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Access planning is concerned with all the provisions made for people who visit or use a site for any reason other than official, business or management purposes. ‘Tourism' is included in the chapter heading because this term is used in place of ‘access' in many countries. People visit protected areas to pursue a wide range of recreational activities. These activities can include everything from a quiet walk or birdwatching to quite extreme sports. The provision of access for local visitors and tourism, and opportunities for recreational use, is an important, if not essential, function of most nature reserves and protected areas. For some sites it will be the most important function. Access and tourism undoubtedly offer many opportunities, but there is a cost: all activities can have a direct or indirect impact on wildlife, landscape and people. Wildlife can be displaced, habituation can make populations vulnerable, populations of species that are not attractive to visitors can be forgotten and habitat can be damaged. The values of landscape and wilderness areas can be diminished through excessive or inappropriate use, for example, the proliferation of unsightly trails and camp sites, or simply by the presence of too many people. The section on access should be regarded as an integral component of a full management plan and not as an independent document. There may be occasions when there is a need to present the section as a stand-alone document, but its relationship with the remainder of the site plan must not be forgotten. One of the key components of the access section is the identification of the carrying capacity of the site. This is the level of access that can be accommodated without detracting from the quality of the experience that visitors enjoy on the site. There will be two main areas of impact: Visitors can have a direct impact on the infrastructure, landscape and wilderness qualities of a site, for example, paths may become over-wide and unsightly. People can also visit sites in such large numbers that they become a distraction to others. This is particularly important in areas of high landscape or wilderness value. An access objective with performance indicators is required for most sites. Performance indicators for access must be measurable and quantified (i.e. so that they can be monitored), and the data should be easy to collect. The number of indicators should be kept to a minimum, but there should be sufficient to provide the evidence necessary to ensure that the quality of the access provisions can be measured. Keywords access, access objective, access options, access policy, carrying capacity, education, factors, interpretation, Limits of Acceptable Change, management frameworks, performance indicators, precautionary principle, recreation, tourism, visitor infrastructure [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A glossary of agencies, concepts, laws and people related to environmental history in the U.S. is presented.