Wilderness Quality and Visitors' Wilderness Attitudes: ManagementImplications

/ This study examines whether or not wilderness visitors'attitudes toward wilderness are related to the quality of the wilderness thathas been visited. From three Ontario, Canada, provincial parks (Algonquin,Killarney, and Quetico), a sample of 540 wilderness campers was randomlyselected from a total of 138,317 campers. People sampled ranged in age from15 to 75 years with a mean of slightly over 37. They were highly educated. Amajority of them resided in urban or suburban areas. Significant correlationsbetween visitors' levels of wilderness attitudes and wilderness qualitywere found. However, wilderness quality evaluated by wilderness visitors(subjective quality) did not agree with that evaluated by the wildernessmanagers (objective quality).KEY WORDS: Wilderness; Attitudes; Subjective quality; Objectivequality