Kapiti Island: a case study in social impact assessment (setting the limits)

Abstract

Kapiti Island Nature Reserve is an example of a fully protected natural area, which is under pressure to have visitor access increased. The island represents an area receiving low levels of use compared with other popular natural areas. The number of visitors is restricted because of the Island's designation as a Nature Reserve, the highest statutory protection for conservation land in New Zealand. The Department of Conservation can increase its role as advocate for conservation by allowing the public to visit and appreciate the Island. Present restrictions on visitor numbers to this bird sanctuary provided for a controlled setting, which was used as a case study in social impact assessment.

The aim was to develop methods of monitoring visitors' perceptions of social impacts, to establish an appropriate carrying capacity. This has implications for further developing such management processes as the Limits of Acceptable Change (LAC) Planning System (Stankey et al., 1985), through the identification of suitable indicators of the social conditions of outdoor recreation areas.

The research has a theoretical base in the pluralist tradition. The Symbolic Interactionist perspective is drawn on to explain the manner by which visitors gain an understanding of the Island experience from each other and through interaction with the setting. The Affordance Theory is used to introduce the notion that the natural setting of the Island has inherent properties which are recognisable by, and influential on, some visitors in an innate manner.

Visitor experiences were first explored by using qualitative methods. This involved both participant observation and in-depth interviews in order to gain subjective understanding of island visitation. Second, items, based on these qualitative data, were then used to define quantitative data and validate measures and procedures.

Research was completed on Kapiti Island over the summer months of 1990-91. Over this period 28 in-depth interviews were conducted, 30 days were spent observing and talking with visitors, 646 pre-trip questionnaires were posted out, receiving a 41 percent response rate, and 722 post-trip questionnaires were handed to visitors, receiving a 64 percent response rate.

Information on visitor motivations, expectations and satisfactions were used to understand better the types of visitor using the Island, and provided quantified support from visitors on the assessment made of their experience. The nine point crowding scale favoured by Shelby et al. (1989) and the number of encounters with other groups, provide measurable indicators of social crowding which can guide management policy. Open ended questions were used to gain responses from visitors about impacts caused by other visitors. From this information it was possible to identify and measure issues directly relating to the 'optimal experience' available on Kapiti Island. These measures form the basis for establishing preferred limits to use, and future monitoring procedures. The wider application of this research is the development of methods of assessment relevant to other natural areas which are also coming under pressure from growing domestic and international visitation.

The following are the salient points revealed by the research on Kapiti Island.

1 Visiting Kapiti Island Nature Reserve advances conservation advocacy because of the unique experience visitors can gain there.

2 Kapiti Island visitation generates a variety of experiences, but there is an optimal experience, which is dependent on how the visitors use the Island.

3 How visitors use the Island is dependent on historical and situational factors. These are: sense of place; other visitors; interpretation; intrinsic power of nature and serendipity.

4 Interferences caused by the presence of other visitors which prevent the achievement of an optimal experience are the kinds of social impacts which may be open to management action.

5 These impacts can be measured through using the perceptions of visitors, specifically looking at their responses to questions on negative impacts, crowding on a nine point scale, the number of other groups encountered, and visitors' previous Kapiti Island experience.