National recreation areas: Landscape planning for outdoor recreation

Abstract

This thesis is an examination of National Recreation Areas managed by the National Park Service, the Forest Service, and the Bureau of Land Management. It is exploratory in nature and seeks to illustrate their history, how well they are working today, and prospects for the decade of the 1990's. Included is information about the history, benefits, and trends of federal provision of outdoor recreation opportunities. Also included is a section on planning theory and conceptual frameworks--the concept of Multiple-Use, and the theory of Transactive Planning, as developed by John Friedmann. Managers of thirty-six of thirty-seven existing national recreation areas were interviewed by telephone concerning area attributes, the designation process, public support, enabling legislation, impacts of designation, and management mechanisms. A second research effort consisted of the creation of a computer database that serves as an index to the enabling legislation of all thirty-seven areas.