Tourism, Recreation and Trail Impacts - Tourism and Trails: Cultural, Ecological and Management Issues - page 126

5 Tourism, Recreation and Trail

Impacts

Introduction

For years social scientists have been interested in the environmental
impacts of tourism and recreation. While many people envision 'the environ-
ment' as naturally occurring phenomena and elements of the natural land-
scape (e.g. trees, rivers, lakes, forests, mountains), it is much broader than
that. The environment is essentially everything surrounding humans on
earth. It can, in essence, be seen from three broad perspectives, however,
including the physical, socio-cultural and economic environments (Mathieson
& Wall, 1982). These can be broken down even further into various subtypes
of environmental systems. The physical environment comprises soil, water,
wildlife and vegetation, where the relationship between tourism and these
natural elements can be viewed as positive, negative or of questionable
impact (Wall & Wright, 1977).
Holden (2008) provides another perspective of 'the environment', one that
is grounded in the experiential dimension tourists and recreationists gain. He
suggests that the environment can be looked upon from four dimensions:
(1) as the setting for action; (2) as a social system; (3) as emotional territory;
and (4) as self. This typology can be adapted to the environments that this
book is examining, namely linear corridors. In the 'setting for action' category,
trails and routes are known for their recreational use. As a 'social system' they
are venues for important family and friend interaction. As 'emotional territory'
they are recognized as part of journeys taken and repeated, and lastly, 'as self',
the merged physical characteristics of the linear space with its cultural attri-
butes combine creating something more valuable and important than staying
at home. Some of this alternative understanding of environment was addressed
in parts of the previous chapter, and while it is a valuable perspective, a more
traditional approach is taken in this chapter where the focus is on the impacts
that occur in physical, socio-cultural and economic environments.

126