“Can you take me higher?”: Normative thresholds for air quality in the Salt Lake City Metropolitan area

Abstract

Urban-proximate protected areas provide metropolitan residents with a variety of benefits. We explored the pursuit of clean air by winter outdoor recreationists who live in the Salt Lake City metropolitan area of northern Utah, a region that experiences seasonal air pollution events. To better understand how air quality in the Salt Lake Valley affects winter outdoor recreation in the nearby Uinta-Wasatch-Cache National Forest (UWCNF), we employed qualitative interviews (n = 14) and a norms-based thresholds questionnaire (n = 380). Results suggest that degraded metropolitan air quality serves as an impetus for winter outdoor recreation in the UWCNF and, at the same time, disproportionately displaces certain recreationists from outdoor pursuits. Participants’ normative transit behaviors are discussed, as are the effects of existing air quality conditions on self-reports. These results help illustrate air quality is a viable indicator of overall outdoor recreation quality in the UWCNF and likely in other urban-proximate protected areas.

Keywords:

• Leisure travel
• outdoor recreation management
• norms
• air quality
• urban planning

Acknowledgments

Thanks are due to University of Utah undergraduate students who assisted with data collection and data entry. Without their assistance this work would not have been possible.

Notes

1 Particulate matter is regulated by the EPA in two different sizes: PM_2.5 and PM₁₀. PM₁₀ is 10 micrometers or smaller, whereas PM_2.5 is 2.5 micrometers or smaller; for context, the average human hair is thirty times larger than the largest PM_2.5 (Environmental Protection Agency, 2018). In this study, we focus on behavioral responses to PM_2.5 due to its documented adverse effects on public health in the study region.

2 Though AQI_d0 may be considered a more “recent” value than AQI_1d, both values reflect a 24-hour average. Therefore, AQI_d0 represents the average of values collected prior to, during, and following an individual’s questionnaire completion. As such, AQI_d1, a value that participants uniformly had access to prior to their visit to Little Cottonwood Canyon, was deemed a more prudent variable for influencing questionnaire responses.

3 These values were not measured as mutually exclusive. An individual could indicate that they would both stay home and recreate indoors at one of the AQI levels depicted (i.e., unhealthy for sensitive groups).

Additional information

Funding

The authors acknowledge Alta Environmental Center, DPS Skis, and the Global Change & Sustainability Center at the University of Utah for their respective roles in supporting this project. The statements, findings, conclusions, and recommendations are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the partnering organizations.