Desktop analysis of potential impacts of visitor use: A case study for the highest park in the Southern Hemisphere Agustina Barros a, * , Catherine Pickering a , Ori Gudes b, c a Environmental Futures Research Institute, Griffith School of Environment, Griffith University Gold Coast, QLD 4222, Australia b Department of Spatial Sciences, Curtin University, Perth, WA 6845, Australia c Research Centre for Community Science, Population and Social Health Research Program, Griffith Health Institute, Griffith University, Meadowbrook, QLD 4131, Australia article info Article history: Received 10 October 2013 Received in revised form 16 October 2014 Accepted 5 November 2014 Available online Keywords: Landscape analysis Tourism Recreation Impacts Campsites Trails Protected areas abstract Natureebased tourism and recreation activities have a range of environmental impacts, but most pro- tected area agencies have limited capacity to assess them. To prioritise where and what impacts to monitor and manage, we conducted a desktop assessment using Geographical Information Systems (GIS) by combining recreation ecology research with data on visitor usage and key environmental features for a popular protected area used for mountaineering and trekking, Aconcagua Provincial Park (2400 e6962 m a.s.l.) in the Andes of Argentina. First, we integrated visitor data from permits with environ- mental data using GIS. We then identified key impact indicators for different activities based on the recreation ecology literature. Finally, we integrated this data to identify likely ecological impacts based on the types of activities, amount of use and altitudinal zones. Visitors only used 2% of the Park, but use was concentrated in areas of high conservation value including in alpine meadows and glacier lakes. Impacts on water resources were likely to be concentrated in campsites from the intermediate to the nival/glacial zones of the Park while impacts on terrestrial biodiversity were likely to be more severe in the low and intermediate alpine zones (2400e3800 m a.s.l.). These results highlight how visitor data can be used to identify priority areas for on-ground assessment of impacts in key locations. Improvements to the management of visitors in this Park involves more effective ways of dealing with water extraction and human waste in high altitude campsites and the impacts of hikers and pack animals in the low and intermediate alpine zones. © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction Protected areas are popular destinations for a range of nature- based tourism and recreation activities, with visitor use of pro- tected areas increasing in many regions including Australia, New Zealand and South America (Balmford et al., 2009; Buckley, 2009b). Popular activities in many protected areas include hiking, camping, mountain biking and wildlife viewing (Priskin, 2001; Pickering and Buckley, 2003; Buckley, 2004; Newsome et al., 2012). The involvement of commercial companies to support recreational activities is also increasing, including providing transportation, guiding, food and lodging in protected areas (Buckley, 2009a). Given the popularity of protected areas and the potential impacts of visitor use, protected area managers are often required to docu- ment and demonstrate if specific activities and levels of use are sustainable and if management actions are required to minimize impacts (Hadwen et al., 2007, 2008b; Monz et al., 2010a; Newsome et al., 2012). In doing so, land managers can utilize the growing body of research on recreation ecology, which is the scientific study of the impacts of tourism and recreation activities on the natural environment (Liddle, 1997; Hammitt and Cole, 1998). This includes research on the effects of hiking and camping (e.g. Cole, 2004; Nepal and Way, 2007; Pickering and Growcock, 2009), trampling and grazing by horses (Weaver and Dale, 1978; Cole and Spildie, 1998; Cole et al., 2004; Newsome et al., 2004) and mountain bike riding (White et al., 2006; Pickering et al., 2011), among others. This * Corresponding author. Tel.: þ61 7 55528342; fax: þ61 7 5552 8067. E-mail addresses: a.barros@griffith.edu.au, anaagustinabarros@gmail.com (A. Barros). Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Journal of Environmental Management journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jenvman http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2014.11.004 0301-4797/© 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Journal of Environmental Management 150 (2015) 179e195