Cultural Factors of Vistors' Understanding of U.S. National Park Service Natural Resource Management

Bibliographic Details
Main Author:	Hilton, Sunita C.
Language:	English
Published:	The Ohio State University / OhioLINK 2002
Subjects:	Natural Resource Management
Online Access:	http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1392111369

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spelling	ndltd-OhioLink-oai-etd.ohiolink.edu-osu13921113692021-08-03T06:21:45Z Cultural Factors of Vistors' Understanding of U.S. National Park Service Natural Resource Management Hilton, Sunita C. Natural Resource Management Current trends in the demographic structure of the US population indicate increasing cultural diversity. Culturally-diverse populations have varying beliefs, views and understandings of natural resource use and management. This study concentrates on understanding how messages pertaining to natural resources concepts and associated management decisions are communicated to and received by culturally-diverse audiences.This is particularly relevant to land managing agencies, such as the US National Park Service (NPS), that rely on a high degree of public contact and support. Failure to consider cultural-diversity has the potential to interfere with this agency's success at communicating its mission and management decisions.The study took place in three US National Parks; Grand Canyon National Park (North Rim), Guadalupe Mountains National Park, and Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park. Visitors were asked to complete an on-site anonymous questionnaire. Data were collected at various locations including trailheads, scenic overlooks, at visitor centers, and after interpretive programs. Total number of participants was 549, Grand Canyon National Park n = 156, Guadalupe Mountains National Park n = 153, and Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park n = 240.Results indicate that visitors were knowledgeable about the resources they were visiting. Visitors to NPS sites have achieved a high level of formal education. Certain aspects of culture, religion/spirituality seem to have a greater role in how visitors identify themselves, as opposed to ethnicity/cultural heritage. However when visitors are in a park they seem display similar cultural characteristics, which may come to the forefront while in the park setting as opposed to home setting. Methodological challenges of studying culture in a national park setting are also discussed. 2002 English text The Ohio State University / OhioLINK http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1392111369 http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1392111369 unrestricted This thesis or dissertation is protected by copyright: all rights reserved. It may not be copied or redistributed beyond the terms of applicable copyright laws.
collection	NDLTD
language	English
sources	NDLTD
topic	Natural Resource Management
spellingShingle	Natural Resource Management Hilton, Sunita C. Cultural Factors of Vistors' Understanding of U.S. National Park Service Natural Resource Management
author	Hilton, Sunita C.
author_facet	Hilton, Sunita C.
author_sort	Hilton, Sunita C.
title	Cultural Factors of Vistors' Understanding of U.S. National Park Service Natural Resource Management
title_short	Cultural Factors of Vistors' Understanding of U.S. National Park Service Natural Resource Management
title_full	Cultural Factors of Vistors' Understanding of U.S. National Park Service Natural Resource Management
title_fullStr	Cultural Factors of Vistors' Understanding of U.S. National Park Service Natural Resource Management
title_full_unstemmed	Cultural Factors of Vistors' Understanding of U.S. National Park Service Natural Resource Management
title_sort	cultural factors of vistors' understanding of u.s. national park service natural resource management
publisher	The Ohio State University / OhioLINK
publishDate	2002
url	http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1392111369
work_keys_str_mv	AT hiltonsunitac culturalfactorsofvistorsunderstandingofusnationalparkservicenaturalresourcemanagement
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Cultural Factors of Vistors' Understanding of U.S. National Park Service Natural Resource Management

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