Estimating environmental resiliency for the Grampians National Park, Victoria, Australia: a quantitative approach

Without a comprehensive understanding of the tourist-environment relationship, unregulated visitation from tourists to fragile mountain environments can result in adverse environmental damage. Impacts from direct trampling can be exacerbated through the natural processes of chemical and physical weathering. Many studies (Mieczkowski, Environmental Issues of Tourism and Recreation, University Press of America, Lanham, Maryland, USA, 1995; Price, People and Tourism in Fragile Environments, Wiley, Chichester, 1996) show that with increasing elevation, susceptibility to human interference becomes greater. This paper presents a study in which the susceptibility to environmental damage has been found to decrease with increasing elevation. Relationships between biophysical variables were determined using principal components analysis for a well-patronised tourist destination in Western Victoria in Australia called the Grampians National Park. The first factor termed "probable tourist impact resilience" shows that with increasing distance from walking track starting points, and with increasing elevation, there is a corresponding increase in resiliency. Due to the geomorphology of the region, extensive weathering has resulted in erodable soils, weathered from the elevated rocky outcrops at high elevation, washing downhill. Tourist walking tracks have then been cut through these lower reaches and subsequent trampling from tourists has resulted in gully erosion. The results from this study will enable park managers to plan for expected tourist growth to the region, by enabling those areas found to be more resilient to impact to be targeted for tourism. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.