Park Visitors’ Place Attachment and Climate Change-related Displacement: Potential Shifts in Who, Where, and When

Visitation to parks will change with increasing climate changes. We examined how place attachment may influence different types of climate-induced displacement at both the park and park system level. Previous research suggests that visitors who have greater place attachment to parks within a system may be more likely to tolerate changed environmental conditions before they are displaced from the system entirely or change their choice of park or time of visit within it. Our study, based on the Vermont State Parks system (U.S.), used an on-site visitor questionnaire to examine potential system, spatial, and temporal displacements resulting from ranges of five regionally specific probable manifestations of climate change. As hypothesized, we found that those with lower place attachment were more likely to be displaced. Specifically, these visitors would be more likely to shift their visitation to more southern and lower elevation parks to avoid increased rainfall, earlier/later in the season to avoid higher day or night time temperatures, and out of the park system entirely with more days above 90 F or biting insects. Our approach to examining climate change, place attachment, and displacement has relevance for considering how these three areas impact tourism and visitor use management, as well as utility for managers of these destinations.