Recreation on the Battlefield: Planning for Shifting Visitor Use at Monocacy National Battlefield

Abstract

Outdoor recreation is increasing worldwide, driving recreationists to seek new sites for active leisure pursuits. Recreational use at sites of cultural significance (i.e., historic battlefields) may conflict with their primary legislated purpose, diverting financial and human resources. We documented this process at Monocacy National Battlefield, a U.S. National Park Service site in an urbanizing region of the State of Maryland. A novel mixed-methods approach included a 1) scoping review of relevant peer-reviewed literature; 2) an anonymized, spatiotemporal analysis of visitor trips and place of residence; and 3) cross-sectional, on-site visitor survey of local and destination visitors using an Importance-Performance Analysis. Results illustrate a significant segment of local visitors and recent growth in trips to sites other than the battlefield visitor center. Local visitors were also significantly more likely to identify higher importance to recreation-related facilities, services, and park attributes. While population growth slowed in the recent decade within Frederick County, future increases may yield potential for conflict between recreational and historic uses. Triangulating spatiotemporal and survey-based methods can assist managers in understanding recreation demand in similar units experiencing scope creep to inform iterative outreach, monitoring, planning, and adaptive management to respond to changing demography.