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Park Visitors’ Place Attachment and Climate Change-related Displacement: Potential Shifts in Who, Where, and When

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Abstract

Visitation to parks will change with increasing climate changes. We examined how place attachment may influence different types of climate-induced displacement at both the park and park system level. Previous research suggests that visitors who have greater place attachment to parks within a system may be more likely to tolerate changed environmental conditions before they are displaced from the system entirely or change their choice of park or time of visit within it. Our study, based on the Vermont State Parks system (U.S.), used an on-site visitor questionnaire to examine potential system, spatial, and temporal displacements resulting from ranges of five regionally specific probable manifestations of climate change. As hypothesized, we found that those with lower place attachment were more likely to be displaced. Specifically, these visitors would be more likely to shift their visitation to more southern and lower elevation parks to avoid increased rainfall, earlier/later in the season to avoid higher day or night time temperatures, and out of the park system entirely with more days above 90 F or biting insects. Our approach to examining climate change, place attachment, and displacement has relevance for considering how these three areas impact tourism and visitor use management, as well as utility for managers of these destinations.

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Funding

This work was funded through the Vermont State Parks and supported by the MacIntire-Stennis collaboration at the University of Vermont.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Community Sustainability, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, USA

    Elizabeth E. Perry & Tatiana A. Iretskaia

  2. School of Community Resources and Development, Arizona State University, Phoenix, AZ, USA

    Xiao Xiao

  3. Department of Parks, Recreation, and Tourism Management, Clemson University, Clemson, SC, USA

    John M. Nettles

  4. Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources, University of Vermont, Burlington, VT, USA

    Robert E. Manning

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  1. Elizabeth E. Perry
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  2. Xiao Xiao
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  4. Tatiana A. Iretskaia
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  5. Robert E. Manning
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Contributions

Research design, data collection, and data processing—EEP, XX, and REM; Data analysis—EEP; preparation of the manuscript—EEP, XX, JMN, and TAI; acquisition of funding—REM.

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Correspondence to Elizabeth E. Perry.

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Perry, E.E., Xiao, X., Nettles, J.M. et al. Park Visitors’ Place Attachment and Climate Change-related Displacement: Potential Shifts in Who, Where, and When. Environmental Management 68, 73–86 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00267-021-01480-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00267-021-01480-z

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