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Abstract |
The Chilkoot Trail National Historic Site, in British Columbia, Canada, is wellknown for its summer historic gold rush hiking route, and is popular in the winter with local residents for skiing, snowmobiling and other winter sports. Park managers implemented a strategy of temporal segregation to mitigate known conflicts between motorised and nonmotorised winter users. This study evaluated the effectiveness of separating users, by monitoring visitor satisfaction and support for the management strategy, and assessing the key differences between user groups within the theory of asymmetrical conflict. The results show that separating users does increase satisfaction for non-motorised users; however, support for controlled access is moderate to low among all users. This study alerts park managers using direct tools such as controlled access, in that dissatisfaction may shift from those who were most affected by the inter-group conflict (non-motorised users) to the motorised group, who are dissatisfied with increased access limitations and loss of freedom. |
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