Keywords

1 Introduction

Urban green spaces are vegetated lands within a city designed to improve public welfare. Wilderness areas, by contrast, are natural lands “where the earth and its community of life are untrammeled by [humans], where [a human is] a visitor who does not remain” (Wilderness Act, 1964). While there is no universally accepted definition for urban wilderness, it commonly refers to an undeveloped area (save natural surface trails) within city limits that is large enough where human activities are not seen or heard. With a minimum human imprint, urban wilderness areas offer unique opportunities for a proximal population to connect with raw nature and engage in primitive recreation (Nash, 2014).

While numerous studies have examined the effects of urban green space on physical and mental wellbeing, far fewer studies have explored social demand (i.e., use, perceptions, preferences, and values) for urban wilderness. This chapter presents a case study to assess the use, perceptions, preferences, life experiences, and sociodemographic characteristics of visitors to Purgatory Creek Natural Area (PCNA), a large urban wilderness with high levels of biodiversity and natural amenities located in San Marcos, Texas, USA (Fig. 20.1). Urban wilderness demand was explored, emphasizing users’ perceptions of wildlife and solitude as elements of wilderness. The guiding research question of the study was: “What sociodemographic characteristics are associated with perceptions of and preferences for wildlife and amenities in PCNA?” Because experiencing “solitude and naturalness” are important aspects that distinguish wilderness from other types of urban green spaces (Nash, 2014), we set out to understand the extent to which users cite these characteristics as reasons for their use.

Fig. 20.1
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Purgatory Creek Natural Area (PCNA) study area in San Marcos, Texas, USA. (Data for this map were obtained from the City of San Marcos, Texas Department of Transportation, and Esri base maps)

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The benefits of urban wilderness and green spaces are wide-ranging and far-reaching. They benefit the environment on multiple fronts by mitigating the impacts of urbanization on climate and ecosystems (Kubiszewski et al., 2017). Cultural ecosystem services (CES)—non-material benefits such as environmental education, spirituality, recreation, aesthetics, and stress relief—stemming from nature-human interactions are also abundant in semi-natural areas within cities (Campbell et al., 2016). Following a positive feedback loop, CES encourages the use of and support for parks and natural areas; however, challenges remain for including these non-material benefits in the planning and management of urban natural areas (Dickinson & Hobbs, 2017). Perceived ecosystem services can vary based on the geography of place and different landscape settings. Educational background and professional roles have also been found to influence social demand. Individuals whose work is related to the environment are more likely to display a stronger preference for natural settings (Eriksson et al., 2012). Further, people with previous nature experiences, especially during youth, often show a higher preference for wild elements (Jay & Schraml, 2009).

People tend to relate CES to their individual wellbeing and, based on their perceptions and experiences, assign diverse aesthetic, social, and cultural values to green spaces (Ives et al., 2017). Most people agree that the value of a protected area increases with its naturalness level; however, discrepancies were found between actual preferences for wilderness among those with different cultures and environment-related attitudes and experiences (Buijs et al., 2009). Sociodemographic variables such as age, gender, race/ethnicity, income, and education are among the most studied factors that influence perception and preferences for natural landscapes within an urban setting (Misiune et al., 2021).

The main characteristics associated with wilderness tend to be the absence of human influence and economic exploitation. However, Bauer (2005) notes that (1) such spaces are difficult if not impossible to find in or adjacent to cities, and (2) users often express a desire for so-called wilderness areas to provide amenities (e.g., fireplaces, trash bins, benches, parking lots) that are at odds with the aforementioned conditions. In other words, while users’ preferences for wilderness over the built environment are well-documented (McMahan & Josh, 2017; de Groot & van den Born, 2003), the dissonance between these preferences and the simultaneous demand for built amenities are not well understood. Our case study adds new insights into this balance by asking users of a unique urban wilderness area, among other things, why they choose to use the study area and what, if any, amenities they would like this area to offer. This knowledge is useful to city planners who may not be aware of visitors’ preferences for and benefits of natural areas.

