Trail Geoecology: A New Methodological Proposal for the Planning and Management of Trails in Public Use Management in Nature Conservation Units

MELLO, Flávio Augusto Pereira. Geoecology of trails: Theoretical and methodological contribution to the planning and management of trails in the management of public use in parks. 2016. 172f. Thesis (Ph. D.) – Institute of Geography, State University of Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, 2016. Conceptually controversial, the definition of limits of public use in integral protection conservation unit, especially regarding the category “Park”, is a technically complex and materially broad activity; both from the preservationist practice and management of social function point of view. Indeed, ecological and biogeographical dynamics between visitors and protected populations of the local biota are not known or monitored with an acceptable degree of confidence, given the complexity and cost of these actions. This condition of management in parks characterizes a high degree of uncertainty when considering the preservation and conservation of the protected natural heritage as perceived in the Itatiaia National Park – Rio de Janeiro. However, despite the Recreation Ecology contributes to understanding the relationship between the public use and the protected natural heritage, the fundamentally anthropocentric or environmental point of view often leads to conflicts of use, such as the reaction of social groups as the administrative restrictions based on the precautionary principle or operational limitations, which are pejoratively cognominated as a policy of "fortress parks." Aware of the difficulty of establishing common denominators for a further debate on the management of public use in parks and the optimization of the relationship between preservation and social commitment, this thesis proposes the "Geoecology of trails" as a specific area of knowledge to understand the systemic role of trail circuits as landscape elements susceptible to analyses and measurements at different scales, based on the geographical approach on ecological and social phenomena in natural areas, specifically in parks. Therefore, morphological and functional aspects of trails and circuits were investigated as a territorialization process of the protected geographical area, capable of being identified as a landscape element able to be characterized and measured in an eminently geographical perspective; both based on the exploration of aspects involving the relationship of these devices with different scales of geomorphological compartmentation in geosystemic approach; and in established conditions in fragmented landscapes, with a strategic importance for the preservation of the biota protected in parks, as the assumptions of Landscape Ecology. In these two aspects, it was aimed to determine the functional units of the trails at several scales to establish references able to generate and order indicators that reflect more accurately the relationships established by the public use and parks, seeking to subsidize management decisions of public use and biota in parks.