Recreational Use Model in a Wilderness Area

The distribution of visitors in a protected natural area was studied by sampling in 19 transects, each beginning at a popular parking place. At each point, the number of people, environmental variables and descriptors of impacts due to leisure activity were noted. Through stepwise regression, a recreational use model based on environmental descriptors was elaborated. st 75% of the concentration of visitors can be explained by environmental indicators and accessibility. The set of impact variables was related by canonical correlation analysis to the environmental variables. The two significant canonical variables express two modalities of impact association with different places. From these results, the managers of protected natural spaces can obtain criteria for the selection of leisure areas and the provision of facilities for visitors.