Hamilton-Smith

Electronic Green Journal, Issue #25

Review: Parks and Carrying Capacity: Commons without Tragedy

Review: Parks and Carrying Capacity: Commons without Tragedy
By Robert E. Manning

Reviewed by Elery Hamilton-Smith
Charles Sturt University, Australia

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Manning, Robert E. Parks and Carrying Capacity: Commons without Tragedy Washington: Island Press, 2007 313pp. pbk. ISBN 13 978-1-55963-105-1.

Robert Manning continues to deliver clarity and readability in his excellent review volumes dealing with aspects of outdoor recreation and site management. This volume is well focused upon issues and practices relating to improving or maintaining quality of visitor experience in major parks. It is timely given the current worldwide rise in mass tourism coupled with a declining respect for the environment by tourism managers (Tourtellot 2006).

This is certainly the most comprehensive review of theoretical frameworks and supportive research to date. It does justice to the various competing paradigms that have been developed and the extent to which they have been tested through both practical experience and evaluative research. Park managers in the United States and similar park systems will find it invaluable. Little more needs be said of its great quality for this audience.

However, it will be of very limited value in many other cultures where park managers and rangers must deal with complex power-sharing systems and cannot simply impose their values and standards upon other stakeholders. In fact, the clarity of Manning's work serves to further highlight the domination of park professionals and the persistence of the "Yellowstone Model".

In fact, there is much more power sharing developing in traditional park systems today than is recognised in the professional literature. Some managers have been able to respond to this in very creative and positive ways - others neglect or even actively discourage it! It is high time that a review should be undertaken of this dispersed movement towards more effective power sharing.