The Role of Crowding in Visitor Displacement at Mount Rainier and Olympic National Parks

Executive Summary One thousand telephone interviews were conducted in the six western Washington counties of Clallam, King, Kitsap, Pierce, Snohomish, and Thurston. Two research questions addressed in the telephone survey included: 1) the amount of spatial and temporal displacement due to crowding at Mount Rainier and Olympic national parks; and 2) the differences between displaced and non-displaced visitors in terms of demographic characteristics, crowding perceptions, and recreation motives. The survey found that 20.4% of Mount Rainier visitors and 20.6% of Olympic visitors reported inter-site displacement, i.e., they were previous visitors who were either somewhat unlikely or very unlikely to return to the parks in the foreseeable future. The most important reasons for this were time and distance constraints and lack of travel companions. Crowding-related causes also were reasons for not planning to return, although more so at Mount Rainier than at Olympic. Among the crowding-associated reasons for displacement were traffic congestion in the parks, too many visitors, and difficulty getting campsites or lodging. Of the 1,000 persons interviewed, 5.6% said they would not return to Mount Rainier National Park solely because of crowding-related conditions. The figure for Olympic National Park was 4.1%. On average, more than ten years had passed since these displaced respondents had visited either park. In addition, substantial amounts of temporal and intra-site displacement were reported. At Mount Rainier, 65.7% of previous visitors had visited the park during a low-use period (primarily the fall and spring seasons), while 20.3% had gone to lesser-used locations to avoid crowds, including the backcountry, Ipsut Creek, and Lake Mowich. For Olympic, the corresponding figures were 60.6% and 24.7%. As at Mount Rainier, the most-commonly visited low-use periods at Olympic were also fall and spring, and the most-reported lesser-used locations were the wilderness coast, backcountry, and the Staircase area. Convenience was the most frequently cited reason for visiting during low-use periods at both parks. However, experiencing a more natural park and an uncrowded park ranked second and third as reasons for this. Respondents who had visited the parks were compared with those who had not. Non-visitors were younger, tended to have less schooling, and were less affluent than visitors. Non-visitors also were more likely to be Hispanic and less likely to be white. Former visitors displaced by crowding were compared with those displaced for other reasons. Crowding-displaced visitors were more likely to believe Mount Rainier and Olympic national parks were too crowded …