Papers by Jeffrey L Marion
Soil Science Society of America Journal, 1985
Biophysical measurements were taken on 96 paired campsites and controls in the Boundary Waters Ca... more Biophysical measurements were taken on 96 paired campsites and controls in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness of northeastern Minnesota. Multiple regression analysis was used to identify and evaluate factors affecting changes in bulk density, organic horizon thickness, and exposed soil associated with campsite use. The best predictors of change in bulk density were campsite age, mineral soil organic content, organic horizon thickness, and offsite bulk density. Offsite organic horizon thickness and level of use were the best predictors of change in campsite organic horizon thickness. Level of use and campsite age were the best predictors of amount of exposed soil. Bulk density and exposed soil continued to increase with campsite age, even though all sites included in the study were > 5 yr in age. Other studies have not found this relationship. This information can be used to assist managers in selecting recreation site locations and appropriate site management techniques.
Journal of Interpretation Research, 2020
The efficacy of different Leave No Trace (LNT) communication interventions designed to persuade f... more The efficacy of different Leave No Trace (LNT) communication interventions designed to persuade forest visitors to practice low-impact camping behaviors were evaluated. Three depreciative campsite behaviors—littering, tree damage, and surface disposal of human waste—were evaluated by before-and-after resource condition assessments. Three LNT communication interventions were evaluated against a control: (1) an LNT brochure and poster display (non-personal), (2) personal LNT communication by a forest naturalist, and (3) a combination of both non-personal and personal methods. The study population was overnight campers using dispersed road-accessed campsites in Western Maryland’s Green Ridge State Forest. LNT communication successfully improved resource conditions for the targeted depreciative behaviors. For litter and human waste, personal communication by a forest naturalist was effective, but the non-personal method was ineffective. In contrast, tree damage was significantly reduced...
Forest Science, 2017
Wilderness areas in the United States are preserved for their untrammeled naturalness and opportu... more Wilderness areas in the United States are preserved for their untrammeled naturalness and opportunities for unconfined recreation. The Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness has these qualities, but long-term recreation visitation pressures on campsites can cause significant ecological changes. This article explores changes on campsites, specifically examining non-native plant ecology over 3 decades. The research replicates a 1982 study analyzing vegetation composition and cover on campsites and environmentally paired controls. Camping activities have removed substantial tree cover on campsites, altering their ecological conditions and perceived wilderness character. Over the span of 32 years, the number of non-native plant species found on campsites has not risen, although their mean relative cover has increased significantly and they have spread to more sites. Of the 23 non-native herbs and grasses found on the campsites, only Cirsium arvense is considered a noxious weed by the state of Minnesota. Other noninvasive, non-native plants fall into a gray area in the context of "naturalness" for an area protected as Wilderness because they provide some positive ecological services even as they degrade wilderness character. Thus, wilderness managers face a difficult challenge in coping with the long-term impacts of visitor use on wilderness conditions and character.
Protected area managers, tourism providers, and other organizations commonly employ education pro... more Protected area managers, tourism providers, and other organizations commonly employ education programs to address visitation-related impairment of natural and cultural resources, social conditions, and neighboring communities. These programs have different names (Leave No Trace, Codes of Conduct, Environmental Guidelines for Tourists) but share common objectives: to sustain opportunities for high quality visitor experiences while avoiding or minimizing associated negative impacts to protected area resources, visitor experiences, and park neighbors. Theoretical and empirical research studies in the United States are reviewed to evaluate the efficacy of educational efforts that seek to encourage adoption of low impact behaviors. Findings reveal that most of the visitor education efforts evaluated did effectively alter visitor knowledge, behavior and/or resource and social conditions in the intended direction. These findings, including discussions of message content, delivery, audience...
Protected area managers, tourism providers, and other organizations commonly employ education pro... more Protected area managers, tourism providers, and other organizations commonly employ education programs to address visitation-related impairment of natural and cultural resources, social conditions, and neighboring communities. These programs have different names (Leave No Trace, Codes of Conduct, Environmental Guidelines for Tourists) but share common objectives: to sustain opportunities for high quality visitor experiences while avoiding or minimizing associated negative impacts to protected area resources, visitor experiences, and park neighbors. Theoretical and empirical research studies in the United States are reviewed to evaluate the efficacy of educational efforts that seek to encourage adoption of low impact behaviors. Findings reveal that most of the visitor education efforts evaluated did effectively alter visitor knowledge, behavior and/or resource and social conditions in the intended direction. These findings, including discussions of message content, delivery, audience...
Journal of Environmental Management, 2021
Campsite impacts in protected natural areas are most effectively minimized by a containment strat... more Campsite impacts in protected natural areas are most effectively minimized by a containment strategy that focuses use on a limited number of sustainable campsites that spatially concentrate camping activities. This research employs spatial autoregressive (SAR) modeling to evaluate the relative influence of use-related, environmental, and managerial factors on two salient measures of campsite impact. Relational analyses examined numerous field-collected and GIS-derived indicators, including several new indicators calculated using highresolution Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) topographic data to evaluate the influence of terrain characteristics on the dependent variables. Chosen variables in the best SAR models explained 35% and 30% of the variation in campsite size and area of vegetation loss on campsites. Results identified three key indicators that managers can manipulate to enhance the sustainability of campsites: campsite type, and terrain characteristics relating to landform slope and topographic roughness. Results support indirect management methods that rely on the location, design, construction, and maintenance of campsites, instead of direct regulations that restrict visitation or visitor freedoms. As visitation pressures continue to increase, this knowledge can be applied to select and promote the use of more ecologically sustainable campsites.
