Resolving inter-group conflict in winter recreation: Chilkoot Trail National Historic Site, British Columbia

The Chilkoot Trail National Historic Site, BC, Canada, well-known for its summer historic gold rush hiking route, is popular in the winter with local residents for skiing, snowmobiling and other winter sports. Park managers implemented a strategy of temporal segregation to mitigate known conflicts between motorised and non-motorised winter users. This study evaluated the effectiveness of separating users, by monitoring visitor satisfaction and support for the management strategy, and assessing the key differences between user groups within the theory of asymmetrical conflict. The results show that separating users increases satisfaction for non-motorised users; however, support for controlled access is moderate to low among all users. This study alerts park managers using direct tools such as controlled access to the possibility that dissatisfaction may shift from those who were most affected by the inter-group conflict (non-motorised users) to the motorised group, who are dissatisfied with increased access limitations and loss of freedom.