Applying Integrated Nature Conservation Management: Visitor Management and Monitoring ofWinter Recreation Activities Focusing Grouse Species in Berchtesgaden National Park - Sustainable Development in Mountain Regions: Southeastern Europe - page 246

Table 20.1 General characteristics on ski-touring and snow-shoeing (Ingold, 2005 ; Scheuermann,
2005 )

Ski-touring Snow-shoeing

Description Ascents: physically exertive,

descents: demand for large hill areas
for ski-run

easy to learn, space intensive, off the
beaten track

Reason access to winter landscape,

physical exercise, nature experience

solitude, nature experience, unspoiled
nature (without any infrastructure)

Spatial
Distribution

in all elevation zone: valley to summits montane zone (below forest line),
terrain without steeps

Abilities ability to ski off-piste, good navigation

skills, good awareness of the risks of
mountain environment in winter (e.g.
avalanches)

Season November to Mai, peak season February

to mid of April

January to March

Day Time after daybreak to afternoon morning to late afternoon

Development strong increase:

7,00,000 persons in the year 2000
3,00,000 persons in the year 2005

strong increase during the last years
alternative due to insufficient snow
and for non-skier

knowing temporal and spatial aspects of recreational use and wildlife habitat, it
gets obvious if both intersect. However, concerning grouse species - in general
(see, e.g. Ingold, 2005 ; LWF, 2005 ) and for Berchtesgaden National Park (see,
e.g. Künzl, 2007 ; Preuss, 2005 ) - a large amount of data as well as knowledge
are available (e.g. habitat requirements during each season, mode of life, distur-
bance behaviour: response time, escape distance and length). With reference to
winter recreation (e.g. concrete number of ski-tourers and snow-shoers, their spatio-
temporal distribution) there is still a lack of information. Due to this, management
decisions related to both activities are frequently based on estimates and generaliza-
tions instead of concrete data. In addition, there is extensive knowledge on collecting
and processing ecological data, but comparatively only little experience in the field
of nature- and landscape-based recreation (Giles, 2003 ). In Berchtesgaden National
Park data collection by visitor monitoring methods, data management in adequate
data models and data processing via statistics were central steps to provide infor-
mation and knowledge on spatio-temporal use patterns of the winter activities. For
spatial analyses and cartographic visualization a Geographic Information Systems
GIS was used.

20.7 Visitor Numbers and Temporal Performance Pattern

In the winter of 2005/06 data on ski-touring and snow-shoeing were collected by
common visitor monitoring methods, as described in Arnberger ( 2007 ); Muhar et al.
( 2002 ):