The creation of the computer and the Internet has significantly furthered and revolutionized Parks and Recreation Districts across the country. Parks and Recreation Management is a profession that has been able to prosper with the Internet and personal computers today. Recreation in the present day is becoming especially popular due to a general decrease in working hours because of the economy. With many people having more free time, more demands are put on the Parks and Recreation districts. Also with the many national, state, and private parks in the United States, it is crucial for the park systems to have a systematic approach to dealing with these new demands. The computer and Internet has become the answer to this problem. The State and National Parks System have constructed a database computer system that makes the registration process more efficient and expeditious than ever before. An employee is now able to effortlessly type in the name of a registrant and the computer neatly and accurately prints out the registration slip in seconds. This new computer system replaces the need for slowly filling out multiple registration slips by hand one at a time. With the utilization of the Internet, campers are now able to reserve a camping site from the convenience of their own homes. The new computer system is also helpful in keeping the files up to date. The computer database automatically revises previously recorded information with every new reservation made by a camper or employee. This improvement in speed and accuracy allows the park rangers more time to enforce laws and regulations. The rangers are now able to be out in the park with the visitors. This permits more personal communication between the park ranger... ... middle of paper ... ... and audio streaming technologies, children in classrooms around the world are capable of taking virtual tours of The Grand Canyon, Sequoia National Park, or Yellowstone Park just to name a few. Window Into Wonderland is an award-winning example of these electronic field trips. These specific e-trips are designed for fifth grade to eighth grade children. They are approximately an hour long and can feature famous voices to narrate as the children watch. New innovative technologies in computer science and graphics have allowed Park and Recreation Districts to high definition display images of some of the more attractive spots in the parks. Computers and the Internet have made it possible for all of these to things to come into being. I think computers have unlocked many minds about the possibilities of going to see the extensive range of parks that are in the Uni
We are so fortunate to live in California and have access to so many of the properties operated by the National Park Service. There are thirteen national parks in California and I have been to seven of them. Enjoying the outdoors is something that is innate to our family. Even before our children could walk they were enjoying hikes through Yosemite in backpacks. This is an amazing fact that I learned from the map given to me in Sequoia National Park; “The only place Giant Sequoias grow now is on the west slope of the Sierra Nevada Mountains in California. The 75 distinct groves are found within a narrow band about 260 miles long and 15 miles wide, at its widest point.” (Sequoia National Park, 2012). Without the National Park Service protecting and maintaining parks like Sequoia National Park, there may not be any place like this for my children to learn about this beautiful country that we live
During weather events: which forces APCS to close, Charles Barrett Recreation Center will be closed as well. When City of Alexandria offices are open, Out of School Time Program (OSTP) participants in need of care are able to use any of the City’s three regional recreation center (Cora Kelly, Charles Houston or William Ramsey), as long as they’re current participants in the program. Please visit http://alexandriava.gov/ for current recreation closures and cancellations.
National parks have always been viewed as important places that should be accessible to all Americans. To keep these significant sites in good upkeep for future generations, State parks across the country have incorporated many methods to try to increase revenue, such as hotels, lodges, ski resorts, and golf courses. However, to be able to fund maintenance projects, The National Park Service is considering selling corporate sponsorships, which in turn may stray them away from further protection of park resources and their goals to bring new experiences to the visitors and the workers. Other reform options that are up in the air for the Park Service are very risky; anything too significant such as possibly removing the NPS altogether may cause public backlash and the infrastructure to crumble completely. In John Freemuth and William Lowrys’ article “Corporate Sponsors at Yosemite? The Case Against Privatizing National Parks” from the August 25, 2016 issue of The Conversation, they effectively use logos and pathos to show that privatizing national parks is not a good idea.
Non-compliance is an issue of interest and concern for the National Park Service, as well as state, and local park services for many reasons. Those reasons will be discussed and addressed throughout this paper. The first area covered in this paper will be, what non-compliance is. Non-compliance will be defined and a few reasons on why people engage in non-compliant behavior will be discussed. Secondly, examples of non-compliance in the National Parks, as well as other public land areas will be addressed. Lastly, how non-compliance is addressed both directly, indirectly, and legal and social repercussions will be reviewed as well as discussed.
According to Bob MacKinnon there are over eight thousand private campgrounds in the United States as of 2009 (Klein). It is...
Wilderness is a highly idealized concept in today’s society – we simply put it on a pedestal and choose to admire it as we see fit. Nature and wilderness are considered distant and remote concepts, separate from our everyday, civilized lives. By approaching the natural realm in this sense, we simply detach ourselves from our origin, which leaves us to fantasize about the great outdoors as an escape from the artificial creations of our everyday life. This desire to escape our artificial lives has lead to the construction of locations such as national parks, which merely appear to be the natural world, yet in reality they are simply just facets of the modernized world we have created.
