Upper South Fork of the Flathead Users: What Social Setting Attributes are the Most Important?

Previous research has shown that wilderness visitors place much value on an uncrowded social recreation setting. However, the current indicators that the Flathead National Forest has implemented to monitor this setting on the upper South Fork of the Flathead River may not satisfy several of the qualities of a good indicators, particularly “significance.” In an attempt to recommend new indicators to monitor opportunities for quality experience within this social setting, this study assessed the significance or importance of several alternative social setting attributes. It also attempted to provide meaningful qualifications to these evaluations by analyzing variation in three concepts associated with a cognitive hierarchy (value-orientations, attitudes and norms, and behavior intention). The results of the study suggested that there are two dimensions of social attributes from which indicators could be developed. The first is associated with the number of encounters or user density, and monitoring camps within sight or sound was suggested for this dimension. The second was associated with the evidence of poor behavior of others. Monitoring campsite ethics violations was recommended for this dimension.

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Science (MS)

Grantor dc:publisher

University of Montana

Year

2012

Author dc:creator

• Moulton, Forest Waters

• Bob Marshall Wilderness
• Flathead River
• indicators
• Limits of Acceptable Change
• social setting attributes

Repository record dc:identifier

https://scholarworks.umt.edu/etd/1153

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:scholarworks.umt.edu:etd-2172