2 Methods

2.1 Study Area

The urban wilderness area we examined is the ~500-ha Purgatory Creek Natural Area (PCNA), located within the city limits of San Marcos, Texas, USA (Fig. 20.1). PCNA comprises three separately named tracts, but they are contiguous and thus treated as one natural area. At the time of our study, there were three main public entrances: Prospect Park (at the dead-end of a minor residential road), Upper Purgatory (at the dead-end of a service road along a tertiary road), and Lower Purgatory (at the intersection of two major secondary roads). Prospect Park is the original natural area developed in the 1990s, with additional contiguous parcels added later (San Marcos Greenbelt Alliance, 2017). PCNA contains approximately 17 km of natural surface trails that visitors use to engage in various activities such as walking/hiking, running, mountain biking, bird watching, and dog walking. Figure 20.2 shows natural landscape and the types of amenities present in PCNA. Purgatory Creek, a large ephemeral stream, runs through the natural area and recharges the Edwards Aquifer, one of Central Texas’s major water resources. The fluvial ecosystem and its surrounding woodlands provide habitat for numerous species, including the apex predator mountain lion and the federally-protected Golden-cheeked Warbler (Duarte et al., 2016; Groce et al., 2010). PCNA is co-managed by the City of San Marcos (CoSM) and the nonprofit San Marcos Greenbelt Alliance (SMGA).

Fig. 20.2
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Purgatory Creek Natural Area (PCNA) landscape. (Photos a, b, c, d show the natural landscape and the types of amenities present in PCNA. All photos were taken by C. Lopez)

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San Marcos is a college town and rapidly growing city (2017 population of 65,000) located along the Interstate-35 corridor between Austin and San Antonio, two of the fastest-growing large cities in the USA. San Marcos is also a tourist destination. Each year, approximately 14 million people visit the San Marcos Premium and Tanger Factory Outlets shopping center, and over 100,000 flock to the San Marcos River’s recreation areas (Greater San Marcos Partnership 2020). Because PCNA is embedded in a dynamic and urbanizing region, its relative absence of human influence and extensive spatial footprint make it unique within the region and place it in high demand.

2.2 Survey Instrument

The survey design was based on the authors’ previous studies on social demand for ecosystem services in natural areas (Castro et al., 2016; Julian et al., 2018), which were an expansion of the social preference framework of Martin-Lopez et al. (2012). Surveys were conducted at the three public entrance/exit points from June 2016 to April 2017, during different days of the week and over the full range of daylight hours to have a sample that represented the full suite of users and uses of the natural area. Visitors who appeared to be 18 years or older and who were leaving the area were approached and invited to participate in a brief survey about their use, preferences, and perceptions of PCNA. Participants completed a 22-question survey in 10 min or less. No incentives were offered for participation in the survey.

The survey instrument used a combination of multiple-choice, Likert-scale, and open-ended questions to collect information about natural area use, access, childhood nature experiences, sociodemographics, and the primary focus of this research: perceptions of nature and wildlife. To evaluate the perception of wildlife, the survey asked participants to rate the statement: “having birds and wildlife in the parks I use is important” on a five-level Likert scale from “strongly disagree” to “strongly agree.” The survey instrument contained two other Likert-scale questions to further explore participants’ preferences for nature: (1) their preferred amount of people in the park when visiting and (2) the likelihood they would visit the park if it became crowded (Manning et al., 2009).

Moreover, following Kaplan (1985), this study analyzed nature preference/perception by examining how the environment is experienced. For this purpose, the survey included two open-ended questions. The first such question asked participants to name the amenities they wished to see added to PCNA. The second question sought information on participants’ motivations to visit PCNA. To further explore human-environment relationships, our survey included two questions on childhood nature experiences related to environment raised (urban, suburban, rural) and time spent outdoors (regularly, occasionally, rarely, never). The survey also collected sociodemographic information on age, gender, race/ethnicity, education, income, occupation, and student status.

Demand for green spaces and nature, more broadly, beyond PCNA, was examined through multiple questions about general park use and preferences. The survey respondents were asked how often they visit any natural area and why. Proximity-related questions asked participants about their current residence and mode of transportation. Finally, visitors were asked a close-ended question, on a scale from “strongly disagree” to “strongly agree,” on whether park space and trails in their city/town meet their current needs.

2.3 Data Analyses

The survey instrument was designed to include a mix of closed- and open-ended questions. The analysis was performed in three steps. The first step was exploratory and summarized the descriptive statistics of respondents’ characteristics. In the second step, non-parametric Kruskal-Wallis tests and post hoc pairwise Wilcoxon tests (when required) were employed to test hypotheses related to respondents’ perception of nature and wildlife. Finally, we engaged with responses to two open-ended questions that explored motivations for visiting PCNA (Why did you come to this park today instead of others?), and their preference for any further amenities in the park (What other amenities, if any, would you like to see added to this park?).

