Leisure Studies Commons^™

Itrr Annual Report - 35 Years - 1987-2022, Melissa Weddell

Institute for Tourism and Recreation Research Publications

Within the pages of this report, you will discover a comprehensive overview of our past and future research projects, travel, and outdoor recreation information and data, as well as who we are and how we collect data. By transparently sharing our experiences and growth, we aim to foster an environment of continuous improvement and shared understanding. Reflecting on the milestones achieved, ITRR has continued to evolve and flourish over the past 35 years, with our journey marked by innovation, collaboration, and unwavering pursuit of our mission to serve Montanans.

Resident Participation In Outdoor Recreation: Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks, Carter Bermingham, Megan Schultz, Matthew Pettigrew

Institute for Tourism and Recreation Research Publications

This study was conducted to better understand resident participation in outdoor recreation, specifically on public lands managed by Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks. Respondents were asked about their participation in outdoor recreation, the importance of outdoor recreation to their quality of life, and their satisfaction with the investment of outdoor recreation facilities in their local area, among other topics. The report also includes demographic information as well as analysis conducted at the regional level.

Montana Folk Festival 2023, Butte, Montana, Ava Worbets, Hunter Tillman, Megan Schultz

Institute for Tourism and Recreation Research Publications

This study was conducted for the non-profit Mainstreet Uptown Butte to provide insight into the characteristics of attendees of the 2023 Montana Folk Festival. Paper surveys were completed by 860 attendees of the event. Results show that 82% of respondents were residents of Montana, and of those Montana residents, 45% were from Butte-Silver Bow County. Out-of-county respondents spent an average of 3.43 nights in Butte-Silver Bow County and more people spent money on restaurants/bars and hotel/motel while visiting the area than any other spending categories. Respondents to the survey reported a total spending of $199,074.00 in the Butte-Silver Bow County …

Gardiner Rodeo 2023, Gardiner, Montana, Ava Worbets, Megan Schultz

Institute for Tourism and Recreation Research Publications

This study was conducted for the Gardiner Chamber of Commerce to provide insight into the characteristics of attendees of the 2023 Gardiner Annual National Rodeo Association (NRA) Rodeo. Paper surveys were completed by 50 attendees of the event. Results show that 66% of respondents were residents of Montana, and of those Montana residents, 42% were from Park County. Out-of-county respondents spent an average of 6.14 nights in Gardiner and more people spent money on gasoline and restaurants/bars while visiting the area than any other spending categories. Respondents to the survey reported a total spending of $14,045 in the Gardiner area. …

A Guide For The Everyday Woman Surfer: How Surf Culture's Patriarchy Marginalizes Ocean Lovers, Alexis S. Di Stefano

Women's, Gender and Queer Studies

Humans are naturally drawn to the water by wind and tide. It is a place of solace that we have a desire to know deeply, yet we have kept one another from experiencing it through biases that perpetuate inequality. White-supremacist hegemony has historically kept communities of color from coastlines, women from lineups, and queer communities from participating in surf culture. As more people from all social groups return to the water through surfing in the 20th century, surf culture needs to adapt to become more inclusive. This paper outlines surf culture's historical transition into whiteness and how female beauty standards …

Montana Travel Region & Counties - Economic Contribution Of 2021/2022 Averaged Nonresident Travel Spending, Kara Grau

Institute for Tourism and Recreation Research Publications

Nonresidents now spend over $5 billion in Montana each year. This report looks at the distribution of spending across Montana's six travel regions, as well as 18 of the 56 counties with the highest spending based on an average of 2021 and 2022 spending data.

Snowmobile Recreation In Western Montana, Liam Harry, Melissa Weddell

Institute for Tourism and Recreation Research Publications

This report is a summary of recreation snowmobilers in Western Montana regarding their visitor characteristics and demographics. The Institute forTourism and Recreation Research (ITRR) conducted surveys of snowmobilers to understand the profile and general characteristics of this user group.

2022 Resident Visitation: Yellowstone National Park & Glacier National Park, Carter Bermingham, Megan Schultz, Matthew Pettigrew, Glenna Brown

Institute for Tourism and Recreation Research Publications

This particular study was conducted to better understand resident visitation to the national parks in the state, and to also understand some of the obstacles that may have prevented residents from visiting the parks in 2022. This report includes information on monthly visitation to both Glacier and Yellowstone national parks, as well as the number of respondents who were deterred by the flooding in Yellowstone and the ticketed-entry system in Glacier.

Applications Of Travel And Tourism Research - 2023 Montana Governor's Conference, Melissa Weddell, Jim Auer, Matthew Pettigrew, Kara Grau

Institute for Tourism and Recreation Research Publications

2023 Montana Governor's Conference on Tourism and Recreation jointly presented session, with ITRR and MT Department of Commerce staff.

