Journal of Interpretation Research

This study, conducted over a four-year period at Chester Zoo in the UK, sought to evaluate the impact on visitor behavior and interpretation use that a transition from second- to third-generation zoo exhibit might affect. Visitors spent more time in the newer exhibit (even when allowing for relative floor area) and visitor time budgets suggest a high degree of visitor interaction with different exhibit elements. Specific interpretive elements were analyzed in detail, using quasi-quantitative methods in addition to more standard timing and tracking measures. From this, a proportional relationship between time and visitor engagement is proposed. Areas that were highlighted as under-performing during evaluation were retrofitted with simple, but highly visible, instructional signage and this was found to increase the proportion of visitors that stopped, and how long they stopped in a significant way.

We take for granted many of the programs and activities that have become a part of the national park experience, both for visitors and for employees. But what are the legal authorities for carrying out these park management operations? What permission do we have to protect natural or cultural resources; or to insist that visitors behave in certain ways; or to provide interpretation and education programs; or to provide and maintain facilities? In truth, the answer is a complex bundle of authorities, some of which are ambiguous and some are obscure. Fortunately, the guidance needed for carrying out most of the traditional, routine responsibilities that we've become accustomed to has been condensed into a relatively straight-forward set of policies and guidelines. Even so, we are seeing a disturbing trend of decisions being made at the park level that are inconsistent with law or policy.

The National Park Service Act of 1916, often dangerously considered alone, is only one link, although a fundamental one, in a chain of authorities that acknowledge and preserve historical and cultural resources everywhere in the United States. By fully exercising its cultural resource leadership responsibilities and expanding them to natural resources, the National Park Service can help to make the second century of the service amount to a “Century of the Environment.”