Thinking big: The role of mega trails in creating meaning and sense of place to conserve large landscapes

IF 3.6 3区 管理学 Q1 HOSPITALITY, LEISURE, SPORT & TOURISM
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引用次数: 0

Abstract

Providing access to natural areas through recreation is a valuable strategy for garnering social support for nature conservation. Direct experiences bring landscapes into people's perceptible realms and create sense of place and place meaning. This meaning can even be transferred to similar areas through a brand effect. Mega trails can play a role in creating meaning and sense of place for large landscapes. We investigated the sense of place and its spatial scale among hikers on the three national scenic trails forming the triple crown of hiking in the USA (Appalachian, Pacific Crest, and Continental Divide Trail) and discusses their potential to promote nature conservation at large landscape scales. We surveyed 602 hikers and assessed the level of sense of place and its spatial scale using Likert scales and heatmaps. Analyses of variance were performed to explore their relationships with hike duration, motivation, and trail section popularity. Results suggest that the longer the hiking, the stronger and broader the sense of place. Hikers motivated by national scenic trails present a stronger and broader sense of place, and this difference occurs even among day hikers, suggesting a brand effect. Implementing and promoting mega trails can create extensive meaningful places, facilitating the understanding of ecological processes and helping to promote large-scale nature conservation. Through the brand effect, mega trails have the potential to reach a wider audience, going beyond long-distance hikers and raising the awareness of millions of people who hike at least a short trail section about the importance of large-scale conservation.

Management implications

By offering long experiences in contact with nature, mega trails are associated with a greater sense of place and on a broader spatial scale. These trails help create meaning for large landscapes, raising support for their conservation. Furthermore, mega trails also create brands that reach an audience beyond long-distance hikers. Investing in mega trails that connect large landscapes or cross geographical features, such as biomes or mountain ranges, can help build support to promote connectivity across these landscapes. Corridors protected by mega trails can even facilitate species range shifts in response to climate change, acting as climate corridors.

高瞻远瞩:巨型步道在创造保护大型景观的意义和地方感方面的作用
通过娱乐活动为人们提供进入自然区域的机会,是为自然保护争取社会支持的重要战略。直接体验将景观带入人们的感知领域,并创造地方感和地方意义。这种意义甚至可以通过品牌效应转移到类似地区。巨型步道可以在为大型景观创造意义和地方感方面发挥作用。我们调查了构成美国徒步旅行三冠王的三条国家风景步道(阿巴拉契亚步道、太平洋山脊步道和大陆分水岭步道)上徒步旅行者的地方感及其空间尺度,并探讨了它们在大景观尺度上促进自然保护的潜力。我们对 602 名徒步旅行者进行了调查,并使用李克特量表和热图评估了地方感的程度及其空间尺度。我们进行了方差分析,以探讨它们与徒步旅行持续时间、动机和路径路段受欢迎程度之间的关系。结果表明,徒步旅行时间越长,地方感越强,范围越广。受国家风景步道激励的徒步旅行者表现出更强烈、更广泛的地方感,甚至在一日徒步旅行者中也存在这种差异,这表明存在品牌效应。实施和推广超大型步道可以创造广泛的有意义的场所,促进对生态过程的了解,有助于推动大规模的自然保护。通过品牌效应,巨型路径有可能覆盖更广泛的受众,超越长途徒步旅行者的范围,提高数百万至少徒步一小段路径的人对大规模自然保护重要性的认识。这些路径有助于为大型景观创造意义,提高对其保护的支持。此外,超大型步道还能创造品牌,影响到长途徒步旅行者以外的受众。对连接大型地貌或跨越生物群落或山脉等地理特征的超大型路径进行投资,有助于为促进这些地貌的连通性提供支持。受到超大型路径保护的走廊甚至可以作为气候走廊,促进物种的分布范围因气候变化而发生变化。
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来源期刊
CiteScore
6.70
自引率
5.30%
发文量
84
期刊介绍: Journal of Outdoor Recreation and Tourism offers a dedicated outlet for research relevant to social sciences and natural resources. The journal publishes peer reviewed original research on all aspects of outdoor recreation planning and management, covering the entire spectrum of settings from wilderness to urban outdoor recreation opportunities. It also focuses on new products and findings in nature based tourism and park management. JORT is an interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary journal, articles may focus on any aspect of theory, method, or concept of outdoor recreation research, planning or management, and interdisciplinary work is especially welcome, and may be of a theoretical and/or a case study nature. Depending on the topic of investigation, articles may be positioned within one academic discipline, or draw from several disciplines in an integrative manner, with overarching relevance to social sciences and natural resources. JORT is international in scope and attracts scholars from all reaches of the world to facilitate the exchange of ideas. As such, the journal enhances understanding of scientific knowledge, empirical results, and practitioners'' needs. Therefore in JORT each article is accompanied by an executive summary, written by the editors or authors, highlighting the planning and management relevant aspects of the article.
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