Viewshed techniques for off-tracks planning in Protected Areas

Abstract

Many methods evaluate the attractiveness of the off-tracks in protected areas.  Among them,  the scenic quality of landscape has received attention in researches as a major catalyzer for environmental attractiveness. This research used the GIS technology to conduce the planning of off-tracks in the Parque Natural Municipal Mata do Rio Uruguai Teixeira Soares, using topographic analysis, particularly based on Viewsheds and capability for local implementation of visiting. We defined six off-tracks totalizing 14,005 meters, with a average slope of 22.16%, an altitudinal range of 180.58 meters and a crossing-time walk around 08:40. The distances range from 3,321 to 4,783 meters and have little effect on the degree of crossing difficulty. Considering the landscape diversity, two off-tracks (1 and 2) show the highest values of Pielou’s uniformity (64.2 and 64.1%), and of Shannon index Diversity (1.250 and 1.245). In general, given its unique characteristics and complementarity, off-tracks 1 and 2 jointly allow the tourist experience with different local biotopes, with both high as low proportional visibility. Thus, we suggest these off-tracks to the priority implementation when the Park is opened to visitation. In a second phase, considering the interest, the needs and the viability, we suggest the implementation of a single additional off-track among the remaining (3, 4, 5 and 6), given their  similarity, in order to make viable the visiting tourism, avoiding, however, an overload of touristic use and a consequent ecological deterioration of the visiting area.