Perceptions of Social and Ecological Change at the Bonneville Salt Flats

Managing parks and protected areas entails anticipating, accommodating, and communicating natural and anthropogenic change-particularly at iconic and controversial resources. Protected area visitors' subjective perceptions of change often differ from managers', may be influenced by a variety of factors, and can potentially hamper management efficacy. Therefore, we used an exploratory mixed-methods approach to gauge visitors' perceptions of ecological and social change at Utah's Bonneville Salt Flats. Specifically, we aimed to understand if group membership-spectators or racers at land speed racing events-and past visitation history influenced visitors' perceptions. Perceptions of social and ecological change recorded in our study, although small, were partially influenced by group, past use history, and the interaction between these variables. Visitors who had more experience with the resource held perceptions more closely aligned with observed change documented in empirical studies. These findings highlight the importance of sharing generational knowledge to communicate changes at threatened protected areas.Management implications: The implications of this study pertain to the difficult task of managing public lands such as the Bonneville Salt Flats as destinations for multiple uses, including outdoor recreation and participation in special events, as well as for extractive activities. Specifically, a) understanding perceptions of change in relation to a particular resource may help align management actions with existing and/or new objectives, b) identifying and attributing perceptions of change to specific causes or communities may help fine-tune management stra-tegies, and c) understanding perceptions of change and their attribution may create opportunities to validate accurate perceptions as well as mediate perceptions that are inaccurate and potentially problematic with improved collaboration and cooperation among stakeholders.