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Browsing by Author "Widner, Carolyn J."

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    Conflict among hikers and horseback riders in the Mount Rogers High Country of Virginia
    Widner, Carolyn J. (Virginia Tech, 1994)
    Conflict among recreationists in natural resource settings is a long-term problem that continues to grow in many areas. This study was conducted to provide an assessment of conflict between hikers and horseback riders in the Mount Rogers High Country of Virginia. Conflict was examined using three separate measures: crowding, impacts and interference. Examination of an index measure of conflict revealed that 64% of hikers experienced conflict toward horseback riders, while only 3% of horseback riders reported conflict due to hikers. Because of the clearly asymmetric nature of the conflict, the conflict predictor variables (past experience, wilderness involvement, place attachment and perceived similarity) were examined for the hiker population in the study. Discriminant analysis revealed that the model tested can predict with more than 68% success whether hikers will experience conflict due to horses. The perceived similarity of values variable was shown to be the most important and perceived similarity of socio-economic status the second in importance in explaining conflict. Hikers that perceived horseback riders to be different from themselves in how they value the High Country and in their socio-economic status were more likely to experience conflict with horseback riders than hikers that perceived horseback riders as similar to themselves. Measures of past experience and wilderness involvement were also significant predictors of conflict. However, relative to the perceived similarity items, these variables did not contribute much information or "predictive power" to the model. The two place attachment factors, place identity and place dependence, were not significant in the model.
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    Reducing and understanding petrified wood theft at Petrified Forest National Park
    Widner, Carolyn J. (Virginia Tech, 1998)
    Depreciative behavior is a significant problem facing natural resource managers. The theft of petrified wood from Petrified Forest National Park is one type of depreciative behavior. Despite numerous anti-theft interventions, approximately 12 tons of wood disappear from the park each year. The focus of this study was to design, implement, and evaluate the effectiveness of interventions to reduce the theft of petrified wood. In addition to gaining a quantitative measure of intervention effectiveness, qualitative interviews were conducted to provide some contextual understanding of wood theft and of designed intervention effectiveness in reducing theft. Tested interventions included a sign, a signed pledge, and a uniformed volunteer. A field experiment revealed a theft rate of 2.1 % under the control condition. All three interventions significantly reduced the theft rate to about 1.4 %. There was no difference in the effectiveness of the three tested interventions. Subjective responses revealed that most theft was not a thoughtless act, but instead occurred because thieves rationalized their particular act of theft as acceptable. The primary rationalization given by thieves was that their piece of stolen wood was so small that taking it would not hurt anything. It appeared as though anti-theft messages were received by most of those interviewed, but that thieves only applied these messages to the larger pieces of wood. In addition, most thieves did not view taking a little chip as stealing. Interviews suggested visitors attended to the following aspects of the interventions: the desired behavior itself, the negative consequences of theft behavior, the visitors' responsibility for those consequences, the sanctions involved for the behavior, and visitors giving their word not to steal any wood from the park.