Crowding in a National Park Campground

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Abstract
There is a belief among managers of recreational areas that as the number of visitors increases, visitors will begin to feel crowded, and consequently their enjoyment will diminish. This belief was examined in a study of campground users at the Katmai National Monument in Alaska. It was learned that the relationship between crowding and density was mediated by personal factors (i.e., preference and expectation for density) and structural factors (i.e., spatial arrangement of camping parties, social behavior of campers, and the relationship between physical capacity of campground facilities and demand for their use). This means that managers have a variety of options to control whether or not visitors feel crowded, other than rationing policies (i.e., limiting density).