Planning for Appropriate Recreation Activities In Mountain Environments: Mountain Biking in the Canadian Rocky Mountains

The Canadian Rocky Mountains offer spectacular settings and the necessary topographic features to be conducive to mountain biking. Calgary, one of the major population centres of the region, which has a proportion of mountain bike riders, is situated close to a high concentration of National Parks and other protected areas. The protected areas are therefore an important component of the local and regional outdoor recreation system. However, recreation can impose considerable stress on the parks ecosystems and is often incompatible with their mandate. The study combined the Visitor Activity Management Process with the Appropriateness Model in order to focus on policies regarding recreation and mountain biking in the Canadian Rocky Mountains and to offer a situational analysis, an examination of management strategies and specific recommendations.