Park Master Plans

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Park Master Plans Unit Management Plans
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Recreation planning

• Types of planning
• Short range
• 1-4 years
• Long range or strategic
• 5-10 years or longer
• Continuous

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What areas do we plan for?

• Sites
• Attractions
• Small parks
• Festivals sites
• Regions
• Government jurisdictions
• Naturally-occurring areas
• Large government-designated areas

Sites
Region
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Types of plans

• Regional plans
• Tourism
• Feasibility
• Organization plans
• Strategic
• Site plans
• Unit Management Plans
• Master Plans
• Feasibility

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Types of plans

• Regional plans
• Tourism
• Feasibility
• Organization plans
• Strategic
• Site plans
• Unit Management Plans
• Master Plans
• Feasibility

Last semester
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Types of plans

• Regional plans
• Tourism
• Feasibility
• Organization plans
• Strategic
• Site plans
• Unit Management Plans
• Master Plans
• Feasibility

This semester
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What is a master plan?

• A written document that provides
• An assessment of
• resources facilities.
• recreational opportunities.
• Recommendations for facility development and
  programming.
• Design of facilities.
• Focus is on facilities!

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What is a unit management plan?

• A written document that provides
• An assessment of
• resources facilities in management unit.
• recreational opportunities.
• environmental, social, and economic impacts from
  resource use.
• Recommendations for future and ongoing management
  and monitoring efforts.
• Focus is on management!

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How long do we plan for?

• Master plans and UMPs can be of short duration
  (1-5 years) or long duration (5 years).
• Most master plans UMPs usually cover 10 to 20
  years.

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Tourism Plans vs. UMPs

• Background
• Purpose of plan
• Vision
• Goals
• Objectives
• Write plan
• Review
• Revise and finalize
• Agency acceptance
• Action Plan
• Implement monitor

• Background
• Mission
• Vision
• Goals
• Objectives
• Action plan
• Write plan
• Implementation
• Evaluation feedback

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What steps are involved in park planning?

• Step 1 Inventory park resources
• What facilities, resources (ROS), programs
  exist?
• Who uses them?
• How are they impacted by use?
• What concerns or issues exist?

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Recreation Opportunity Spectrum (ROS)
Primitive
Urban
Semi-Primitive Non-motor
Rural
Roaded Natural
Semi- Primitive Motorized
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What steps are involved in park planning?

• Step 2 Purpose of plan
• Based on the inventory, what is the basic purpose
  of the UMP?

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What steps are involved in park planning?

• Step 3 Identify vision for park or management
  unit
• What do we envision the park or management unit
  will look like at the end of our planning cycle?
• Use ROS as appropriate

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What steps are involved in park planning?

• Step 4 Identify goals
• What are our long term outcomes or goals?

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What steps are involved in park planning?

• Step 5 Identify objectives
• For master planning...
• What facilities are being considered?
• Where could facilities be located?
• Who will be using the facilities?

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What steps are involved in park planning?

• Step 5 Identify objectives
• For UMPs...
• Master plan considerations plus
• Management strategies
• Direct and indirect
• Monitoring strategies
• Standards and indicators
• Monitoring schedules

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Identify indicators

• Indicators Variables that indicate the condition
  of the resource.
• Indicators must be
• accurate
• Feasible to measure in a cost effective way
• responsive to management control.

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Specify standards for indicators

• Standards quantitative measures of indicators.
• Standards provide a BASELINE against which
  conditions can be judged.

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What are some standards?

• Indicators
• Crowding of hikers in a park
• Trail erosion
• Noise from users
• Water pollution from motor boats
• Visitor safety

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Examples

• To maintain visitor use at a level of 100 users
  per day by implementing a permit system.
• To limit trail erosion to a maximum of 3 (depth)
  by utilizing various trail hardening and repair
  techniques.

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What steps are involved in park planning?

• Step 6 Write plan
• Include site maps.
• Include preferred strategies (i.e., objectives)
  as well as contingency.
• Be specific in stating objectives.
• Identify estimated costs (if appropriate).

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What steps are involved in park planning?

• Step 7 Go through review process
• Initial review by agency managers
• Environmental Impact Statement (EIS)
• Public review and input process.

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What steps are involved in park planning?

• Step 8 Revise and finalize plan
• Step 9 Have plan formally accepted by
  appropriate level of government if needed.
• Step 10 Action Plan
• Step 11 Implement monitor

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What is LAC?

• Limits of Acceptable Change
• A process which requires managers to
• define desired resource social conditions
• take actions to maintain or achieve those
  conditions
• Mainly used in protected areas
• It does not prevent changes but instead minimizes
  them!

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The components of LAC

• Specify acceptable and achievable resource and
  social conditions.
• Analyze the relationship between existing
  conditions and acceptable conditions.
• Identify management actions necessary to achieve
  the desired conditions.
• Monitor and evaluate the effectiveness of
  management actions.

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LAC process

• Identify values, issues, concerns
• Identify recreation opportunity classes/zones
• Select indicators
• Inventory existing conditions using indicators
• Specify standards (compare to indicators)
• Identify alternatives for RO classes/zones (steps
  1 4)
• Identify management strategies for alternatives
• Choose preferred alternative
• Implement and monitor

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LAC process

• Identify values, issues, concerns
• Identify recreation opportunity classes/zones
• Select indicators
• Inventory existing conditions using indicators
• Specify standards
• Identify alternatives for each RO class/zone
• Identify management strategies for alternatives
• Choose preferred alternative
• Implement and monitor

Background
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LAC process

• Identify values, issues, concerns
• Identify recreation opportunity classes/zones
• Select indicators
• Inventory existing conditions using indicators
• Specify standards
• Identify alternatives for each RO class/zone
• Identify management strategies for alternatives
• Choose preferred alternative
• Implement and monitor

Goals Objectives
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LAC process

• Identify values, issues, concerns
• Identify recreation opportunity classes/zones
• Select indicators
• Inventory existing conditions using indicators
• Specify standards
• Identify alternatives for each RO class/zone
• Identify management strategies for alternatives
• Choose preferred alternative
• Implement and monitor

Action plan
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LAC process

• Identify values, issues, concerns
• Identify recreation opportunity classes/zones
• Select indicators
• Inventory existing conditions using indicators
• Specify standards
• Identify alternatives for each RO class/zone
• Identify management strategies for alternatives
• Choose preferred alternative
• Implement and monitor

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Any questions?