Outdoor Recreation: Definitions and Key Concepts, Study notes of Tourism

Download Outdoor Recreation: Definitions and Key Concepts and more Study notes Tourism in PDF only on Docsity! DOCUMENT RESUME ED 335 189 RC 018 275 AUTHOR Phipps, Maurice L. TITLE Definitions of Outdoor Recreation and Other Associated Terminology. PUB DATE 91 NOTE 10p.; In: Employee Preparation towards 2001. National Conference for Outdoor Leaders, Public, Commercial, and Non-Profit Partnerships. 1990 Conference Proceedings; see RC 018 274. PUB TYPE Speeches/Conference Papers (150) EDRS PRICE MF01 Plus Postage. PC Not Available from LDRS. DESCRIPTORS *Adventure Education; *Definitions; Enviroamental Education; Experiential Learning; *Outdoor Activities; *Outdoor Education; *Recreation; Tourism IDENTIFIERS Natural Resources Management; *Outdoor Recreation; Wilderness Education ABSTRACT This document defines terms related to outdoor recreation: (1) outdoor recreation includes activities that occur outdoors in an urban and man-made environment as well as those activities traditionally associated with the natural environment; (2) outdoor education is education in, about, and for the outdoors; (3) environmental education is an integrated process that deals with man's interrelationship with his natural and man-made surroundings; (4) wilderness education is learning to use the wilderness with so little disturbance that the signs of our passing will be healed by the seasonal rejuvenation of nature; (5) experiential education is often used synonymously with adventure education or outdoor pursuits; (6) outdoor pursuits are those activities that entail moving across natural land and/or water resources by non-mechanized means of travel; (7) adventure education is outdoor pursuits that apply stress to or challenge the participants purposefully; (8) wilderness recreation and pursuits are activities that involve the use and appreciaticn of natural resources and that rely on values of wildness for fulfillment of its purposes; (9) tourism is the interaction of business suppliers, host governments, and host communities in the process of attracting and hosting tourists and other visitors; and (10) commercial recreation is the wholesaling and retailing of leisure experiences and products. 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DEFINITIONS 3 DEFINITIONS OF OUTDOOR RECREATION AND OTHER ASSOCIATED TERMINOLOGY By Maurice Phipps "PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE THIS MATERIAL IN MICROFICHE ONLY HAS BEEN GRANTED BY eab).1 TO THE EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC)" Outdoor Recreation U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION Ofbce 01 Educational Research and Improvement EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC)/This dOCument has been reproduced as received from the person or organization originating it r Minor changes have been made to improve reproduction quality Points ol view or opinions s.sted in !hie docu . ment do not necessarily represent official OERI position or policy The definition used by the Outdoor Recreation Resources Review Commission (ORRRC) in 1962 was as follows: C:n "Outdoor recreation" is not defined by statute, legislative history, or administrative 00 regulation. The Nationwide Plan, therefore, interprets the term broadly. For the 1i purposes of the Nationwide Plan, outdoor recreation includes these activities that it.rD occur outdoors in an urban and man-made environment as well as those activities traditionally associated with the natural environment. With the advent of .7t4: indoor-outdoor facilities, such as convertible skating rinks and swimming pools, an additional dimension has been added to the complex of areas and facilities encompassed in the term outdoor recreation. (Ford and Blanchard, 1985, p. 2) This broad definition is wider than some outdoor recreators can accept, although looldng at the content of the more recent President's Commission On Americans Outdoors (1986), the same definition was used. Carlson (1960) suggested a definition that is more acceptable to some but is more limiting: "Outdoor recreation is any enjoyable leisure-time activity pursued outdoors or indoors involving knowledge, use, t,r appreciation of natural resources," (Ford and Blanchard, 1985, p.2). However, this excludes such recreation as skiing and golf which requires modifying the natural landscape. Therefore, this definition is too narrow a definition to use in discussing the integration of commercial, public, and non-profit partnerships. A simple definition by Knudson (1984), "Outdoor recreation is commonly referred to in terms of activities of a recreational nature conducted in the open air" (p. 23), leads to the problem of defining the term recreation. Recreation is denved from the Latin word recreare, which 4 means to create anew, to become refreshed and invigo,ratedthe act of recreating or rebirth (Jenson, 1985). Jenson gives some typical phrases used to explain recreation: 1. The pleasurable and constructive use of leisure time. 2. Activity that rests one from work, often by providing a change or diversion. 3. Activities in which we engage because of inner desire and not because of outer compulsion. BEST COPY AVAILABLE 6 DEFINITIONS Wilderness education is "learning to use the wilderness with so little disturbance that the signs of our passing will be healed by the seasonal rejuvenation of nature." (Petzoldt, 1984, p. 263). Petzoldt suggested that more was needed than the passing of the 1964 Wilderness Act "Where the earth and its community of life are untrammeled by man, and where man can have solitude as a primitive and unconformed type of recreation" (p. 263). Neither were restricting visitor numbers or access to certain trails and camps. Petzoldt suggested that education was necessary for the conservation of the outdoors and assisted with the development of a curriculum designed to enable the safe (environmental and physical) use of the wilderness. This curriculum included: judgement, leadership, expedition behavior, environmental ethics, basic camping skills, rations, equipment, clothing, health and sanitation, travel techniques, navigation, weather, first aid and emergency procedures, natural and cutural history, specialized travel/adventure activities, group process and communication skills, trip planning, and evaluation (Petzoldt,1984). Experiential Education In his introduction to the Theory of Everienzial Education, Kraft (1985) quoted E.F. Schumacher, a patron saint of the environmental and experiential education movements: "When the available 'spiritual' is not filled by some higher motivations then it will necessarily be filled by something lower--the