Tourism, Recreation and Trail Impacts - Tourism and Trails: Cultural, Ecological and Management Issues - page 142

conflicting use of social space, increased levels of crime, forced displacement
and disagreeable relations between residents and trail users, as well as various
social benefits. This section examines impacts from two broad perspectives:
the perceptions and experiences of residents, and the views and experiences
of visitors.
Resident perceptions and reactions
The majority of research in the recreation and tourism literature
undertaken on the social impacts of linear corridors has focused on the
rails-to-trails development in the United States (US). This is because of its
highly controversial nature since the 1980s and the expansive network of
rail-trails throughout the country. While the extant research literature
focuses largely on rail-trails, much of what derives from these settings can
be generalized to many different kinds of tourist routes.
Studies undertaken on some of the USA's popular rail-trails during the
pinnacle of heated debates about American trail development (Kaylen et al. ,
1993; Moore, Graefe & Gitelson, 1994) revealed a number of concerns by
landowners who lived by trails or whose property the trail would bisect
(see Table 5.4). According to Kaylen et al. 's (1993) study and several others
(e.g. Hedberg, 1989; Parker & Moore, 1998), the biggest fear among adjacent

Table 5.4 Landowners' concerns before the Katy Trail pilot sections opened

Opening the trail
will result in . . .

Strongly
agree

Agree Unsure/no

opinion

Disagree Strongly

disagree

Number of
responses

My feeling less safe 16.18 19.85 27.94 23.53 12.50 136

A decrease in privacy 36.76 29.41 11.03 16.18 6.62 136

Noise problems 16.28 15.50 34.88 24.81 8.53 129

Increased thefts 19.53 17.19 27.34 28.13 7.81 128

Increased harassment
of farm animals

16.00 11.00 37 25 11 100

Increased vandalism
on my property

22.90 19.08 27.48 22.90 7.63 131

Increased trespassing
on my property

36.49 21.89 20.44 17.52 3.65 137

Increased litter on
my property

25.56 29.32 21.05 20.30 3.76 133

Increased potential
for liability
lawsuits

34.33 24.63 20.14 17.91 2.98 134

Inadequate trail
maintenance

25.93 22.22 27.41 20.74 3.70 135

Increased potential
for fi res

24.43 16.03 27.48 29 3.05 131

Source: After Kaylen et al. (1993: 284).