Banff National Park is unique in that within it’s boundaries exists a municipality. Because of this, the community is faced with planning and management that includes both the livelihood of the town, as well as tourist accommodation. This includes food, housing, and ensuring proper maintenance within the park. Further, this must be done without encroaching on the current population, or the natural environment. Planners must create more accommodations without using any more space, to encourage ongoing tourist visitation. Unfortunately, Banff must overcome many other obstacles, such as maintaining environmental integrity, protecting the wildlife, and keeping up with modern interests (Banff Management Plan, 2010). People visit Banff to make a …show more content…
As stated previously, Banff National Park offers a variety of activities which accommodate people from all backgrounds. However, more needs to be done to attract more visitors. Van Tighem, quoted in Klingbeil (2012), argues that “there are many ways to accommodate a lot of people in a landscape without actually having to fill it up with concrete and asphalt and steel.” It is essential to realize that tourists will come if they are given a unique experience, that does not necessarily include infrastructure. One way is by offering educational activities, to give visitors the opportunity to learn about what they are experiencing. Banff Management Plan highlights this issue, saying “the effectiveness of public education programs is not well measured” (2010). Consequently, visitation management needs to offer more education programs, which can be more closely monitored. Similarly, activities which are relevant to modern interests would be highly beneficial: Banff Management Plan states that this would “promote increased visitation and, through that, the deep personal connections that arise through personal experience of real, inspiring places” (2010). Subsequently, the Banff Community Plan states: “people come here to be inspired - and often, it’s why they come back.” Ultimately, visitation in the park would benefit off activities available within the town of Banff. An answer to the concern of less space within the town may be to utilize space around the base of the park for camping services. While there are currently 2,468 sites offering a “variety of services,” the peak season appears to be August, and the other months see fewer campers (Parks Canada). As a result, if short term sites were available to more experienced, low impact campers, this could lessen the environmental impact while increasing visitation. Draper
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
Industrial Tourism has taken over the countries national parks. With millions of visitors a year, they have become polar opposite of their intended purpose. When the National Park Service was created in 1916, the founders could not have imagined how popular the national parks have become. One man who experienced this growth personally was Edward Abbey. During the 1950’s Abbey worked three summers as a park ranger in Arches National Park. While he saw a large increase in the visitation, but today however, the number of people visiting the parks is decresing. He wrote in journals which were turned into the compilation now called Desert Solitaire: A Season in the Wilderness. This was before paved roads and buildings were created throughout the
Yosemite National Park, is a beautiful piece of nature it is a 195 mile nature getaway from the urban life that is lived San Francisco, CA and 315 miles away from the fast pace and overwhelming life that is lived in Los Angeles CA. This place is like no other in the beauty of its nature. The park is “747,956 acres, and is the home to hundreds of wildlife species and thousands of Yosemite plants” (U.S. Nat. Park Service). Yosemite is known for so many beautiful features, from its granite cliffs, waterfalls, clear streams, giant sequoia groves and biological diversity. And also for its two rivers which are the Tuolumne and Merced rivers. These rivers begin in the park and flow as far as west to the Central Valley.
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.
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...
The more than four hundred locations that are currently recognized as national parks have been set aside because they are considered special places of beauty, character, or uniqueness. Whether visitors come from the natural state or the concrete jungle, the magnificent aesthetics of these sites can cause anyone to be astonished. As they ponder on the wonderful landscapes and the closeness to the wilderness, their souls are nourished. Some people acknowledge the planet or the creator, but all appreciate the splendor of biodiversity and gain a new understanding of it. According to Frye and Nuest, “watching other species and interacting with them helps [people] better understand and appreciate [their] place among them and [their] obligations to other living creatures and the same planetary environment that sustain both [their and the lives of other species]” (54). Furthermore, since these sites have been carefully preserved, they have undergone very little physical or geological change in centuries. The NPS claimed through its website that “by preserving biodiversity, [they] also ensure that future citizens, artists, and explorers of science experience [America’s] lands as the founders of the parks did long ago.” National parks allow visitors to relive scenes from the past and appreciate the nation’s history as expressed in these iconic sites. However,
Every year, over nine million hikers and adventure seekers travel to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park making it the most visited national park in the United States. There are abundant reasons for this, but many popular reasons include over 150 hiking trails extending over 850 miles, a large portion of the Appalachian Trail, sightseeing, fishing, horseback riding, and bicycling. The park houses roughly ten thousand species of plants and animals with an estimated 90,000 undocumented species likely possible to be present. It is clear why there was a pressing interest in making all this land into a national park. My research was started by asking the question; how did the transformation of tourism due to the establishment of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park affect surrounding cities such as Gatlinburg and Sevier County, and in return, its effect on the popularity of the park?
