scholarly journals Insights into Public Visual Behaviors through Eye-Tracking Tests: A Study Based on National Park System Pilot Area Landscapes

Land ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (5) ◽  
pp. 497
Author(s):  
Peng Wang ◽  
Wenjuan Yang ◽  
Dengju Wang ◽  
Youjun He
Keyword(s):  
Eye Tracking ◽  
National Parks ◽  
National Park ◽  
Public Perception ◽  
Open Space ◽  
Ecological Value ◽  
Landscape Type ◽  
Degree Of Protection ◽  
Visual Behaviors ◽  
National Park System

National parks are important natural reserves of high ecological value, and the visual perception of national park landscapes is closely tied to the degree of protection that the natural resources within national parks receive. Visual cognition has a direct impact on public consciousness and plays an increasingly important role in national park management. Most techniques and methods previously used to study visual behaviors are subjective and qualitative; objective and quantitative studies are rare. Here, we used the eye-tracking method to study the visual behaviors of individuals viewing landscapes within the Qianjiangyuan National Park System Pilot Area to assess the visual and psychological mechanisms underlying public perception of different landscapes. The effect of landscape type on visual behaviors was greater than that of color diversity and degree of spatial confinement and was mainly related to the characteristics of landscape elements. The public preferred recreational and forest landscapes with high ornamental value, whereas rural and wetland landscapes tended to be neglected given that perception of these landscapes required additional information to facilitate interpretation. When landscape colors were uniform and landscape spaces were more confined, the fixation duration was longer, and instant attractiveness was stronger. The effects of subject background on behavioral preferences were examined. Females were more interested in the whole landscape, whereas males focused more on the parts of the landscapes with prominent humanistic architectural features, complex colors, and open space. Art students generally preferred landscapes with strong humanistic attributes, whereas students majoring in forestry preferred landscapes with strong natural attributes.

Are We Loving Our National Parks to Death? A Call for Research on Crime and Law Enforcement in the U.S. National Park System

2021 ◽  
pp. 073401682110157
Author(s):  
William Andrew Stadler ◽  
Cheryl Lero Jonson ◽  
Brooke Miller Gialopsos
Keyword(s):  
Law Enforcement ◽  
National Parks ◽  
National Park ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Road Map ◽  
Current State ◽  
Park Service ◽  
Service Data ◽  
National Park System ◽  
The U.S

Despite a recent surge of visitation and frequent media accounts of lawlessness in America’s national parks, little empirical research has been dedicated to crime and law enforcement in the U.S. national park system. The absence of systematic crime and justice research within these protected spaces should raise concern, as recent park service data and intra-agency reports suggest visitor growth, funding and personnel declines, operational shortcomings, and technology constraints may endanger the capacity of the National Park Service (NPS) to adequately address anticipated crime threats in the 21st century. This call for research aims to raise awareness of the contemporary law enforcement challenges facing this federal agency and encourage the study of crime and justice issues within the U.S. national park system. We briefly examine the evolution and current state of NPS law enforcement and its associated challenges and conclude with a conceptual road map for future research occurring in these protected spaces.

Introduction

2011 ◽  
Vol 33 (2) ◽  
pp. 9-12
Author(s):  
Martin Blatt
Keyword(s):  
World War Ii ◽  
Native Americans ◽  
National Parks ◽  
National Park ◽  
National Park Service ◽  
Critical Discussion ◽  
World War ◽  
Natural Park ◽  
Park Service ◽  
National Park System

Abstract These four essays critique Ken Burns's PBS documentary series The National Parks: America's Best Idea. Burns has over the last several decades established himself as the central producer of PBS multi-part documentaries, addressing such topics as the Civil War, baseball, jazz, and World War II. National Park Service (NPS) leadership recognized the promotional opportunities for the NPS and aligned themselves closely with Burns and PBS. Critical discussion in the essays focuses in three areas: the treatment of Native Americans; the reverential treatment of “nature” in the national parks, and the distorted focus on the natural park in the West as the embodiment of the National Park system.

scholarly journals Developing Co-management for Conservation and Local Development in China’s National Parks: Findings from Focus Groups in the Sanjiangyuan Region

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ting Ma ◽  
Brent Swallow ◽  
J. Marc Foggin ◽  
Linsheng Zhong ◽  
Weiguo Sang
Keyword(s):  
Focus Groups ◽  
National Parks ◽  
National Park ◽  
Local Development ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Community Stakeholders ◽  
The People ◽  
Close Proximity ◽  
Local Officials ◽  
National Park System