3 Results and Discussion

3.1 Visitor Sociodemographics

A total of 391 surveys were collected from visitors to PCNA, mostly at the Lower Purgatory entrance (n = 304), which is the most popular among the three entry/exit points, followed by Upper Purgatory (n = 66), and Prospect Park (n = 21). Most visitors were current Texas State University students (65.5%), followed by former students (27.4%). The strong presence of university students and graduates largely explains visitors’ age makeup, as more than half of respondents were under 25 years old (50.3%) while another quarter was between the ages of 25 and 34 years old (24.9%). More than 7% of the visitors were over 55 years old. A majority of respondents were white (66.1%) and male (54.6%), with a significant fraction of visitors (22.9%) reporting Hispanic/Latino ethnicity. Most visitors were raised in a suburban environment (58.7%), while 30% were raised in a rural environment and only 11% in an urban environment. The vast majority of the respondents had regular outdoor activity during childhood (86.9%). Only 2.1% reported never or rarely spending time enjoying outdoor activities during childhood and adolescence.

3.2 Natural Area Use

More than half of the respondents said that they visit PCNA one or more times per month: 29.4% make one to three visits per month, while 24.6% visit the park weekly (Table 20.1). Another 26% of respondents reported making between two and eleven visits to PCNA per year, while the remaining 17.1% visit once per year or less frequently. With respect to any natural area (i.e., other than the PCNA), park, or trail, a large majority of respondents (71.7%) claimed to visit such places on at least a monthly (29.2%) or weekly (42.5%) basis. This park/natural area visitation frequency is comparable to a similar study in Vilnius, Lithuania (Misiune et al., 2021). In the second half of Table 20.1, observe that the majority of survey respondents agree (69%) or strongly agree (6.2%) that the parks in their city or town meet the current level demand therein. However, 11.4% disagree, and 2.3% strongly disagree with this statement.

Table 20.1 Visitors’ use of Purgatory Creek Natural Area (PCNA)
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3.3 Urban Wilderness Perception

While we can debate the definition of urban wilderness, it is generally accepted that it provides favorable habitat for wildlife (Nash, 2014). Almost all of our survey respondents (95.6%) agreed that having birds and wildlife in PCNA is important. An urban wilderness is also perceived as a refuge to find alone time, experience restoration, and recover from the stresses and fatigue associated with an urban lifestyle (Campbell et al., 2016; Stigsdotter & Grahn, 2011). Accordingly, this study found that most respondents wished to experience nature in relative solitude. Indeed, 82.4% preferred to see no or only a few people in the natural area during their visit (Fig. 20.3), and almost half (44.3%) would stop visiting PCNA if it became crowded. On the other hand, almost half (44.6%) would visit PCNA even if it became crowded (Fig. 20.4).

Fig. 20.3
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Preference for the amount of people in PCNA showing how many people respondents prefer to see when visiting PCNA

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Fig. 20.4
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Respondents’ answers to whether they would still use and enjoy PCNA if it becomes crowded

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Using the non-parametric Kruskal-Wallis test in conjunction with posthoc Wilcoxon pairwise tests, sociodemographic data (independent variables) were tested against respondents’ perceptions of birds and wildlife (dependent variable) to understand the importance of characteristics that might speak to PCNA’s wilderness qualities to different users (Table 20.2). Before unpacking these results, observe that we were forced to combine some groups due to low observed frequencies in some categories.

Table 20.2 Relationships between sociodemographic variables and perception of wildlife (“Having birds and wildlife in the parks I visit is important”)
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3.3.1 Age

Kruskal-Wallis tests revealed significant differences in the importance of birds and wildlife to respondents by age group (p = 0.026). While the median rank for all age groups was 5 (indicating high importance of birds and wildlife to all groups), post hoc Wilcoxon pairwise tests suggested that the distributions of responses differed for younger and older visitors. Specifically, visitors 45 years and older placed higher importance on having birds and wildlife in the park relative to younger respondents. The mean ranks for persons aged 45–54 and 55+ were both 4.81. These values were significantly higher than the mean rank of 4.51 for persons 25 years and younger.

3.3.2 Environment Raised and Childhood Outdoor Activity

Youth experiences in nature-based activities have been shown to have a positive relationship with adult environmental attitudes (Jim & Shan, 2013; Julian et al., 2018). From our study, we also found that regular childhood outdoor activity positively influenced the perception of wildlife. Perceived importance of birds and wildlife to the PCNA differed significantly by the amount of childhood outdoor activity (p = 0.020) and marginally significant (p = 0.068) by type of environment (urban, suburban, rural) in which a respondent was raised. The median rank of 4 among respondents who “occasionally” engaged in outdoor activities during childhood was significantly lower than the median rank of 5 for those who regularly experienced an outdoor activity as a child.

