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Visitor Use (visitor + use)
Selected AbstractsManaging Environmental Impacts of Recreation and Tourism in Rainforests of the Wet Tropics of Queensland World Heritage AreaGEOGRAPHICAL RESEARCH, Issue 2 2005Stephen M. Turton Abstract This paper describes environmental impacts of tourism and recreation activities in the world heritage listed rainforests of northeast Australia and presents management strategies for sustainable visitor use of the protected area. Tropical rainforests are characterised by their low resistance and moderate to high resilience to impacts associated with human visitation. Visitor use in the World Heritage Area is mostly associated with walking tracks, camping areas, day use areas and off-road vehicle use of old forestry roads and tracks. Adverse environmental impacts range from vegetation trampling, soil compaction, water contamination and soil erosion at the local scale through to spread of weeds, feral animals and soil pathogens along extensive networks of old forestry roads and tracks at the regional scale. Concentration of visitor use is the most desirable management strategy for controlling adverse impacts at most World Heritage Area visitor nodes and sites, and includes methods such as site hardening and shielding to contain impacts. For dispersed visitor activities, such as off-road vehicle driving and long-distance walking, application of best practice methods by the tourist industry and recreational users such as removal of mud and soils from vehicle tyres and hiking boots before entering pathogen-free catchments, together with seasonal closure of roads and tracks, are the preferred management strategies. Retention of canopy cover at camping areas and day use areas, as well as along walking tracks and forestry roads is a simple, yet effective, management strategy for reduction of a range of adverse impacts, including dispersal of weeds and feral animals, edge effects, soil erosion and nutrient loss, road kill and linear barrier effects on rainforest fauna. [source] Variation in how mothers, health visitors and general practitioners use the personal child health recordCHILD: CARE, HEALTH AND DEVELOPMENT, Issue 4 2004A. J. Hampshire Abstract Background, In the UK, a national personal child health record (PCHR) with local adaptations is in widespread use. Previous studies report that parents find the PCHR useful and that health visitors use it more than other health professionals. This study was carried out in Nottingham, where the local PCHR is similar to the national PCHR. Objectives, To explore variation in use of the PCHR made by mothers with differing social characteristics, to compare heath visitors' and general practitioners' (GPs') use of the PCHR, and to compare health visitors' and GPs' perceptions of the PCHR with those of mothers for whose children they provide care. Methods, Questionnaires to 534 parents registered with 28 general practices and interviews with a health visitor and GP at each practice. A score per mother for perceived usefulness of the PCHR was developed from the questionnaire, and variation in the score was investigated by linear regression adjusted for clustering. Results, Four hundred and one (75%) questionnaires were returned. Three hundred and twenty-five (82%) mothers thought the PCHR was very good or good. Higher scores for usage of the PCHR were significantly associated with teenage and first-time mothers, but no association was found with mother's social class, education or being a single parent. There was no association between variation in the score and practice, health visitor or GP characteristics. Mothers, health visitors and GPs reported that mothers took the PCHR to baby clinic more frequently than when seeing their GP, and that health visitors wrote in the PCHR more frequently than GPs. Eighteen (67%) health visitors and 20 (71%) GPs said they had difficulty recording information in the PCHR. Conclusion, The PCHR is used by most mothers and is important for providing health promotion material to all families with young children. It may be particularly useful for first-time and teenage mothers. [source] | ||||||||||