Abstract Environmental protection in China has progressed significantly in the past decades, including introduction of more collaborative approaches in the management of protected areas and the establishment of a new national park system. Many milestones have been achieved. While such developments are driven largely by national and global goals, the people who are most affected are those who reside in the protected landscapes. A range of strategies have been proposed and tried in relation to local development, with many important lessons learned, yet little has been heard to date directly from the community stakeholders themselves. In this study we report on feedback and recommendations received from focus groups in vicinity of China’s first national park, Sanjiangyuan, regarding lived experiences of “community co-management” by Tibetan herders and local officials. Overall, the most recent National Park model is deemed successful, albeit with some notable perceived limitations. Focus group participants recommend more balanced compensation opportunities including for communities living outside but in close proximity to the paranagement and health care) and establishing a more effective compensation or insurance system to offset econok, eased restrictions on ecotourism, provision of public services for communities in the park (especially waste mmic losses due to wildlife damage.

scholarly journals National Parks in Colombia

Oryx ◽  
1972 ◽  
Vol 11 (6) ◽  
pp. 441-448 ◽  
Author(s):  
Don Hunsaker
Keyword(s):  
National Parks ◽  
National Park ◽  
Pacific Coast ◽  
Peace Corps ◽  
The Pacific ◽  
The World ◽  
The Government ◽  
Hunting Regulations ◽  
National Park System ◽  
Vast Range

Colombia has one of the largest bird faunas in the world – over 1550 species, over 300 mammals, including the endangered spectacled bear and mountain tapir, 350 reptiles and over 1000 fish, and a vast range of habitats, from the tropical rain forest of the Pacific coast and lowland swamps to the spectacular peaks of the high Andes, 20,000 feet and more. In recent years Colombia has set aside over 3½ million acres for national parks and reserves, which are described here by Dr Hunsaker, Conservation Co-ordinator with INDERENA (the Government department concerned) for the Peace-Corps-Smithsonian Program in Bogotá. Colombia's conservation efforts began in 1919 with the passing of the first laws protecting the fauna and flora. In 1941 the Government introduced hunting regulations, and in 1948 the first biological reserve, La Macarena, was set aside. A law passed in 1954 made the condor the first fully protected species. Since then government, universities and interested people have worked to coordinate, in so far as possible, the national park system, the wildlife service and university projects to protect wilderness and wildlife in this extremely critical region of South America.

scholarly journals Moving toward a Greener China: Is China’s National Park Pilot Program a Solution?

Land ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (12) ◽  
pp. 489
Author(s):  
Gonghan Sheng ◽  
Heyuan Chen ◽  
Kalifi Ferretti-Gallon ◽  
John L. Innes ◽  
Zhongjun Wang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Protected Areas ◽  
National Parks ◽  
National Park ◽  
Central Government ◽  
Expert Knowledge ◽  
Ecological Health ◽  
The Public ◽  
Institutional Structures ◽  
Natural Landscapes ◽  
National Park System

National parks have been adopted for over a century to enhance the protection of valued natural landscapes in countries worldwide. For decades, China has emphasized the importance of economic growth over ecological health to the detriment of its protected areas. After decades of environmental degradation, dramatic loss of biodiversity, and increasing pressure from the public to improve and protect natural landscapes, China’s central government recently proposed the establishment of a pilot national park system to address these issues. This study provides an overview of the development of selected conventional protected areas (CPAs) and the ten newly established pilot national parks (PNPs). A literature review was conducted to synthesize the significant findings from previous studies, and group workshops were conducted to integrate expert knowledge. A qualitative analysis was performed to evaluate the effectiveness of the pilot national park system. The results of this study reveal that the PNP system could be a potential solution to the two outstanding issues facing CPAs, namely the economic prioritization over social and ecological considerations that causes massive ecological degradation, and the conflicting, overlapping, and inconsistent administrative and institutional structures that result in serious inefficiencies and conflicts.