...sibly establish management standards (Shelby & Waske, 1991, p.174). If managers can establish a pattern of socialization that is forming, standards could be established that agree among users and user groups. Recreation groups have been shown to be important determinants of recreation experience expectations and preferences (Heywood, 2002, p.272). It can be difficult for managers to assist in the socialization of outdoor recreation areas for urban populations where there is less recreation space to work with. The amount of green space is limited, the demand for activities is varied, and the clientele itself is diverse (Stodolska et al. 2010, p. 37). Socialization plays a bigger role in outdoor recreation than one would think. Keeping with current trends while looking for predictors of the future is a common goal that managers will need to hold as a high priority.
Challenges that are present in managing leisure landscapes for the future generations are technology and population. Technology and population are both things that are growing everyday. With the more that each grows, the landscapes of nature is suffering. Technology is taking over
In recent years this separation from the natural world has become a major concern for the National Park Service since a large portion of their conservation efforts depend upon funding from visitors. Therefore, in attempt to aid this problem, the National Park Service has recently launched a series of campaigns to bring people to national parks across America such as the “Every Kid in a Park” initiative. This project is further explained in the article “Americans think national parks are worth US $92 billion, but we don’t fund them accordingly” as “ [ a program] which aims to bring every fourth grader in the United States to a national park” (Bilmes and Loomis). The program gives students the opportunity to disconnect from technology and experience nature. But, though this may be true, the children are often too concerned with their cell phones or other electronic devices to truly appreciate the natural world around them. As explained by Casey in the article “Can the Selfie Generation Unplug and Get Into Parks?,” “The selfie sticks were everywhere” (qtd. in Egan and Egan). Today’s generation has become so invested in technology that it is simply impossible for one to disconnect from it. A person can not even step outside without feeling the urge to take a selfie and capture the moment. Instead, these people need to put down the phones, breathe in the fresh
There should be no man made machinery operating in the park unless absolutely necessary. The creation of the National Park Service is to preserve wilderness in a way that gives people the opportunity to experience nature in all its wonder. It was never intended to create amusement parks where people never leave the safety of the modern age and look at the natural world through glass. Being completely enveloped in nature has many benefits, from physical such as lowering blood pressure, to psychological in boosting moods. According to Tyler Tapps in Parks & Recreation: “Recent research indicates that outdoor activity is associated with positive mental and physical benefits, including increased cardiovascular function, decreased stress levels, and reduced blood pressure” (Tapps). Abbey understood this, as did many Americans. Today however the number of people willing to immerse themselves in the nations parks is decreasing. In Desert Solitaire, abbey puts it this way: “A man on foot, on horseback or on a bicycle will see more, feel more, enjoy more in one mile than the motorized tourist can in a hundred miles” (Abbey). Today many members of the younger generation have lost that sense of joy and wonder in the outdoor setting. This change would bring back the love of nature in this
My advisors at Grovner Coop have suggested that I write to you regarding my plan to build a recreational park in St.Thomas. I would like to request your help on this project.
Computers can also capture and hold a child’s interest like no other learning tool. Consider, for example, NASA’s recent Mars landing and exploration. It is now possible for an elementary classroom to log on and follow events like these as they unfold - they are witnessing and experiencing a national event as it is occurring. There is no doubt that without technology, an event such as this would not be nearly as interesting or appealing as say, following it in the newspaper.
To illustrate my point, I would like to paint a picture of the typical State Park camping experience. Pretend you are a vacationing middle class businessman from down state wanting to take his family on a camping excursion “up north” over his two week summer vacation. In order to spend a night in one of Michigan’s beautiful State Parks, there is a simple procedure that everyone must go through. First, you must dial a toll-free number, 1-800-44-PARKS, (or use the internet to make a reservation at http://www.midnrreservations.com ) up to 6 months in advance to your pre-planned date of arrival. Spontaneity is overrated anyway. After you dial the number you have to type in the first four letters of the park that you wish to visit. At this point you will be connected with an operator in Maryland who will help you pick out a site number that will suit your needs from a park she’s never seen before in a state she has never been in. This is called privatization, which is an issue for a different essay, which I will avoid complaining about in this paper. So, this operator takes your credit card information and charges you $20.00 per night, plus a $2.00 reservation fee. She will then spend 10 minutes reading you a list of rules and regulations for camping in a State Park.
As the time passes, the statistics of the engagement of the population participating in outdoor recreation activities has been at a high and low. These fluctuations could cause many problems in the future of outdoor recreation activities around the world. There are three main topics that will be focused on in this paper; what affects the future of outdoor recreation, demographics, and technology. Counties, states, territories, and provinces need to realize, and take into consideration what can affect the future, such as new developments (houses, businesses, and factories), a decrease in natural resources due to lumbering, mining and oil drilling. Technology also has made a major impact on how the world functions on a daily basis. It also plays a major role in outdoor recreation activities. Some forms of technology also hold people back from experiencing outdoor recreation activities, examples are internet, gaming, and television. While many can create a positive influence for example, newer ways to travel outdoors-dirt bikes, and other types of technology that make a negative impact like soil erosion. The final topic that this paper will touch upon is the demographic factor. Governments m...
Garcia, J. M. (1993) The development of the electronic field trip to strengthen and enrich existing K-12 curriculum. Doctoral dissertation, Oklahoma State University.