Project co-PI Shalini Misra led a paper that appeared in the Journal of Environmental Management. The paper presented our work in analyzing trail maintainer interviews from 2022, resulting in a framework for smart and sustainable resource management. The paper sets the stage for understanding how trail maintainers make decisions and get things done. Co-authors include
The work gathers results from our interviews with 18 trail managers, using grounded theory to identify four areas of interest and concern: (1) visitor monitoring and management, (2) information dissemination and two-way communication with hikers; (3) trail monitoring and maintenance; and (4) data analytics for decision-making. For each of these areas, we identified goals, strategies and objectives that were important to the managers, and we posited how digital tools could help in supporting the managers.
Leveraging these findings from the interviews, our framework put forth challenges posed by digital technologies for sustainable resource management grouped into four categories: technological, organizational, ethical, and experiential. For each category, our paper proposes management needs for smart and sustainable resource management.
To learn more about this work, read the full paper at https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S030147972403408X.
As an addendum,
Technology on the Trail 