Washington Watch

1989 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 20-20
Keyword(s):  
Native American ◽  
National Parks ◽  
National Park ◽  
Culturally Diverse ◽  
Cultural Anthropology ◽  
Management Policy ◽  
Capitol Hill ◽  
Management Application ◽  
Park Service ◽  
National Park System

Hal Vreeland, appointed SfAA's government affairs liaison in April 1988, has been busy on Capitol Hill promoting applied cultural anthropology in the National Park Service. The specific goal is to obtain increased funding for the NPS ethnography program. The program is responsible for ethnographic research (and management application of data) in all park units associated with culturally diverse communities, especially Native American. About one-third of the more than 530 units in the National Park System qualify. Yet, six years after its creation, the program headed by Dr. Muriel Crespi remains understaffed and underfunded. Consequently, few of the required ethnographic inventories or studies of park resource use by contemporary groups have been done, and these mostly in Alaska. Requests for increased funding were submitted to the Senate and House appropriations subcommittees concerned with the Interior Department for consideration during mark-up sessions in June and July. The need for such research was documented in the nine-volume report on the state of the National Parks, Investing in Park Futures. A Blueprint for Tomorrow, published by the National Parks and Conservation Association in 1988, and further underscored in recommendations released by NPCA's Commission on Research and Resource Management Policy in the National Park System in March 1989. Anthropologists and others concerned about these issues may wish to track and support these NPS appropriation requests.

scholarly journals Visitor’s Willingness to Pay for National Park Entrance Fees in China: Evidence from a Contingent Valuation Method

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (24) ◽  
pp. 13410
Author(s):  
Lin Song ◽  
Yi Xue ◽  
Yaqiong Jing ◽  
Jincan Zhang
Keyword(s):  
Willingness To Pay ◽  
Contingent Valuation ◽  
National Parks ◽  
National Park ◽  
Contingent Valuation Method ◽  
Marketing Strategies ◽  
Commercial Exploitation ◽  
Valuation Method ◽  
The Mean ◽  
National Park System

China has been making efforts in nature conservation by developing a new national park system. Setting a fee-based entrance policy for the newly established national parks can be challenging without information on visitors’ willingness to pay (WTP). Thus, this study aims to evaluate visitors’ WTP entrance fees with a dataset of 1215 visitors collected in China’s planned Qinling National Park (QNP). Using the double bounded dichotomous choice format of the contingent valuation method, we obtained the mean WTP for the entrance fee of QNP of 200 yuan. Visitors’ demand becomes relatively inelastic at the recommended entrance fee of 160 yuan when the expected ticket revenue will reach its maximum of 13.8 billion yuan. Our study also indicates that visitors’ WTP is significantly influenced by their gender difference, education level, income, number of trips to natural attractions, duration of stay, the intention of a future visit, and concern about commercial exploitation. Our empirical study provides insights into developing effective pricing policies and appropriate marketing strategies for China’s new national park system.

scholarly journals Public Perception of Wilderness in Iceland

Land ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 99
Author(s):  
Rannveig Ólafsdóttir ◽  
Anna Dóra Sæþórsdóttir
Keyword(s):  
National Parks ◽  
National Park ◽  
Energy Production ◽  
Public Perception ◽  
Online Survey ◽  
Google Earth ◽  
Archaeological Remains ◽  
Leisure Services ◽  
The Status ◽  
Nationally Representative

In recent years, there has been a gradually growing emphasis on the protection of wilderness in Iceland. This is highlighted in the current preparation of a new national park in the Icelandic central highlands, which will become Europe’s largest national parks. However, in order to protect the wilderness, a mutual understanding, both on what it is and where it is, is needed. This paper seeks to evaluate Icelanders’ perception and understanding of wilderness. Furthermore, to assess the value of wilderness for the Icelandic public and determine what lies behind the valuation, an online survey aided by maps from Google Earth and photographic scenarios of different landscapes was sent out to a nationally representative sample of Icelanders. The survey respondents mapped their perceived scope of Icelandic wilderness and furthermore chose between several landscape scenarios they thought most and least suited to their perception of wilderness. The results show that nearly all land located above the 300 m elevation line is perceived as wilderness, reflecting the country’s uninhabited highlands areas. The results also show that for the general public in Iceland it is chiefly an open and vast landscape, uninhabited areas, and the absence of anthropogenic features that bestow an area with the status of wilderness. The results demonstrate that any sign of anthropogenic interference, aside from archaeological remains, decrease Icelanders’ perception of wilderness. Moreover, despite being mostly categorized as urbanists or neutralists according to the purism scale, the majority of Icelanders still consider services, such as petrol stations, hotels, shops, restaurants, and diverse leisure services, along with energy production, to negatively impact the value of wilderness. Most Icelanders thus seem to regard wilderness as a valuable asset from the economic, cultural, and environmental perspectives, which underscores its uniqueness.

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