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Managing Tourism and Environment—Trail Erosion, Thresholds of Potential Concern and Limits of Acceptable Change

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  • Deirdre Dragovich

    (School of Geosciences, University of Sydney, Sydney 2006, Australia)

  • Sunil Bajpai

    (School of Geosciences, University of Sydney, Sydney 2006, Australia)

Abstract

Natural area tourism may contribute to deterioration in biophysical environments important for sustainable conservation of biodiversity and/or historically significant sites. Levels of protection within the IUCN guidelines provide general descriptors of desirable outcomes, and the Limits of Acceptable Change (LAC) management tool has often been implicitly applied. This article presents an initial attempt to assess the value of Thresholds of Potential Concern (TPC) relative to LAC as management frameworks for protected areas, using the example of trail width as an indicator of visitor impacts on vegetation, soil, water and, potentially, visitor safety. Visitor preferences relating to trail width were incorporated when applying the TPC and LAC principles. Sections of three walking trails in a high-visitation national park near Sydney, Australia, were measured at ~10.7 m intervals: the mean trail widths were 1.6 m, 1.8 m and 2.14 m. Of the 115 recreationists surveyed, 16% of those having the greatest tolerance towards management interventions (‘Non-purist’ wilderness category) viewed a trail ≥ 2 m wide as acceptable, but 96% of ‘Purists’ nominated a maximum of ≤1.5 m. The TPC was found to provide a broad strategy for identification, assessment and grading of multiple biophysical thresholds within an ecological framework. Combined with stakeholder information, the TPC allows for timely, proactive and calibrated management responses to maintaining biophysical and social sustainability.

Suggested Citation

  • Deirdre Dragovich & Sunil Bajpai, 2022. "Managing Tourism and Environment—Trail Erosion, Thresholds of Potential Concern and Limits of Acceptable Change," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(7), pages 1-16, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:14:y:2022:i:7:p:4291-:d:786995
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Daminda Sumanapala & Isabelle D. Wolf, 2022. "Introducing Geotourism to Diversify the Visitor Experience in Protected Areas and Reduce Impacts on Overused Attractions," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(12), pages 1-15, November.
    2. Destina Samani & Keith Bosak & Sarah J. Halvorson, 2023. "Community-Centered Sustainable Ecotourism Planning in the Bossou Forest Reserve, Guinea, West Africa," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(5), pages 1-24, March.
    3. Kamila Štekerová & Josef Zelenka & Milan Kořínek, 2022. "Agent-Based Modelling in Visitor Management of Protected Areas," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(19), pages 1-18, September.

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