Governance and environmental implications of motorised events: insights from Australia and avenues for further inquiry

Understanding the conflicting values associated with motorized recreation in protected areas

“…However, even where protected areas have had a status excluding potentially high-impact activity, governments have overridden existing environmental legislation for the sake of high-profile motor sports events, including in areas that are world heritage listed (Dredge and Whitford 2011;Jones et al 2013). One example is the Australian World Rally Championship in 2009, which was held in the world heritage-listed Green Cauldron, remnants of an ancient shield volcano.…”

“…Jones et al (2013) outlined a model to capture the spectrum of motor sports in protected areas in Australia. It showed that at the extreme end of the spectrum of motorized activity in protected areas were large-scale motor sports events such as off-road rallies, potentially high environmental impact not only to the affected areas but also on public perceptions about the values of protected areas.…”

“…Resultant environmental impacts will depend on user behavior, track integrity and condition, and the number of people accessing a particular area. However, as Jones et al (2013) observed, motorized user demand on natural spaces moves along a spectrum from recreational activity through to competitive activity, can involve larger numbers of participants, and in some cases can be major events with commercial sporting interests. Accordingly, this paper inquires into the values underpinning motorized recreational demand and activity.…”

“…Some recreational activities have the potential to evolve from small and relatively low-impact situations into larger and increasingly higher impact organized events. This comes with commercialization of such activities attracting more participants, and associated businesses seeking to increase markets and use such events as marketing tools (Buckley 2006;Newsome and Dowling 2006;Burgin and Hardiman 2012;Jones et al 2013;Newsome et al 2013;Newsome 2014).…”

“…Some of this increased diversity of demand includes motorized access to wild and remote sites via off-road vehicle (ORV) club activities through to organized motor sports (Priskin 2004;Groom et al 2007;Grant and Doherty 2009;Jones et al 2013;Newsome et al 2013;Newsome 2014;Queensland Government 2015). In particular, the trend for outdoor spaces such as national parks to accommodate increasing recreational demand, including a burgeoning motorized recreation culture is occurring in parallel with myriad challenges to natural and protected areas globally.…”