Current Projects
Browse some of our current projects:
Grand Teton National Park Moose Wilson Corridor Visitor Use
Beginning summer 2014, the Park Studies Unit will collaborate with researchers at Utah State University to conduct visitor use surveys within the Moose Wilson Corridor of Grand Teton National Park.
Role of Natural Sounds on Stress Restoration
The Park Studies Unit is currently collaborating with Penn State researchers in biobehavioral health and psychology, as well as the National Park Service National Sounds and Night Skies Division to improve understanding regarding how natural sounds may foster stress reduction and increase restoration. These studies are laboratory-based, and evaluating both psychological and physiological dimensions of health and well being.
Advancing Understanding of Soundscape Research in Parks
With the assistance of the Penn State Social Science Research Institute, the Park Studies Unit has started an "Environmental Acoustics Work Group" to apply disciplinary knowledge of acoustics to improve understanding of soundscapes in parks using a collaborative, interdisciplinary , systemic approach. In April 2014, the group hosted an acoustics-focused symposium and keynote presentation featuring Dr. Kurt Fristrup, branch chief of science and technology for the National Park Service Natural Sounds and Night Skies Division.
Bandelier National Monument Soundscape Management
During summer 2013, researchers conducted visitor surveys in several locations in Bandelier, to inform soundscape management and planning at the monument. The project is nearing completion and the management report and related publications will be available soon.
Denali National Park and Preserve Soundscape Management
Beginning in 2011, and concluding in the summer of 2013, unit researchers conducted visitor surveys at Denali to inform backcountry management of the park and preserves soundscape. Explore our preliminary findings fact sheet.
Wilderness Character Monitoring in Rocky Mountain National Park
In March 2009, Rocky Mountain National Park officially received designation as wilderness. Park of the Wilderness Act mandate is to preserve "wilderness character", an attribute often difficult for managers to quantify. To aid managers with carrying out this mandate, a wilderness character monitoring program is being developed in conjunction with Penn State. The goal of this project is to develop an expanded spatial based platform for evaluating wilderness character beyond previous methods proposed. The analysis and modeling capabilities of a spatial based platform will allow characteristics to be evaluated for current conditions, as well as provide a medium for testing impacts of various management options by the park to those characteristics. A secondary goal is to develop a flexible model capable of accepting a range of datasets. Such a platform will provide a basis by which various agencies can adapt the model to utilize datasets already available to them.
Leave No Trace Research in Wyoming State Parks
Leave No Trace (established through the Leave No Trace Center for Outdoor Ethics) is, perhaps, the most prevalent minimum-impact visitor education program in use in parks and protected areas in the U.S. The intent of the program is to educate recreationists about the nature of their impacts with the goal of resource protection. The Park Studies Unit believes that Leave No Trace can curb the resource and social degradation, caused by visitor use in parks and protected areas, by altering visitor behaviors through indirect management.
During the summer of 2012, Park Studies Unit researchers conducted Leave No Trace research in three different park units managed by Wyoming State Parks, Historic Sites and Trails. The research units included: Curt Gowdy State Park, Wyoming Territorial Prison, and Glendo State Park. The project is nearing completion, and the management report and related publications will be available soon.