2022 Estimates - Nonresident Visitation, Expenditures, And Economic Contribution, Kara Grau

Institute for Tourism and Recreation Research Publications

This report is a collection of estimates of 2022 nonresident visitation to Montana, expenditures by nonresident travelers in the state, and the contribution to Montana's economy of that traveler spending. Included are estimates by full year, quarter, trip purposed, and other visitor segments.

The Montana Travel Industry - 2022 Summary, Melissa Weddell

Institute for Tourism and Recreation Research Publications

2022 summary infographic of the Montana travel and recreation industry.

Montana Travel Regions & Counties - Economic Contribution Of 2019/2021 Averaged Nonresident Travel Spending, Kara Grau

Institute for Tourism and Recreation Research Publications

Money spent by those traveling in Montana has a direct effect on businesses where spending occurs, and it ripples throughout the state's economy from there. Statewide, spending by nonresident visitors (averaged over two years - 2019 and 2021) totaled $4.48 billion. This report details the methods and results of the economic impact analyses for each of Montana's six travel regions, as well as analyses for counties in which nonresident travelers spent approximately $50 million or more.

Montana Residents: Attitudes Towards Tourism 2022 & Resident Perceptions Of Community Disaster Preparedness, Carter Bermingham, Megan Schultz, Matthew Pettigrew, Glenna Brown

Institute for Tourism and Recreation Research Publications

This report is a summary of Montana residents' attitudes towards tourism within the state. Since 1992, ITRR has asked residents questions specific to their attitudes towards tourism. This study was conducted to continue tracking the perception of the tourism industry in Montana, as well as expanding the original survey to include topics such as the perceived economic benefit tourism provides to local communities, crowding at the local community level, as well as questions focused on amenities to support tourism, and disaster preparedness.

Montana Travel Experience Survey - Final Summary Report, Glenna Brown, Kara Grau, Megan Schultz

Institute for Tourism and Recreation Research Publications

This summary report highlights select findings from the nonresident 2021-2022 Montana Travel Experience Survey. Nonresident travelers who were interviewed by a surveyor in the state were given this survey along with the Nonresident Travel Survey after completing an in-person “Front End” survey at a gas station, rest area, or airport. Through June, 2022, 1,327 surveys were collected. Questions included topics related to visitors’ use of public lands, trip planning, and questions for first time and repeat visitors.

Synergies Between Residents: Evaluating Support And Concerns Of Recreation And Tourism Economic Development Within The Monongahela National Forest Region, Morgan R. Martin

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Tourism has continually been presented as a growing economic sector around the world. Having become an area of increased interest for diversifying rural economies, tourism is an attractive alternative to the declining traditional economic engines of rural communities like agriculture, forestry, and mining. Rural destinations have become increasingly attractive to outside visitors who seek to pursue activities embedded within the local culture and distinctive attractive assets available in rural regions. The USDA has recognized the increasing importance of recreation and tourism economies as an emerging or priority area of national need and an effective means for rural development. Even with …

Understanding Visitor Recreation Experiences On Montana's Public Lands, Kara Grau, Megan Schultz, Glenna Brown, Melissa Weddell

Institute for Tourism and Recreation Research Publications

The grandeur of Montana’s public lands attracts visitors from all over the world who want to experience the beautiful parks, wilderness, wildlife, and waters. Montana is ranked 10th in the nation in federal land ownership, with about 30% or 27 million acres, followed by state agencies that manage a little over 5 million acres. Moreover, Montana is the gateway to the iconic Glacier and Yellowstone National Parks.

Assessing The Impact Of The Yellowstone Tv Series On Montana's Tourism Economy, Patrick Barkey, Melissa Weddell

Institute for Tourism and Recreation Research Publications

The hugely successful and popular dramatic television show Yellowstone, which portrays the fictional Dutton family ranch in Montana, has sparked the interest of a worldwide audience in our state. In addition to its critical and commercial success, the show has emerged as a significant factor in the marketing of Montana, with its more than 10 million viewers treated to storylines, characters and scenery of the mountain west. How has the show’s success affected the arrival and subsequent spending of visitors to the state? A new study jointly produced by the Bureau of Business and Economic Research (BBER) and the Institute …

Active Leisure And Ageing In Rural Ireland: Exploring Perceptions And Motivations To Facilitate And Promote Meaningful Physical Activity, Angie Hartnett, Catherine Gorman

Articles

The life expectancy of the world population is increasing and the art of aging well is of global interest (European Commission, n.d.). In Ireland, the number of people over the age of 60 will increase from 1.1 million currently, to 2.44 million by 2041, constituting nearly one third of its total population (Institute of Public Health, 2018). Despite the benefits of regular physical activity (pa), particularly with the frail (≥65 years and requiring a walking aid), rates of participation remain low (Colley et al., 2011). Health concerns raised, such as smoking and weight issues, are more prevalent in this cohort …

