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7030 Project
- 1. Access Issues within The Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument Caitie Hutter Trever Waage
- 4. Where is the GSENM?
- 18. Passage Ways
Notes de l'éditeur
- Increasing quality of recreation opportunities through interpretive methods to make visitors experiences more enjoyable. Things that make experiences more enjoyable include: -Providing interpretation- visitors want to know and understand what they are seeing/ experiencing Using interpretive methods the quality of recreation opportunities can be increased making visitor experiences more enjoyable. Things that make experiences more enjoyable include: -Better signage at trailheads and waysides. Creating a mental map for visitors. Studies show that visitor experience is enhanced when visitors know where they are and what opportunities are available and where. -welcome roadside information upon entering monument- give visitors better sense of where they are in relation to the monument and what rec opportunities exist. -interpretive trails/ trail guides -programs/ guided hikes -Site hardening- visitors want to know where to go- trails should be clear, not confusing or ambiguous. -maintain trails/ trail markers where routes are confusing or use is heavy and resources are being damaged. -hardened trail surfaces allow for greater accessibility for different visitor populations.
- Highway 12 is the major route visitors take when passing through the monument. Many visitors will only drive through so providing roadside opportunities is important to reach these populations. -wayside stops along hwy 12 can provide interpretation to increase visitor awareness and knowledge of the area, if short walking trails were integrated with this idea, visitor could get the feeling of getting away from the highways a little bit and experiencing the vastness of the monument which is what is mandated in the plan (frontier experience) - While the management plan mandates for visitation to be focused within the frontcountry zone, it is within the management guidelines to develop trails within the passage zones -currently the only maintained trail in the monument is to lower calf creek falls and is 5 ½ miles roundtrip. Many other opportunities exist for short half and full day hikes, however they are not maintained and often are not publicized. Many visitor also may not feel comfortable in their abilities to follow a route rather than a marked trail and this can cause stress and deter visitors. -several sites along the Hole in the Rock Rd would qualify as excellent ½ and full day hikes and are already heavily used by the public. However, because they are not official trails, many social trails exist which inevitably lead to visitors getting off trail and lost. If the monument were to designate these as trails and maintain them so a clear route was established, the issue of social trails and resource degredation could be minimized as well as providing more opportunities for frontcountry users. -By linking resources with the local community the monument can increase the amount of recreation opportunities presented to the public without actually having to manage them all. The visitor center already is an interagency office with the Dixie National Forest and Glen Canyon NRA; by providing information for trails in all three public land agencies as well as the local state parks and town resources such as guides, visitors can have a greater variety of recreation opportunities to choose from. .
- Passage zones through the monument: -hole in the rock road -hwy 12 -recreation is not emphasised in the passage zones but flexibility does exist within the management plan for development of recreation opportunties.
- -Current information regarding trails and recreation opportunities is sparse at best. Trail descriptions are bare-boned and visitors often don’t have a sense of what is available. -create a database of recreation opportunities by type of recreation, length of trail, difficulty of trail or route-finding, equipment or skills needed, length of time needed, terrain, interesting features, is it a destination hike, loop hike, etc. -defined trails should have accurate descriptions and topo map where possible. -As Trever mentioned earlier, The visitor centers each have a separate interpretive focus. This leaves most visitors with only a brief introduction to only one facet of the monument, and it may not be the one that peaks their interest! Consider this example; Joe is really interested in the history of the Native american cultures that lived in the area so as he’s traveling through the town of Escalante he stops at the visitor center there, but the focus of this center is ecology! Even though the oldest site of habitation currently known to exist on the Colorado plateau is four miles from him, the visitor center doesn’t even touch on the subject. Archeology is interpreted at the Kanab Visitor Center, which is over 100 miles away. Soo….too bad for Joe. -More cohesiveness is needed at visitor centers- address what is present in immediate area. -Most visitors in addition to not knowing where the monument is or what it actually is, they don’t understand the management of it for research. Research projects should be showcased more, used in interpretive programs, and the results and what they mean to management more accessible to visitors.