David Newsome

Australian flora are particularly vulnerable to anthropogenic change due to high levels of diversity and endemism with many species in Western Australia exhibiting small ranges with low numbers and restricted populations. Perhaps considered the least significant of a range of threatening process this work shows that recreational damage via trampling has the capacity to degrade a highly valued tourism resource. We provide data on the impacts of trampling within an international biodiversity hotspot. Using established methodologies we demonstrate that low levels of trampling cause significant damage and that the shrub-dominated communities of three National Parks have a low resistance to human trampling disturbance. Measurements taken at selected intervals over a 12-month period additionally indicate that the vegetation community has a low resilience to human trampling. Further work that can be undertaken in the future includes collecting recovery data following experimental trampling over a longer time frame (e.g. 5 years) and gauging the responses of individual species to trampling damage. Selected sites could also be monitored for the effectiveness of educational strategies and infrastructure placement.

Visitor attraction and tourism activity around sites of scenic and geological interest can result in environmental damage which has the potential to degrade visitor experience and the value of the site. Such impacts include littering, graffiti, site modification by visitors, damage to sensitive rock types, fossil collecting, site erosion, damage to infrastructure and use of areas around the site for general recreation. Major management considerations that have arisen in order to deal with such potential problems include conducting and responding to a risk assessment of access to the site and management actions at the site itself. Managers employ access pathways, barriers, viewing platforms, education and interpretation and sometimes on-site wardens and geo-guides to ensure site protection, visitor safety and successful tourism in the form of satisfied clients. This presentation will provide an overview of visitor impacts and management illustrated from a range of geotourism destinations from around the world. Significantly the presentation will highlight the problems of over-crowding, issues associated with the maintenance of infrastructure and the need for monitoring at existing and newly planned geotourism locations.