Toward an Approach for Measuring Indicators of Facility Carrying Capacity in Outdoor Recreation Areas

Abstract

This article uses data from 1,399 individuals at six sites in Hawai`i to examine congruence among their encounters, norms, and satisfaction with six types of facilities (e.g., trash cans, bathrooms, signs) and the actual number of these facilities. The majority of users recalled encountering fewer of each facility than the number they believed should be at each site (i.e., their norm) and these users were least satisfied with these facilities. When user norms were compared to the actual number of facilities, however, there were enough of most facilities to meet these norms. Combining the number of facilities with the observation—norm—evaluation approach used in many social carrying capacity studies (e.g., encounters, norms, crowding) may be useful for measuring indictors of facility capacity.

KEYWORDS:

• Facility carrying capacity
• norms
• satisfaction
• indicators
• standards of quality