The Montana Expression 2021: Resident Employment, Relocation, And Outdoor Recreation During Covid-19, Megan Schultz, Carter Bermingham

Institute for Tourism and Recreation Research Publications

This report is a summary of Montana residents and their self-reported use of public lands and waterways during 2020 compared to previous years. Data were collected from January 1st to March 31st of 2021. As a result of the pandemic, the number of people participating in outdoor recreation in certain parts of the country increased significantly – Montana being one of those places. Public lands and waterways, like state and federally managed parks, reported record visitation numbers for some months of 2020. In addition, anecdotal reports from public land managers and tourism partners also suggests that the level of use …

Biodiversity Monitoring And Volunteer Motivations: A Case Study On The Imagined Communities Of Citizen Scientists In Meinung, Taiwan, Serena May Calcagno

Master's Projects and Capstones

The Asia Pacific’s biodiversity is under threat. One significant step that can improve conservation is gathering data on what species exist in different areas over time, which can provide insight into ecosystem health. This is especially important in biodiversity hotspots, where high levels of endemism and anthropogenic risk overlap. Though it is one of the few places in the Pacific not classified as a biodiversity hotspot, Taiwan has an unusually high saturation in terms of biodiversity data points. Investigating the motives of biodiversity monitoring volunteerism is already a topic of growing scholarly interest, but relatively few studies have focused on …

Recreation And The Sacred: A Case Study Of Diné Bikéyah, Brian Andersen

Master's Theses

The relationship between indigenous groups and outdoor recreation is something that has been analyzed by various scholars. In the North American context, scholars have primarily focused on conflicts regarding land use, particularly as it relates to the concept of the sacred. Although these works speak to general truths, the complexity of the relationship between outdoor pursuits and Native American groups is often over-simplified. This thesis analyzes the potential of outdoor recreation as a means of economic empowerment for the Navajo people. The work draws on the various initiatives currently underway to promote outdoor recreation in the Navajo Nation. These initiatives …

Ecological Risk Assessment Of Managed Relocation As A Climate Change Adaptation Strategy, Aviv Karasov-Olson, Mark W. Schwartz, Julian D. Olden, Sarah Skikne, Jessica J. Hellmann, Sarah Allen, Christy Brigham, Danielle Buttke, David J. Lawrence, Abraham J. Miller-Rushing, Jeffrey T. Morisette, Gregor W. Schuurman, Melissa Trammell, Cat Hawkins Hoffman

United States National Park Service: Publications

Executive Summary

Changing climate and introduced species are placing an increasing number of species at risk of extinction. Increasing extinction risk is increasing calls to protect species by relocating, or translocating, them to locations with more favorable biotic or climatic conditions. Managed relocation, or assisted migration, of species entails risks to both the conservation target organisms being moved as well as the recipient ecosystems into which they are moved.

Recognizing this risk, calls have been made for practitioners interested in considering a managed relocation project to engage in a serious risk assessment prior to advancing a project. We engaged a …

Protocol For Monitoring Fish Communities In Small Streams In The Heartland Inventory And Monitoring Network, Version 2.0, Hope R. Dodd, David G. Peitz, Gareth Rowell, Janice A. Hinsey, David E. Bowles, Lloyd W. Morrison, Michael D. Debacker, Jennifer L. Haack-Gaynor, Jeffrey M. Williams

United States National Park Service: Publications

Executive Summary

Fish communities are an important component of aquatic systems and are good bioindicators of ecosystem health. Land use changes in the Midwest have caused sedimentation, erosion, and nutrient loading that degrades and fragments habitat and impairs water quality. Because most small wadeable streams in the Heartland Inventory and Monitoring Network (HTLN) have a relatively small area of their watersheds located within park boundaries, these streams are at risk of degradation due to adjacent land use practices and other anthropogenic disturbances. Shifts in the physical and chemical properties of aquatic systems have a dramatic effect on the biotic community. …

Protocol For Monitoring Aquatic Invertebrates Of Small Streams In The Heartland Inventory & Monitoring Network, Version 2.1, David E. Bowles, Michael H. Williams, Hope R. Dodd, Lloyd W. Morrison, Janice A. Hinsey, J. Tyler Cribbs, Gareth A. Rowell, Michael D. Debecker, Jennifer L. Haack-Gaynor, Jeffrey M. Williams

United States National Park Service: Publications

Executive Summary

The Heartland Inventory and Monitoring Network (HTLN) is a component of the National Park Service’s (NPS) strategy to improve park management through greater reliance on scientific information. The purposes of this program are to design and implement long-term ecological monitoring and provide information for park managers to evaluate the integrity of park ecosystems and better understand ecosystem processes. Concerns over declining surface water quality have led to the development of various monitoring approaches to assess stream water quality. Freshwater streams in network parks are threatened by numerous stressors, most of which originate outside park boundaries. Stream condition and …

