The Pennsylvania State University The Graduate School Department of Recreation, Park, and Tourism Management BEYOND FUZZY FEELINGS- FURTHERING RECREATIONAL ECOSYSTEM SERVICES A Thesis in Recreation, Park, and Tourism Management by William Luttrell Rice 2018 William Luttrell Rice Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Science December 2018 ii The thesis of William Luttrell Rice was reviewed and approved* by the following: B. Derrick Taff Assistant Professor of Recreation, Park, and Tourism Management Thesis Co-Advisor Peter B Newman Professor of Recreation, Park, and Tourism Management Thesis Co-Advisor Head of the Department of Recreation, Park, and Tourism Management Katherine Y. Zipp Assistant Professor of Environmental and Resource Economics *Signatures are on file in the Graduate School iii ABSTRACT The act establishing the world’s first federal protected area, Yellowstone National Park, imparts that the area be “set apart as a public park or pleasuring-ground for the benefit and enjoyment of the people”. The challenge of managing protected areas to purvey benefits through visitor experiences has since been a major subject of research within the fields of recreation and leisure. Driver and others have advocated for the Benefits Approach to Leisure (BAL) on the grounds that it can serve as an efficient means of maximizing the benefits visitors receive from protected areas. However BAL largely ignores the tradeoffs managers must make with concern to ecological and visitor wellbeing. In an emerging body of literature, use-values inherent with recreation are often referred to as recreational ecosystem services (RES). In this frame, recreational outcomes in protected areas are analyzed in the context of the ecological process through which they are provisioned. These services are those nonmaterial outcomes humans obtain from the natural world such as spiritual enrichment, cognitive development, reflection, recreation, and aesthetic experiences. Though a union between the management concepts of RES and the BAL has the potential to bridge gaps in both theories, no study has explored a means of linking these theories or their methods. This thesis focuses on both research concerning benefits achieved and services provided, and puts forth a means of coalescing them in future research, through the introduction of the Recreational Ecosystem Services Framework (RESF). This is achieved through an exploration of the foundations of both concepts and a case study in which the RESF is applied. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF FIGURES ................................................................................................................. v LIST OF TABLES ................................................................................................................... vi ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ..................................................................................................... vii Chapter 1 Introduction ............................................................................................................ 1 Problem Statement ........................................................................................................... 2 Theoretical Background ................................................................................................... 2 Chapter 2 Literature Review ................................................................................................... 4 The Evolution of the BAL................................................................................................ 5 Recreation Experience Continuum ........................................................................... 5 The Social-Psychological Model.............................................................................. 5 Recreational Opportunity Demand Hierarchy .......................................................... 7 Benefits-Based Management .................................................................................... 7 Outcomes-Focused Management ............................................................................. 9 Applications of OFM and the broader BAL ..................................................... 9 Shortcomings of OFM and the broader BAL ................................................... 10 Recreational Ecosystem Services ..................................................................................... 11 The Emergence of Ecosystem Services .................................................................... 11 Recreational Ecosystem Services ............................................................................. 12 Disservices........................................................................................................ 13 Attainment of RES ........................................................................................... 14 Strengths of RES .............................................................................................. 15 Measuring RES ................................................................................................. 16 Connecting BAL and RES ............................................................................................... 18 Synthesis of Need for a United Framework ............................................................. 18 Synthesis of Theory .................................................................................................. 20 Synthesis of Outcomes and Services ........................................................................ 21 A Synthesized Framework ....................................................................................... 24 Example: Ice Climbing ..................................................................................... 24 Conclusions .............................................................................................................. 27 Chapter 3 Case Study .............................................................................................................. 30 Introduction ...................................................................................................................... 30 Purpose of the Study ................................................................................................ 31 Literature Review ............................................................................................................. 31 Outcomes Focused Management.............................................................................. 31 Outcome Interference and Displacement ................................................................. 33 Methods ............................................................................................................................ 35 Setting ...................................................................................................................... 35 Study Methods ......................................................................................................... 37 v Random Sampling .................................................................................................... 38 Interviews ................................................................................................................. 39 Results .............................................................................................................................. 40 Respondent Characteristics ...................................................................................... 40 Activities .................................................................................................................. 41 Motivations .............................................................................................................. 42 Outcome Interfering Variables ................................................................................. 43 Conflict ............................................................................................................. 43 Crowding .......................................................................................................... 44 Displacement .................................................................................................... 45 Discussion ........................................................................................................................ 46 Outcome Interference ............................................................................................... 46 Visitor Behavior ....................................................................................................... 47 Applying the RESF .................................................................................................. 48 Study Limitations and Future Research ................................................................... 49 Conclusion ....................................................................................................................... 50 Chapter 4 Conclusion .............................................................................................................. 52 Future Research and Lessons Learned ............................................................................. 53 References ................................................................................................................................ 55 Appendix Grand Teton National Park Qualitative Semi-Structured Interview Guide for String and Leigh Lakes 2017 ..........................................................................................