7 Recreation Preferences, Conflicts and Satisfaction
Recreation research based on recent user surveys within the Waitaki Catchment is limited. The only information available (apart from the surveys completed by Project Aqua) is descriptive and not based on actual research in the field of recreation preferences, conflicts or satisfaction.
With the current growth in participation in outdoor recreation, it is important for resource managers to learn about the needs and trip motives of recreational users, and to act accordingly to optimise the quality of their experiences. This understanding is currently lacking in the Waitaki Catchment. Examples of information from overseas and general research from New Zealand may help increase understanding of recreation experiences and help to address this knowledge void.
"As participation in outdoor recreation activities has increased dramatically over the past few decades in the US, researchers have attempted to study the underlying motivations for participation." (Thapa et al, 2004, p. 208).
As international research projects in the field of water-based recreation show, user values and activity preferences differ considerably between various user groups.
It is widely acknowledged that motives differ among recreationists and are largely dependent on their goals (Mannell and Kleiber, 1997) and their respective activity. Amongst many other recreationists, river users are some of the participants who have been examined in the United States literature (e.g. Graefe et al, 1981, Knopf and Lime, 1984, Schuett, 1994, 1995). "Based on river users, peace and calm, and viewing scenery were noted as key motives" (Knopf and Lime, 1984, in Thapa et al, 2004, p. 208).
Thapa et al noted that "overall, based on empirical research, there has been some consistency in findings as recreationists have noted the following but not limited to these motivations/domains such as, exploration, escape, general natural experience, introspection, exercise, to be with similar people, to seek exhilaration, and to escape physical stressors. In addition, empirical research has consistently demonstrated that motivations differ based on participation in various activities, as well as due to the significant effect of other non-motivational variables" (Thapa et al, 2004, p. 209).
The findings of the study that Thapa and his colleagues have undertaken at Gallatin River near Yellowstone National Park (United States) highlight that anglers were more likely to participate for solitude. Such findings were expected as anglers generally prefer isolation and are susceptible to conflict situations due to presence or behaviour of other activities.
Among the kayakers local residents were more likely to participate as it offers a challenge, keeps them in shape, and to do things with other people.
The study also found that rafting on rivers along gateway communities is very popular among tourists as local residents work as guides. It was found that rafters were more likely to participate to see wildlife, and to tell others about it at home.
"Regardless of activity, repeat visitors were more likely than first time visitors to mention solitude and relaxation as their key motives to visit the river. As expected, repeat visitors were largely local residents who recreated for solitude." (Thapa et al, 2004, p. 209).
The study described above "sought to examine trip motivations and the effect of select non-motivational variables among water-based recreationists. The findings derived from this study was largely expected and confirmed".
Thapa states at the end of his study: "Understanding what people seek through recreation can provide useful guidance to a variety of planning and management tasks, such as measuring supply and demand for recreation, developing management objectives, and preventing and managing conflicts between users as well as local residents and tourists" (Thapa et al, 2004, p. 212).
In New Zealand, the "Beneficial Outcomes Approach" (BOA) has been investigated by researchers from Lincoln University and it is being assessed by the Department of Conservation as a tool.
"The BOA is a management planning process which was developed for natural resource management government agencies in the United States and has now been applied in other countries. Its purpose is to optimise the net benefits of actions undertaken by public agencies and to help make those agencies more accountable and responsive to the consumers they serve." (Booth et al, 2002, p. 9)
"In summary, during the past three decades, considerable progress has been made in advancing the state of knowledge about leisure. These advances in knowledge have been accompanied by similar improvements in the state of management practice. There is now considerable objective documentation of the wide scope and magnitude of the many benefits of leisure, and most of those reports present the results by categories of benefit such as psychological, physiological, sociological, economic, and environmental. As such, there is adequate scientific support for implementation of the BOA, and research on benefits continues to grow and broaden." (Booth et al, 2002, p. 14).