Agate Fossil Beds National Monument, Paleontological Resources Management Plan (Public Version), Scott Kottkamp, Vincent L. Santucci, Justin S. Tweet, Jessica De Smet, Ellen Stark

United States National Park Service: Publications

Executive Summary

Since Agate Springs Ranch was founded by James H. Cook in 1887, exquisite examples of transitional Miocene mammalian fauna have been found along this stretch of the Niobrara River valley. Collectively these paleontological discoveries, along with the existing archeological and historical Native American collection, were the basis for establishing Agate Fossil Beds National Monument (AGFO) as a unit of the National Park System (NPS). The fossil remains from the Harrison and Anderson Ranch formations span a short, but important, time period within the Miocene Epoch. AGFO has provided science with an intimate look into North American mammalian evolution …

Rfia: An R Package For Estimation Of Forest Attributes With The Us Forest Inventory And Analysis Database, Hunter Stanke, Andrew O. Finley, Aaron S. Weed, Brian F. Walters, Grant M. Domke

United States National Park Service: Publications

Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) is a US Department of Agriculture Forest Service program that aims to monitor changes in forests across the US. FIA hosts one of the largest ecological datasets in the world, though its complexity limits access for many potential users. rFIA is an R package designed to simplify the estimation of forest attributes using data collected by the FIA Program. Specifically, rFIA improves access to the spatiotemporal estimation capacity of the FIA Database via space–time indexed summaries of forest variables within user-defined population boundaries (e.g., geographic, temporal, biophysical). The package implements multiple design-based estimators, and has …

Development Of A Modified Floristic Quality Index As A Rapid Habitat Assessment Method In The Northern Everglades, Rebakah E. Gibble, Donatto D. Surratt

United States National Park Service: Publications

Floristic quality assessments (FQA) using floristic quality indices (FQIs) are useful tools for assessing and comparing vegetation communities and related habitat condition. However, intensive vegetation surveys requiring significant time and technical expertise are necessary, which limits the use of FQIs in environmental monitoring programs. This study modified standard FQI methods to develop a rapid assessment method for characterizing and modeling change in wetland habitat condition in the northern Everglades. Method modifications include limiting vegetation surveys to a subset of taxa selected as indicators of impact and eliminating richness and/or abundance factors from the equation. These modifications reduce the amount of …

Fire Monitoring Handbook

United States National Park Service: Publications

Fire is a powerful and enduring force that has had, and will continue to have, a profound influence on National Park Service (NPS) lands. Fire management decisions within the National Park Service require information on fire behavior and on the effects of fire on park resources. With good reason, the public is holding park management increasingly accountable, especially in the area of fire management. Federal and state agencies are instituting progressively more stringent guidelines for burning, monitoring, and evaluation. The impetus behind these guidelines and the purpose of this handbook are to ensure that management objectives are being met, to …

Acoustically Advertising Male Harbour Seals In Southeast Alaska Do Not Make Biologically Relevant Acoustic Adjustments In The Presence Of Vessel Noise, Leanna P. Matthews, Michelle E.H. Fournet, Christine Gabriele, Holger Klinck, Susan E. Parks

United States National Park Service: Publications

Aquatically breeding harbour seal (Phoca vitulina) males use underwater vocalizations during the breeding season to establish underwater territories, defend territories against intruder males, and possibly to attract females. Vessel noise overlaps in frequency with these vocalizations and could negatively impact breeding success by limiting communication space. In this study, we investigated whether harbour seals employed anti-masking strategies to maintain communication in the presence of vessel noise in Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve, Alaska. Harbour seals in this location did not sufficiently adjust source levels or acoustic parameters of vocalizations to compensate for acoustic masking. Instead, for every 1 dB …

Carnivore Population Structure Across An Urbanization Gradient: A Regional Genetic Analysis Of Bobcats In Southern California, Julia G. Smith, Megan K. Jennings, Erin E. Boydston, Kevin R. Crooks, Holly B. Ernest, Seth Riley, Laurel E. K. Serleys, Shaelynn Sleater-Squires, Rebecca L. Lewison

United States National Park Service: Publications

Context In human-dominated landscapes, habitat fragmentation and barriers to movement can interrupt gene flow. While often considered at a local extent, regional analyses are also needed to reveal broader landscape-mediated population processes.

Objectives To explore the relationship between patterns of gene flow and fragmentation resulting from urbanization across southern California, we used the bobcat as an indicator species. We assembled data for a landscape level genetic analysis across southern California from both archived and new samples, including two northern Californian populations for comparison, to identify local and regional areas affected by isolation.

Methods Our regional analyses focused on a dataset …