A Case Study of Shing Mun Country Park CHEUNG Ka-Kui A
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Can Recreation and Conservation Co-exist? A Case Study of Shing Mun Country Park CHEUNG Ka-Kui A Thesis Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Philosophy in Geography ©The Chinese University of Hong Kong June 2004 The Chinese University of Hong Kong holds the copyright of this thesis. Any person(s) intending to use a part or whole of the materials in the thesis in a proposed publication must seek copyright release from the Dean of the Graduate School. ^^SH'BRARY SYSTEMy^ Abstract Thesis entitled: Can Recreation and Conservation Co-exist? A Case Study of Siting Mun Country Park Submitted by Cheung Ka Kui for the degree of Master of Philosophy at The Chinese University of Hong Kong in June 2004 The designation of country parks in Hong Kong not only conserves wildlife, but also provides opportunities for outdoor recreation. However, these two objectives seem to be conflicting. To facilitate a better and more appropriate park management practice, it is necessary to understand the spatial patterns and characteristics of both recreational impacts and wildlife distribution. Shing Mun Country Park was chosen as the study site because of good facility provision there, popularity among visitors and rich natural resources. By determining appropriate measurable indicators, spatial characteristics of 3 common visitor impacts, namely noise, littering and trampling, were investigated. With the aids of IKONOS satellite images and existing information on wildlife, spatial distribution and characteristics of biodiversity are investigated. Data with different units and natures were then combined by transforming into raster data format, the condition of recreation and conservation was illustrated in the platform of GIS. Results indicated that a number of recreation sites on the western shore of Shing Mun Reservoir were found high in visitor impacts while they are located close to some conservational important areas. Closure of problematic recreational sites and diversion of visitors flow to areas of ecologically less important areas in the east could reduce chance of raising conflict. In addition, wildlife resources can be treated as means to develop dispersed pursuits, while comprehensive baseline information provides the knowledge base in managing the two issues. ii 摘要 論文題目：郊野康樂與野生保育能否共存？城門郊野公園之個案硏究 張家駒 香港中文大學地理課程哲學硏士論文 二零零四年六月 郊野公園的成立不單止保育香港的野生生態，同時亦爲市民提供了進行 各種戶外活動的機會。不過，保育及戶外康樂這兩大目標似乎存在一定程度的 矛盾。爲了優化現今的郊野公園管理，我們有需要知悉康樂活動的影響與野生 生物兩者的空間分佈及其特點。可惜，過往並沒有足夠的硏究探討這兩方面在 空間上的特性。 由於其完善的郊遊設施、受遊客的歡迎程度與及豐富的自然資源，城門郊 野公園被揀選爲硏究地點。本硏究利用適當的可量度指標，紀錄了噪音、亂拋 垃圾、與及隨意踐踏植被等三種常見遊人影響的空間特性。再利用IKONOS衛 星圖像所得出的植被分類圖，與及現存之野生資源數據，在地理訊息系統的協 助下，當地在康樂及保育的實際情況被描述出來。其後，帶有不同單位及性質 的數據在轉化成矩陣模式及以線性比率分成等級以後被綜合起來，以顯示戶外 康樂活動和自然保育潛在著的衝突。 位於城門水塘西岸的一些郊遊地點被發現存在著嚴重的遊人影響，同時 亦靠近保育價値高的地帶。關閉產生衝突的郊遊地點和轉移遊客人流到生態價 値較低的地方將可減低了兩者出現衝突的機會。由此以外，野生資源可作爲發 展游離性消遣的工具；而全面的基底資料則能爲戶外康樂和生能保育所需的知 識基礎。 iii Acknowledgements First of all, I would like to express my sincere gratefulness to my supervisor, Prof. Ng Sai-Leung, for giving me invaluable advice and guidance throughout my postgraduate study. He has assisted me a lot in research direction and project design. I would also like to thank Prof. Fung Tung for his invaluable advice on utilization of Geographic Information System and remote sensing data. In addition, I would like to appreciate Prof. Lam Kin-Che for his helpful suggestions on the measurements of visitor impacts. I would further like to thank Miss Yeung Shui-Ling for her assistance in solving numerous technical problems on the application of Geographic Information System and remote sensing software. iv Table of Contents Abstract H Acknowledgements iv Table of Contents v List of Figures viii List of Tables x Chapter 1. Introduction 1 1.1 Background 1 1.2 Objectives 3 1.3 Significance 4 1.4 Organization of the Thesis 5 Chapter 2. Literature Review 7 2.1 Hong Kong Country Parks and Management Practices 7 2.1.1 Establishment of Country Parks 7 2.1.2 Country Park Management Practices 8 2.1.3 Country Park Design 9 2.2 Negative Impacts created from Visitors 10 2.2.1 General Background 10 2.2.2 Specific Impacts 12 2.2.2.1 Noise 12 2.2.2.2 Trampling 13 2.2.2.3 Littering 15 2.3 Wildlife Resources in Hong Kong Country Parks 16 2.3.1 Wildlife Resources in Hong Kong 17 2.3.2 Conservation Efforts in Hong Kong 19 2.4 Technological Advancements in Park Management 19 2.4.1 Remote Sensing and Vegetation Mapping 20 2.4.2 GIS and Park Management 22 V Chapter 3. Study Area and Methodology 25 3.1 Introduction 25 3.2 Study Site 25 3.2.1 Park Settings 25 3.2.2 Ecological Resources 28 3.3 Field Measurement 32 3.3.1 Sampling Strategy 32 3.3.2 Impact Indicators 34 3.3.2.1 Noise 34 3.3.2.2 Trampling 35 3.3.2.3 Litter Dispersal 36 3.4 Laboratory Techniques 36 3.4.1 Remote Sensing Application 36 3.4.1.1 Image Pre-processing 36 3.4.1.2 Vegetation Index 3 8 3.4.1.3 Vegetation Class Map 39 3.4.2 The Ecological Dataset 40 3.4.3 GIS Application 40 3.4.3.1 Basic Operations 40 3.4.3.2 Composite Maps for Recreation Impacts and 41 Conservation Importance Chapter 4. 