small, mean, calculating attitude to life which is rationalized in the economic calculus." (p.1) Kraft asks whether we have lowered our sights and begun to use only the economic calculus of which Schumacher speaks in deciding the direction for the future of experiential education instead of Kurt Hahn's commitments: service to one's neighbor, the cause of international peace, and the development of morally responsible men and women. He illustrates in his chapter, "Towards a Theory of Experiential Learning," the intricacies of the learn by doing philosophy through the ideas of Rousseau, Dewey, Plato, Aristotle, Mao Tse-Tung, Friere, Hahn, Piaget, Montessori, and others, but makes the statement that: Dewey would bridle at the extreme individualism of many of today's experiential educators, who appear to emphasize the individual, almost mystical experience, of the mountaintop, as opposed to the building of a more democratic society, one of Dewey's continuing themes. (p. 13) The term experiential education is often used synonymously witn adventure education or outdoor pursuits/activities in the USA in particular with Outware Bound type courses. Outdoor pursuits The term outdoor pursuits is widely applied to those activities which entail moving across natural land and/or water resources by non-mechanized means of travel. This _ 5 DEFINITIONS 7 includes hiking, backpacking, climbing (rock and snow), cross-colkntry skiing, primitive camping (summer and winter), canoeing, rafting, caving, and snowshoeing (Ford and Blanchard, 1985). Outdoor leadership is the term usually used to refer to the leadership of outdoor pursuits. Currently the terms hard and soft skills of leadership are used to distinguish between the technical skills such as rope work, trip logistics, navigation, etc., (hard skills) and people skills, leadership styles, expedition behavior, group dynamics etc., (soft skills) (Phipps, 1986). Adventure Education Ford's and Blanchard's (1985) definition of adventure education or adventure activity are similar but slightly different from outdoor pursuits. Adventure activities would be those outdoor pursuits that, in addition to being based on the interrelationship of the human with natural environment, apply stress to or challenge the participants purposefully. Skill, tenacity, stamina, and courage are elements added to usual outdoor pursuits that cause them to be termed "adventure activities." (p. 5) Ewert (1987) defined outdoor adventure as: . .a self-initiated activity usually engaged in a natural setting, that contains elements of real or apparent danger (i.e., risk), in which the outcome, while often uncertain, can be influenced by the actions of the participant and circumstance. When adventure is used as a method of promoting the objectives of a pvticular program, the term adventure-based programming is employed. Likewise, if outdoor adventuring is a primary tool in an educational context, the terin outdoor adventure education is often used. Outdoor adventure recreation implies using adventure as a means to achieve what are primarily recreational objectives. (p.149) Ewert (1989) suggests that the deliberate inclusion of risk in a recreational or educational framework helps distinguish outdoor adventure pursuits from more traditional outdoor recreation and/or outdoor education activities. Another term used for outdoor adventure is "natural challenge." Mort lock (1983) divides the advertAre experience into four stages: 1. Play. The person is working or playin!, considerably below normal abilities with minimal involvement. Fear of physical harm is absent. 2. Adventure. The person feels in control of the situation, but is using his experience and abilities to overcome a technical problem. Fear of physical harm is virtually absent, though he may be in a potentially dangerous or strange environment. The challenge is not set too low but neither is it too near personal limitations. 6 86 DEFINITIONS 3. Frontier Adventure. The stage beyond and oftenjust beyond stage 2. The person has fear of physical harm, or psychological stress and no longer feels master of the situation. With luck and considerable effort he can overcome the situation. There is a definite degree of uncertainty as to the outcome. He may have feelings of elation after the experience. 4. Misadventure. This is the final stage--out of control. In ultimate form the result is death. In between death and serious injury on one hand and frontier adventure on the other, there are varying degrees of both physical and psychological damage. It is possible to experience misadventure without physical injury and in mild cases the learning experience may be of value; however, fear can be of an extreme nature and where it leads to panic and terror it is unjustifiable in educational terms. Wilderness Recreation/Pursuits Miles (1988) states: . .we engage in outdoor activities during our leisure time which involves the use and appreciation of natural resources. Further, much of our activity relies in whole or part on values of wildness ;or fulfillment of its purposes. These values are naturalness, freedom from conventional restraint, primitiveness, solitude, and challenge. The activities are undertaken voluntarily for their own sake, and largely involve travel by non-mechanized merais, The objectives of the activities may include personal growth and are thus educational, but the principal aims are to use leisure time for enjoyment and tulfillment. The line between education and recreation is indistinct. The principal vehicles of our experience are such activities as mountaineering, backpacking, river and sea canoeing and kayaking, river rafting, cross-country skiing, and sailing. Our activities generally propel us away from centers of human ntivity, but we cannot use our packs and boats to entirely escape the effects of human enterprise. (p. 1) Tourism Tourism can be defined as "The sum of tht phenomena and relationships arising from the interaction of tourists, business suppliers, host governments, and host communities in the process of attracting and hosting these tourists and other visitors "(McIntosh and Goeldner, 1986, p.4). Adventure travel is an aspect of tourimDickerman (1978) explains: Adventure travel, it should be remembered, is for anyone with an adventurous and inquisitive spirit. It bears little resemblence to the deluxe tour. Depending upon the runedness of the expedition, yot may have to put up with blistering sun or chilling cold. . . if you have never journeyed on treks pov, ,red by horse, mule, burro, paddle, pole, wind water or your own twci feet. . . still you can safely venture on these expeditions in the wild. Outfitters and other services make it possible. (p. 7.) 7