With respect to youth environment, at a 90% level of confidence, visitors who grew up in an urban environment placed significantly less importance on the presence of birds and wildlife in a natural area (median = 4) compared to persons who hailed from suburban and rural communities (median = 5 for both groups).

3.3.3 Education, Income, Race/Ethnicity/Origin

Unlike previous studies, which found that use of and preferences for green space varied among people from different racial/ethnic groups (Payne et al., 2002), and with different levels of education and income (Jim & Shan, 2013), this study did not find any significant differences in how people perceive the importance of wildlife-based on their race/ethnicity/origin, educational level, and income class. Regardless of any of these factors, the survey respondents positively valued the existence of wildlife and other nature elements in wilderness areas.

One difference that our study did show was that age could influence the perception of wildlife, as younger visitors demonstrated lower awareness compared to older visitors. This finding supports a previous study that found age to be an influential factor in nature perception, where older people assign greater importance to experiencing wildlife in urban green spaces (Sang et al., 2016).

3.4 Motivations for Natural Area Usage

As in previous studies (Paul & Nagendra, 2017; Campbell et al., 2016; Misiune et al., 2021), proximity to the green space was the most frequently mentioned factor (n = 127) that motivated respondents’ visits to PCNA (Fig. 20.5). Indeed, most of the survey respondents lived in San Marcos or came from nearby towns. Some participants cited the size and quality of trails (61) as reasons for using PCNA rather than other nearby parks. Some respondents mentioned that they visit the park to engage in activities such as walking, running, biking (46), or walking their dogs (14).

Fig. 20.5
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Visitors’ motivations for visiting Purgatory Creek Natural Area (PCNA). (This word cloud was generated using Wordle.net)

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Two main themes emerged from survey responses, which provided insight into respondents’ perceptions of natural and anthropogenic amenities. The first concept was “naturalness” (12), expressed with various terminologies such as “natural,” “raw nature,” “natural landscape,” “rugged,” and other statements used to describe their preference for a more natural landscape. Respondents also used “scenery” (6) through various expressions to show their appreciation for naturalness’s aesthetic value. The second theme that arose from survey responses was “solitude” (19), expressed through words such as “quietness” and “secluded.”

3.5 Preference for Amenities

Despite a strong consensus on the importance of having wilderness elements in natural areas, our qualitative results indicated what visitors wanted to see in wilderness areas (e.g., trash bins, benches, camp-fire places) is not well-matched with typical characteristics of a wilderness (Bauer, 2005). The interpretive analysis of 102 total comments identified several amenities that survey participants most desired (Fig. 20.6). Trashcans were at the top of the list (n = 72), followed by water fountains (63), improved signage (53), better trails (42), and benches (13). Some people asked for picnic areas (3), and only two people asked for a larger parking lot. Many asked for dog water fountains and waste bags (23). Several respondents stated that they like the park as is and did not desire any changes. In these 16 comments, respondents said either they “loved” the park or it was their favorite.

Fig. 20.6
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The most desired amenities by visitors in Purgatory Creek Natural Area (PCNA)

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4 Conclusions

The Purgatory Creek Natural Area (PCNA) case study shed light on the complex social demand for urban wilderness, including how that wilderness is used, perceived, preferred, and valued. The findings buttressed the widely accepted notion that high levels of naturalness—rare within urban settings—positively influence visitors’ use and perception of natural areas in cities. Age and youth experiences with nature were the most significant, positive correlates with perception of wildlife and nature in PCNA.

Our study also showed that visitors from different races/ethnicities, income, and education levels agreed on the importance of wildlife and relative solitude in the selected urban wilderness. However, there were some mismatches between what visitors valued of urban wilderness (i.e., raw nature) and what amenities they desired for that same urban wilderness (e.g., trash bins, signage, benches). To obtain a more comprehensive understanding of visitors’ perception and preferences of urban wilderness, there is a need for further studies that involve participants with more diverse sociodemographic characteristics. Understanding users’ perception of urban wilderness is essential for managing and protecting these unique spaces as well as increasing awareness about the importance of wilderness areas within urban settings.

Overall, this study found that social demand for urban wilderness is a multi-dimensional balance between natural amenities and cultural conveniences. While in Purgatory, we want to be cleansed (of urban stresses), but we do not want to suffer too much in the process. Place-based studies, like this one, in a wider variety of environments are needed to shed more light on social demand for urban wilderness to promote a healthy balance between people and nature in an ever-urbanizing world.