44 Spatial Characteristics of Visitor Impact and Natural Resources 4.1 General Situation of Visitor Impacts 44 4.1.1 Patterns from Vector Data Format 44 4.1.2 Patterns from Raster Data Transformation 52 4.1.3 Composite Impact Level 56 4.2 Ecological Attributes of Shing Mun Country Park 59 4.2.1 Vegetation Cover 59 4.2.2 Water Resources 62 4.2.3 General Distribution of Wildlife 62 4.2.4 Conservation Significance on the Number of Species found 69 vi 4.2.5 Conservation Significance on the Number of Class found 69 4.2.6 Conservation Significance on the Number of Trophic Level 70 with Ecosystem 4.2.7 Composite Conservation Significance 70 Chapter 5. Discussion 78 5.1 Potential Association between Recreation and Conservation 78 5.2 Park Design 86 5.2.1 Zoning and Site Location 86 5.2.2 Road and Footpath Network 88 5.3 Problems in Country Park Management 96 5.3.1 Recreation Management % 5.3.2 Wildlife Conservation 97 5.4 Implications from the Study 98 5.4.1 Mode of Recreation 98 5.4.2 Importance of Baseline Studies 99 5.5 Recommendations for Country Park Management 101 Chapter 6. Conclusion X04 6.1 Summary of Findings 104 6.2 Limitations of the Study 105 6.3 Recommendations for Further Studies 107 Reference m Appendices 118 1. Descriptions and Basic Sensor Characteristics of IKONOS Satellite 118 Image 2. Mathematic Conversion in Radiometric Correction 120 3. Details on Aerial Photo Interpretation 121 4. Recreation Site Recording Sheet 122 5. Trespassing Recording Sheet 123 vii List of Figures Figure 2.1 A trail formed from trampling of visitors observed by the 14 auther behind a picnic site in Shing Mun Country Park. Figure 2.2 The increasing trend of total litters collected in country parks 16 in recent years. Figure 3.1 Shing Mun Country Park. 27 Figure 3.2 Distribution of the Recreation Sites in Shing Mun Country 29 Park. Figure 3.3 A schematic diagram showing how the route of noise 35 measurement was organized. Figure 4.1 The noise levels of recreation sites when visitors were present. 46 Figure 4.2 The difference in noise levels of recreation sites between the 48 presence and the absence of visitors. Figure 4.3 The trails created by visitors in Shing Mun Country Park. 49 Figure 4.4 The dispersal of litter (m) from the boundary of each 51 recreation site. Figure 4.5 The dispersal of noise impact resulting from visitors. 54 Figure 4.6 The pattern of trampling impact. 55 Figure 4.7 The dispersal of litter in Shing Mun Country Park. 57 Figure 4.8 The composite impact map by integrating the 3 impact 58 parameters. Figure 4.9 The vegetation cover in Shing Mun Country Park. 61 Figure 4.10 Vegetation map after raster format transformation. 63 Figure 4.11 Rivers and streams running through Shing Mun Country Park. 64 Figure 4.12 The occurrence records of wildlife flora and fauna around 65 Shing Mun Country Park. Figure 4.13 The Occurrences of Invertebrates in Shing Mun Country Park. 67 Figure 4.14 The Occurrences of Vertebrates in Shing Mun Country Park. 68 Figure 4.15 Areas of conservation value according to the number of animal 71 species in Shing Mun Country Park. Figure 4.16 Areas of conservation value according to number of animal 72 classes in Shing Mun Country Park. viii Figure 4.17 Areas of conservation value according to trophic level of 73 animal species in ecosystem in Shing Mun Country Park. Figure 4.18 Map of conservation value based on the number of animal 74 species found. Figure 4.19 Map of conservation value based on number of animal classes 76 found. Figure 4.20 Map of conservation value based on the trophic levels of wild 77 animal inhabitants. Figure 5.1 Conflict between Recreation & Conservation based on no. of 83 animal species. Figure 5.2 Conflict between Recreation and Conservation based on no. of 84 animal classes. Figure 5.3 Conflict between Recreation and Conservation based on 85 trophic level of wild animals. Figure 5.4 Modeled situations of the visitor impact map after removal of 90 the 3 recreational impacts. Figure 5.5 Potential conflict between recreation and conservation based 91 on species number after removal of the 3 recreational impacts. Figure 5.6 Potential conflict between recreation and conservation based 92 on class number after removal of the 3 recreational impacts. Figure 5.7 Potential conflict between recreation and conservation based 93 on trophic levels after removal of the 3 recreational impacts.