Striking a Balance: Recreation and Conservation in Wisconsin State Parks

Abstract

The basis of this project was to explore how visitor numbers to state parks affects both quality of visitor experience and conservation plans of park management. The research question and subsequent data collection investigates how state parks balance conservation and recreation. The research focused on Devil's Lake State Park and Governor Nelson State Park because of the vast differences in total park area and annual visitor numbers. Data was collected through park user surveys and interviews of park management. Through the analysis of primary data, it was concluded that visitor numbers really only negatively affected park goers when there was a high volume of visitors present at the park and park management at each park faces differing problems, in regards to conservation based on park size and visitor volume.