Tourism impacts can be generally classified into seven categories with each having both positive and negative impacts. These impacts include; economic, environmental, social and cultural, crowding and congestion, taxes, and community attitude. It is essential for a balance on array of impacts that may either positively or negatively affect the resident communities. Different groups are concerned about different tourism impacts that affect them in one way or another. Tourism’s benefits can be increased by use of specific plans and actions. These can also lead to decrease in the gravity of negative impacts. Communities will not experience every impact but instead this will depend on particular natural resources, development, or spatial patterns (Glen 1999).
From August 27th to September 5th a group of university students mainly ranging between the ages of 22 to 25 will be experiencing the park first-hand. As far as the weather, this is an ideal time to experience Algonquin Park because "there are only a few lingering misquotes, the days are warm and the nights are cool" (Friends…, 1998). Within the group of approximately 60 people, the diversity of the individual's outdoor recreation experience is varied. Some have camped, canoed and portaged a great deal while some will be experiencing "the great outdoors" for the first time. Although there will be both rookies and veterans the physical fitness level of all is fairly descent. Therefore, it was only up to the individual to do some informal physical training before the trip if they feel training was needed. However, formal training took place at Northern Edge Algonquin before the group headed into Algonquins interior. Activities such as paddling, orienteering, and first aid were addressed for the first two days of the trip.
Yellowstone Park is the world’s first national park and the 8th largest national park in the United States. The park is primarily located in Wyoming and parts of Idaho and Nevada (56 Interesting Facts About . . . Var Addthis_config = ) It is a tourist attraction due it’s 5,000 to 15,000 years old geysers, over 45 waterfalls, canyons, rivers, hot springs, and its massive concentration of natural wildlife. Two of the most popular park attractions are the Old Faithful geyser and the Grand Prismatic springs. ("Fun Facts." - 32 Interesting Facts Yellowstone National Park.)
This anthropocentric theme continues throughout his narrative but is personified on a societal level. This matter is first introduced in the chapter “Polemic: Industrial Tourism and The National Parks.” In this chapter Abbey notes the expansionist nature of the industrial economy and how it is affecting the national parks. Abbey critiques arguments for uni...
A cigarette butt lies next to my foot, still emitting a trace of smoke. Nearby on the dusty asphalt a pigeon waddles self-consciously, bobbing its head as if pecking the air for some invisible food. A squirrel churrs a threat to his brother, challenging him to romp.
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...
Belsoy, J. 2012, ‘Environmental Impacts of Tourism in Protected Areas’, Journal of Environmental and Earth Science, vol. 2, pp. 10.
Generally, infrastructure is divided into two main parts which involves hard and soft infrastructures. According to UNWTO (United Nations World Trade Organisation), (2011), the enlargement of tourist arrivals, went up by approximately 7% in 2010 to 940 million, has led to increase in the number of new and state-of-the-art hotels, restaurants, airports and other tourist apartments. The rising share of amenities illustrates the improvement of hard infrastructure caused by more tourist number. Other contributions of the industry to the former accessibility of electricity and water, better road systems and transport services are also involved in the related expansion of economic activity (cited in Boz, 2011). Besides that, tourism offers numerous positive impacts to the latter, according to OECD, (2014) “soft infrastructure” can be defined as the creation of events and spaces which shows the spirit and unity of that country’s culture. These forms of infrastructure programmes have been applying to both urban and rural areas in order to make the place more well-known and tourists attractive. For example, in Australia, 2007 several events including the Booktown Festival were held to develop marketing strategies and increase tourist numbers. The results were more satisfactory than expected with place-branding advantages, noticeable rural regeneration, growing tourist numbers and