COVID-19 and its impact on visitation and management at US national parks

PurposeNational Park Service (NPS) units generate a significant economic impact for states and local gateway communities across the USA. Utah is home to 13 NPS units with visitation accounting for 18% of the state's US$9.75bn tourism economy in 2018. Twelve NPS units, including five national parks, are located in Southern Utah, driving an economy that is heavily dependent on tourism. This paper examines the challenges and opportunities for visits to national parks post-COVID-19, generally and in the specific context of Southern Utah. Although the assumption is that visits to national parks will recover quickly, this paper will critically examine how visitation may change and what adaptive measures and alternative forms of unit management may be necessary.Design/methodology/approachBy adopting a holistic-inductive paradigm, this paper utilizes a descriptive case study approach. Data were collected across a variety of mediums focusing on interviews with key stakeholders in and around Southern Utah.FindingsThe results from this study highlight the various challenges faced in parks and gateway communities vis-à-vis changing patterns of visitation, adaptive measures and alternative forms of unit management necessary due to COVID-19 and their impact on the future management and marketing of national parks for touristic purposes.Originality/valueThis paper examines the impacts of COVID-19 on an often-neglected yet significant area within tourism, yielding implications for industry, visitors and destination communities.

The Relationship between Parks and Protected Areas and Gateway Communities in the United States and Canada: A Scoping Review

Individuals engaged in protected area (PPA) management are increasingly interested in the relationships between PPAs and nearby communities. Research suggests that these communities, or gateway communities, share a variety of socioeconomic, environmental, and cultural ties with PPAs. However, these relationships can vary substantially based on contextual factors, including geographic location and national development. Additionally, the absence of a comprehensive literature synthesis on this topic hinders the ability to make meaningful recommendations for policy, practice, and future research. Therefore, the purpose of this scoping review was to: (a) review the existing primary, peer-reviewed research on the environmental, socioeconomic, and cultural relationships between gateway communities and PPAs in the United States and Canada; (b) identify thematic patterns within the reported research; and (c) discuss the resulting implications for scholars and practitioners. This scoping review followed the PRISMA-ScR protocol and yielded 37 peerreviewed research articles that examined at least one relationship between PPAs and gateway communities in the United States and Canada. The majority of studies (n = 21, 57%) were performed in and around national parks, and approximately half employed qualitative methods (n = 18, 49%). Thematic analysis of research topics resulted in 14 themes in five categories, including public participation and collaboration, resident perceptions, community dynamics, policy impacts, and the impacts of PPA establishment. Relationships examined were organized into socioeconomic, environmental, and sociocultural categories. While a few articles examined relationships that fit neatly into one category, most examined relationships in more than one category (n = 30, 81%). Collectively, these studies highlight a range of relationships between PPAs and gateway communities. This synthesis illustrates that even within the same geographic region, relationships may differ. Therefore, the same policies and management actions may not yield the same results in every PPA-gateway community context. This review also reveals patterns, such as the positive effect of public participation and collaborative management on PPA-gateway community relationships and barriers associated with traditional and science-based public engagement strategies. Additionally, this review highlights the potential for theory-based and interdisciplinary research to expand the body of knowledge on this critical topic.

Community Engagement: An Appreciative Inquiry Case Study with Theodore Roosevelt National Park Gateway Communities

Appreciative Inquiry was employed to understand the mutual impact of Theodore Roosevelt National Park and nearby communities’ relationships with tourism. Specifically, the goals of this study were to: understand the role of Theodore Roosevelt National Park related to stimulating regional tourism; to ascertain gateway community resident perceptions of benefits from tourism as it relates to economic development and quality of; and, to explore nearby communities’ relationships with the park and how those communities may help influence quality visitor experiences, advance park goals, and develop and leverage partnerships. Results include a collection of emergent themes from the community inquiry related to resource access and tourism management, citizen and community engagement, conservation, marketing, and communication between the park and neighboring residents. These findings illuminate the need to understand nearby communities’ relationship to public lands and regional sustainability support between public land managers and these communities.

