based recreation areas are among the most popular tourism destinations in the U.S., African Americans are far less likely to visit them compared to White Americans. This paper offers a critical analysis of the phenomenon often labeled Black under-participation or under-representation (BUPR) in nature tourism. First, I use the concept of the White racial frame to unpack the White centrism and normalism embedded in the notion of BUPR and explain how it erases Black Americans’ historical relationship with nature while concealing centuries of Black exclusion in great outdoors. Second, I use the notion of the White-Savior Industry Complex to critique diversity initiatives of public park and tourism agencies, namely lack of strong sense of ownership in their historical Black exclusion. Finally, I make three recommendations for rectifying the enduring racial oppression in nature tourism.
Hundreds of millions of visitors travel to U.S. national parks every year to visit America’s iconic landscapes. Concerns about air quality in these areas have led to strict, yet controversial pollution control policies. We document pollution trends in U.S. national parks and estimate the relationship between pollution and park visitation. From 1990 to 2014, average ozone concentrations in national parks were statistically indistinguishable from the 20 largest U.S. metropolitan areas. Further, relative to U.S. cities, national parks have seen only modest reductions in days with ozone concentrations exceeding levels deemed unhealthy by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. We find a robust, negative relationship between in-park ozone concentrations and park visitation. Still, 35% of all national park visits occur when ozone levels are elevated.
As the demographic composition of the United States changes, racial and ethnic minorities constitute a larger proportion of the overall population. Understanding the nature-based outdoor recreation behavior of these groups has therefore become increasingly important to public land managers. This study examined racial and ethnic differences in motivations and site preferences of diverse Georgia state park visitors. Data were collected via intercept surveys of visitors to three state parks in northern Georgia (n=1207). Analyses revealed four broad motivational categories: social interaction, physical health and fitness, relaxation and restoration, and nature interaction. Setting preferences focused on three types of park environments: natural areas, maintained outdoor areas, and developed outdoor areas and facilities. Visitors rated all motivation categories as important; however, social interaction motivations were most popular across all groups. Latinos were more socially motivated in their visitation than all other groups, highlighting the potential value of state park settings in meeting activity needs unique to the Latino community. African American and Asian visitors were generally less likely than other groups to rate nature interaction as an important motivation. Associations between specific motivations and site preferences were observed, with social interaction motivations strongly associated with developed and maintained areas, and physical health and fitness motivations more strongly associated with natural areas. All groups of state park users reported a stronger preference for developed and maintained outdoor areas relative to natural areas.
There is perhaps no better example of a national park that could use some friends than Nicodemus National Historic Site. Nicodemus ought to be an important stop for visitors interested in westward expansion and the history of slavery. It is significant and symbolic because it is the last remaining post-Reconstruction western town established by African Americans. The Nicodemus Town Company was founded in 1877 by six black men and a white land developer who recruited 350 pioneer settlers from Kentucky to move to Kansas, a free state where they could start their own self-governed community. Named after a man said to have come to the US on a slave ship who bought his freedom, Nicodemus’ leaders invited “Colored People of the United States” to settle in the Great Solomon Valley of Kansas, a “Western Eden” that some considered the Promised Land. 1 In its heyday in the 1880s, the population of Nicodemus was about 700 people, with a thriving economy that included hotels, a bank, livery stable, newspapers, and churches. The town’s leaders hoped to have the railroad come through their community, but it passed further south and some residents moved to be closer to the train line. Later, the interstate bypassed the town, too. The population was listed at 59 in 2010, according to the US Census.
Ecological consequences associated with climate change are becoming increasingly noticeable in nature-based recreation areas. Research is therefore needed to better understand nature-based recreationists' perceptions of, attitudes towards, and behavioral responses to climate change and resource impacts in parks. This study explored strategies for assessing and responding to visitor perceptions of climate change at Great Sand Dunes National Park (GRSA), Colorado. In the summer of 2011, researchers intercepted visitors at GRSD and invited them to complete an online questionnaire. Visitors reported strong beliefs that global climate change was currently happening, but less certainty regarding the belief that human activities are influencing climate. Studies such as this may provide information for interpreters and park staff regarding climate change, and increase visitors' understanding of climate change. Future research could expand upon this exploratory study in an effort to inform resource management decisions and develop targeted climate change visitor education programs.
Racial and ethnic diversity in natural resource careers does not reflect U.S. population trends. To explore potential drivers of underrepresentation in this field, we used a life-cycle analysis to review 55 scholarly articles to identify barriers and supports influencing career choices (i.e., personal, contextual, self-efficacy, outcome expectations) across 4 age groups. The number of cited barriers differed significantly among age groups. Personal influences included race or ethnicity, gender, age, and perceptions or predispositions toward nature. The latter was the most cited barrier for youth. Contextual influences included social, familial, structural, and experiential, and varied significantly between age groups. Exposure to nature was the most cited contextual barrier for all groups: 59% for youth, 40% for high school, 43% for college, and 50% for career. Self-efficacy was emphasized in studies referencing youth, high school, and college age groups, and outcome expectations were only discussed in studies of the career group. After the literature analysis, we reviewed web sites, reports, and conducted personal interviews to explore how 21 federal natural-resource agency diversity programs address variables influencing minority recruitment. Participating agencies reported challenges recruiting individuals, ensuring funding, and creating welcoming environments for minority participants, many of whom have never experienced remote natural environments or nontraditional careers. Our analysis revealed the need for a modified Framework for Career Influences. The proposed framework combines existing theories on social career choice and minority involvement in natural resource activities, but identifies personal and contextual influences that are important for minority students, as endogenous variables that influence and are influenced by self-efficacy and outcome expectations. © 2015 The Wildlife Society.
