VIDEOTAPE INTERPRETIVE SYSTEMS for NATIONAL PARKS by SUZANNE PARODY, B.A
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1^ VIDEOTAPE INTERPRETIVE SYSTEMS FOR NATIONAL PARKS by SUZANNE PARODY, B.A. A THESIS IN PARK ADMINISTRATION Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of Texas Tech University in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of MASTER OF SCIENCE Approved Accepted May, 1973 '973 ^io.S'S- CONTENTS Co,' Z LIST OF TABLES iii LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS iv I. RATIONALE FOR STUDY 1 II. OBJECTIVES 8 Introduction 8 Program Outline 12 Theory and Techniques 13 III. METHODOLOGY 23 Tools 23 Videotape 23 Cable Television 3 0 Information Program 40 Pre-indoctrination 40 Interpretation . • ..... 41 Promotion 42 Distribution 42 IV. CASE STUDY—CARLSBAD CAVERNS NATIONAL PARK ... 44 V. SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS 55 LIST OF REFERENCES 58 ii ^^ LIST OF TABLES Table Page 1. Glossary of Terms 11 2. Program Implementation of National Park Video tape Interpretive System 14 3. Comparison: Film vs. Videotape 16 4. Comparative Costs Between Panasonic and Sony Video Equipment 3 2 5. Functional Comparisons of Selected Video Equipment 33 6. Standard Cost Estimates for a Basic National Park Videotape Interpretive System 3 4 7. Visitor Travel Trends - Carlsbad Caverns National Park 45 8. Suggested Programming Topics for Carlsbad Caverns National Park Videotape Interpretive Progrcun 52 10. m^ LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Figure Page 1. Schematic Program for National Park Videotape Interpretive System 15 2. Videocassette System 29 3. Cable Television Relay-Distribution System . 31 IV CHAPTER I RATIONALE FOR STUDY Statement of Purpose This is a study to investigate communications media which could be successfully united with National Park Service interpretation programs, taking these directly to the grow ing number of tourists as they travel by mass transit systems to park areas. Objectives The objectives of this paper are to examine the possi- bilities for revising present National Park Service inter pretive programs to facilitate their use in conjunction with media communication systems and mass transit systems. 1. The interpretive material will be able to relate basic information about the countryside travelers pass through while on mass transit routes to the selected national park area. 2. It will inform visitors/passengers about various services, activities, assistance programs which will aide them during their visit to the national park. 3. Interpretive material will be able to combine with media systems for informative, up-to-date, and entertaining communications about the national park environs and visitors' wise and compatible use of these areas. 4. This study will examine the feasibility of using said programs in terminals prior to actual visitor travel. Need For Study Revised communication techniques are needed to effec tively educate as well as entertain larger numbers of peo ple anticipating travel to the national parks.. The National Park Service has been conducting extensive interpretive programs for many years, in which visitors have eagerly participated and appeared to enjoy themselves. In most instances, these programs have most benefited those people already within the national parks. Our society and national environment are in a state of flux. Increased mobility of millions of people has been made possible by wide-spread use of the automobile and mass transit—planes, trains, and buses. The shorter work week insures most Americans of more leisure hours and a corre sponding ability to pay for recreation and leisure-oriented activities. The National Park Service is now finding it necessary to adapt its services in order to accommodate spiraling increases in visitation rates. The National Parks admitted over 200,500,000 people in 1971. That figure is expected to soar to over 301,800,000 by 1981."^ Previously, visitor travel to national parks such as Yellowstone was considered a rare treat, and something of a status symbol within the local neighborhood. Today, vacation trips to the national parks have become commonplace. Heavy use of airlines, highways, railroads, and buses have brought distant. Western national parks well within reach of the heavily populated East. Recreation travel to national parks still appears to be a middle and upper class, white phenomenon. But, steadily decreasing prices, availability, and publicity will make travel, especially by mass transit systems, more desirable for all types and quantities of people. Unfortunately, for some people travel to the national parks has become an evil necessity. What was once a lei surely journey through the back yards and fields of America, has become a fight for survival on our nation's highways. The sheer impact of thousands of autos, passengers, and their expectations for services is wearing on the natural environs of our national parks. These factors have already begun to seriously affect and disturb the ecological health of these areas. The National Park System is physically suf fering today from the success of public interest, unfortu nately expressed by numbers of visitors... "as population and productivity have increased, wild country outside the parks has diminished and the fishing and camping which were once found close to home in abundance are increasingly looked 2 for in national parks, which no longer seem remote." Most visitors are totally unaware of these issues. It is personally difficult to picture themselves as part of the problems causing a deterioration of natural conditions with in the parks. This is especially true for those visiting the national parks for the first time. The National Park Service conducts and supports many studies on the national parks environment, wildlife habitats, and visitor impact. They have introduced numerous interpre tive programs. Because of the surging influx of people into the national parks, they must expand their future interpre tive programs' impact to include: new attitudes toward opti mal public use of national parks and the direction of these attitudes toward similar relationships within the visitor's everyday life. Environmental ethics should be incorporated, and situations explored which can immediately affect the traveler. These programs should become part of the itiner ary prior to the tourist's arrival at national park bounda ries and should anticipate problems and provide means for preventive measures. In the future, planners of National Park Service inter pretive programs and the potential media communications pro grams will have to recognize cultural diversities within the nation's population and be prepared to communicate with them accordingly. National Parks for the Future pointed to the fact that: We are a pluralistic democracy, a nation made rich from the diverse population and cultural base.... It is our judgment that interpretive programs are too often nar rowly conceived, unimaginatively presented, and out of touch with contemporary scholarship.3 Mass media cannot only reach a greater proportion of people, but it is one of the most heavily used systems of communica tion. It constitutes a familiar part of most people's lives. Interpretation programs need to reach individuals on a per sonal basis, supplementing their interests and abilities. These programs must be easily accessible and have up-to-date facilities. They should be suitable for use by many dif ferent groups. Interpretive material needs to be enjoyable as well as informative in order to retain people's interest. It must elucidate fundamental environmental relationships in such a way that people, who are totally unfamiliar with the out-of-doors and those with some knowledge, will be moti^ vated to environmentally sound use of national parks. It should redirect their thinking and park use patterns toward acceptable preservation standards prescribed by the National Park Service. Interpretive information should establish pat terns for action which v/ill not only protect visitors while in the park, but will enhance their overall experiences. Techniques and equipment are available that can play an integral role in developing and stimulating a new national park consciousness among its visitors. Using revised inter pretive material, the National Park Service can, with the assistance of modern media systems, translate conservation ethics into terms urban residents can understand and identify with personally. The need for understanding becomes more apparent every park visitor day. Relationships have to be internalized by visitors, joining values, problems, and the wonderous beauty found in our national parks with values similarly found within the urban environment: open space preservation, pollution, man's impact in concentrated num bers on a limited space, and quality of building and road design. They should also be aware of the difficulties in solving problems such as protection, trash disposal, and transportation. Visitors need to be aware of the connection between national park and urban problems. Most major national parks and recreation areas are located great distances from concentrated population areas. The urban population is forced to travel long distances to 4 the vacation area of their choice. In most cases, mass transit systems are available for their use as an alterna tive to travel by car. Urban dwellers travel to national parks for many reasons. Many seek preserved examples of a natural environment. But, in more and more instances, these travelers encounter many of the same problems in the national parks that they hoped to leave behind—crowding, traffic, noise, and crime. They come unprepared to deal with dan gerous animals, insects,