Factors Shaping Second Language Acquisition Among Adult Mexican Immigrants in Rural Immigrant Destinations

This article investigated the intrinsic, extrinsic, and integrative orientations shaping reading and speaking English skills among adult Mexican immigrants in two gateway communities in Illinois. Intrinsic orientations refer to reasons for second language (L2) learning derived from one’s inherent pleasure and interest in the activity. Extrinsic orientations refer to reasons that are instrumental to some consequence. In turn, integrative orientation refers to social identity issues that are addressed by neither the intrinsic nor the extrinsic orientations. Findings indicated that whereas extrinsic and integrative orientations influenced English language skills, intrinsic orientations did not. More specifically, immigrants had multiple extrinsic reasons to be motivated to learn the language, including succeeding in the United States, finding (better) jobs, and communicating with health providers, bank tellers, and grocery store employees. In turn, both quantitative and qualitative analyses showed that closeness and openness toward L2 group influenced the desire to learn the language.

The Complementary Effect of National Park Fee Increases on Visitor Spending in Gateway Communities

In 2017, the US National Park Service faced a nearly $12 billion maintenance backlog. To address this backlog, they announced plans to increase entrance fees in 17 of the most visited parks. As fees are a component of the travel cost, we consider price change effects on demand for park entry. Demand for the 17 parks is shown to be inelastic. Recognizing that spending in gateway communities is complementary to national park visitation, we use Yellowstone National Park as a case study on entrance fee increase effects on gateway communities. We estimate a $3.4 million annual loss in gateway community spending by visitors as a result of reduced visitation by those visitors who choose not to purchase a 7-day pass. Acknowledging the diminishing effect of the fee increase on travel costs, we further explore alternative means of structuring fees based on examples of other countries.

Defining Sustainability in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem

Because of the normative and subjective nature of the terms sustainability and sustainable development, solutions tend to be applicable for specific regions but not the whole of society. Thus, it is imperative understand better how community stakeholders and decision makers define the concept of sustainability. Not only will greater understanding of such definitions add to our understanding of nature-society relations, but also in certain contexts, this understanding may help to promote realistic and effective decision-making at local levels. The objective of this study was to determine how amenity-driven gateway communities surrounding Yellowstone and Grand Teton National parks define, conceptualize, and perceive sustainability, and if those perceptions varied between time in residence, community of origin, or role within the community. Thirty-five key informant interviews were conducted with decision makers within the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem to meet the study objectives. Throughout study communities, definitions of sustainability focused on the environment, the economy, and multi-generational thinking, and it is believed that these similarities can be the starting point for communication and collaboration among gateway communities, the long-term sustainability of their individual communities, and the collective resource upon which they all depend, the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem.

Suburban Black Lives Matter

This article explores the range of experiences and meanings of Black life in suburban space. Drawing from educational, historical, and sociological literatures, I argue that an underconsideration of suburban space has left many portraits of educational inequality incomplete. The article outlines the emergence of American suburbs and the formation of the city suburb divide which governs much framing of educational inequality and why this frame has limited thinking about what suburbs are and who lies within them. I follow with a discussion of the contemporary state of the suburbs which are now often more racially, ethnically, and economically diverse than their proximal central cities. There are a variety of suburb types, and this article explores three: majority–minority suburbs, exclusive enclaves, and gateway communities. Each suburb type leads to unique challenges such as demographic mismatch between leadership and school population to considering how ethnicity and race interact with Afro-Latino communities. A discussion of how racialized poverty in suburbia shapes the school and social experiences of Black youth is offered. The article closes with the consideration of the directions researchers should consider and areas of policy that are ripe for reengagement given the diversity of Black experiences in suburban schools.

Economic Development Challenges for Immigrant Retail Corridors: Observations From Chicago’s Devon Avenue

Immigrant entrepreneurship is important to local and regional economies, cultural identity, placemaking, and tourism. Meanwhile, regional conditions, such as the development of suburban immigrant gateway communities and increases in the cost of business ownership, complicate local economic development efforts in urban ethnic districts. This research is presented as a mixed–methods case study of Devon Avenue in Chicago, IL, home to a significant concentration of South Asian–owned immigrant businesses. Challenges and pressures facing businesses are examined through merchant surveys and interviews. Observations reinforce the notion that cultural competency and strong grassroots leadership is vital for economic development planning so that “capitalizing” on an ethnic heritage does not become a tool for commodification or commercial gentrification. Agencies must also be mindful of the impacts associated with suburbanization of immigrant communities and take a long-term, regional approach to planning in ethnic commercial corridors.