Effective communication shapes how urban audiences affect and are affected by wildlife, ranging from policy making and management to citizen science and conflict resolution. This chapter reviews the elements of communication: Sources, Encoding, Messages and Media, Decoding, Receivers, and Feedback. We describe the process for identifying communication objectives, targeting audiences, using mass media and social dialogues, and evaluating results. We present strategies for wildlife conflict negotiation among diverse urban audiences as an example of communications that impact the fate of our urban ecosystems. © 2014 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC. All rights are reserved.
Accidents, one often hears, "happen"; we accept, and even expect, that they will be part of daily life. But in situations in which injury or death result, judgments of responsibility become critical. How might our perceptions of risk influence the ways in which we allocate responsibility for an accident? Drawing from attribution and risk perception theory, this study investigates how perceived controllability and desirability of risk, in addition to perceived danger and recreational risk-taking, relate to attributions of responsibility for the cause of unintentional injury in a unique setting: U.S. national parks. Three parks, Mount Rainier, Olympic, and Delaware Water Gap, provide the setting for this survey-based study, which considers how park visitors (N = 447) attribute responsibility for the cause of a hypothetical visitor accident. Results suggest that respondents tended to make more internal (i.e., related to characteristics of the victim), rather than external (i.e., related to characteristics of the park, or park management) attributions. As respondents viewed park-related risk as controllable, they were more likely to attribute the cause of the accident to the victim. Moreover, among other significant variables, having experienced a similar accident predicted lower internal causal attribution. Opportunities for future research linking risk perception and attribution variables, as well as practical implications for the management of public outdoor settings, are presented.
Yellowstone National Park visitor data were obtained from a survey collected for the National Park Service by the Park Studies Unit at the University of Idaho. Travel cost models have been conducted for national parks in the United States; however, this study builds on these studies and investigates how benefits vary by types of visitors who participate in different activities while at the park. Visitor clusters were developed based on activities in which a visitor participated while at the park. The clusters were analyzed and then incorporated into a travel cost model to determine the economic value (consumer surplus) that the different visitor groups received from visiting the park. The model was estimated using a zero-truncated negative binomial regression corrected for endogenous stratification. The travel cost price variable was estimated using both 1/3 and 1/4 the wage rate to test for sensitivity to opportunity cost specification. The average benefit across all visitor cluster groups was estimated at between 276 per person per trip. However, per trip benefits varied substantially across clusters; from 103 for the "value picnickers," to 263 for the "backcountry enthusiasts," 278 for the "do it all adventurists," 303 for the "windshield tourists," and 714 for the "creature comfort" cluster group.
Formulation of standards of quality in parks and outdoor recreation can be guided by normative theory and related empirical methods. We apply this approach to measure the acceptability of a range of use levels in national parks in Turkey and the United States. Using statistical methods for comparing norm curves across contexts, we find significant differences among Americans, British, and Turkish respondents. In particular, American and British respondents were substantially less tolerant of seeing other visitors and demonstrated higher norm intensity than Turkish respondents. We discuss the role of culture in explaining these findings, paying particular attention to Turkey as a traditional "contact culture" and the conventional emphasis on solitude and escape in American environmental history and policy. We conclude with a number of recommendations to stimulate more research on the relationship between culture and outdoor recreation.
This study investigated the effects of subculture, marginality, and perceived discrimination on use of selected public outdoor recreation areas. The assimilation perspective from the sociology literature provided theoretical guidance for the study. These concepts were treated as different types of social distance (cultural distance, socioeconomic distance, and intergroup distance). Each was hypothesized to affect the use of outdoor recreation areas. Data for this analysis came from telephone interviews conducted with 1057 households in Maricopa and Gila counties in Arizona. The analysis was conducted using a subsample of respondents of Mexican ancestry. The results support the socioeconomic, or marginality, hypothesis. There was less support for the subcultural, or ethnicity, hypothesis. There was no support for the perceived discrimination hypothesis. Research implications and recommendations are discussed.
This paper reviews the social science literature on racial and ethnic minority use of the National Park System. Four theoretical perspectives are examined--the marginality hypothesis, subcultural hypothesis, assimilation theory, and the discrimination hypothesis. Each perspective is described, and its strengths and limitations discussed. Research on race, ethnicity, and participation in outdoor recreation is also examined. Studies consistently show that racial and ethnic groups visit national parks and participate in recreation activities at differing rates. The style and pattern of park use also vary among racial and ethnic groups. Social science research on this topic can help park managers serve the diversity of recreation needs, preferences, and styles associated with diverse racial and ethnic groups.
The study examines the effects of Mexican American acculturation and structural assimilation on outdoor recreation patterns. Based on ethnic assimilation theory, we hypothesized that the greater the level of acculturation or primary structural assimilation, the more similar Mexican Americans would be to Anglo-Americans in their outdoor recreation behavior. Data to test these hypotheses came from a telephone survey of 1,057 households in Maricopa and Gila counties, Arizona. Analysis of covariance indicated that acculturation and primary structural assimilation each had impacts upon Mexican American recreation. In general, primary structural assimilation had its most apparent effects on site visitation, while acculturation was reflected most clearly in activity participation patterns.