Journal of Environmental Management, 2020
This research investigates the influence of layout and design on the severity of trail degradatio... more This research investigates the influence of layout and design on the severity of trail degradation. Previous trail studies have been restricted by relatively small study areas which provide a limited range of environmental conditions and therefore produce findings with limited applicability; this research improves on this limitation by analyzing a representative sample of the Appalachian Trail with significant topographical, ecological, userelated, and managerial diversity. Many trail science studies have also focused on a singular form of trail degradation, whereas this study investigates all three core types of trail impact: trail soil loss, widening and muddiness. Relational analyses with all three indicators provide a more cohesive understanding of trail impact and reveal interrelationships between trail degradation processes. ANOVA testing of the mean values for these trail impact indicators across categories of influential independent factors confirms and refines the relevance of core trail design principles, specifically the sustainability advantages of trails with low grades and side-hill alignments. Findings also reveal and clarify the importance of landform grade in determining the susceptibility of trails to degradation and the influence of routing decisions; these relationships have received relatively little attention in the literature. The results also reveal several methodological considerations for trail alignment metrics and trail impact indicators.
Mountain Research and Development, 2010
BioOne Complete (complete.BioOne.org) is a full-text database of 200 subscribed and open-access t... more BioOne Complete (complete.BioOne.org) is a full-text database of 200 subscribed and open-access titles in the biological, ecological, and environmental sciences published by nonprofit societies, associations, museums, institutions, and presses.
Landscape and Urban Planning, 1999
Trail impact assessment and monitoring (IA&M) programs have been growing in importance and applic... more Trail impact assessment and monitoring (IA&M) programs have been growing in importance and application in recreation resource management at protected areas. This paper addresses a fundamental issue in designing trail IA&M surveys: the choice of sampling interval. Speci®cally, the in¯uence of sampling interval on the accuracy of estimates for selected trail impact problems was examined using a resampling simulation method. A complete census of four impact-types on 70 backcountry trails in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park was utilized as the base dataset for the analyses. The census data were resampled at increasing intervals to create a series of simulated point datasets. At each sampling interval level, the accuracy of simulated datasets was evaluated by comparing the estimates of frequency of occurrence and lineal extent for each impact-type with actual census values. Simulation results indicate that increasing sampling intervals are associated with an overall increase in accuracy loss for all four impact-types. The direction of accuracy loss for lineal extent estimates is mixed, while frequency of occurrence estimates are consistently and substantially lower than the actual values. Responses of accuracy loss to increasing sampling intervals vary across impact-types on extent estimates, but are consistent on the frequency estimates. These ®ndings suggest that systematic point sampling can be an appropriate method for estimating lineal extent but not the frequency of trail impacts. Sample intervals of less than 100 m appear to yield an excellent level of estimate accuracy for the four impact-types evaluated. The census-based trail survey and the resampling simulation method developed in this study can be a valuable ®rst step in establishing long-term trail IA&M programs, in which an optimal sampling interval range with acceptable accuracy is determined before investing efforts in data collection.
Landscape and Urban Planning, 1999
Trail impact assessment and monitoring (IA&M) programs have been growing in importance and applic... more Trail impact assessment and monitoring (IA&M) programs have been growing in importance and application in recreation resource management at protected areas. This paper addresses a fundamental issue in designing trail IA&M surveys: the choice of sampling interval. Speci®cally, the in¯uence of sampling interval on the accuracy of estimates for selected trail impact problems was examined using a resampling simulation method. A complete census of four impact-types on 70 backcountry trails in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park was utilized as the base dataset for the analyses. The census data were resampled at increasing intervals to create a series of simulated point datasets. At each sampling interval level, the accuracy of simulated datasets was evaluated by comparing the estimates of frequency of occurrence and lineal extent for each impact-type with actual census values. Simulation results indicate that increasing sampling intervals are associated with an overall increase in accuracy loss for all four impact-types. The direction of accuracy loss for lineal extent estimates is mixed, while frequency of occurrence estimates are consistently and substantially lower than the actual values. Responses of accuracy loss to increasing sampling intervals vary across impact-types on extent estimates, but are consistent on the frequency estimates. These ®ndings suggest that systematic point sampling can be an appropriate method for estimating lineal extent but not the frequency of trail impacts. Sample intervals of less than 100 m appear to yield an excellent level of estimate accuracy for the four impact-types evaluated. The census-based trail survey and the resampling simulation method developed in this study can be a valuable ®rst step in establishing long-term trail IA&M programs, in which an optimal sampling interval range with acceptable accuracy is determined before investing efforts in data collection.
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Papers by Jeffrey L Marion