Impact from Adventure Tourism Using Off-road Vehicles on the Ecosystem of Western Thung Yai Naresuan Wildlife Sanctuary

Abstract

The objectives of this research were to study and quantify the use of dirt roads within the Western Thung Yai Naresuan Wildlife Sanctuary, to study the characteristics of the roads and their basic ecological characters, to analyze the impacts on and physical resistance of the areas accessed by off-road vehicles and to predict the severity of future impacts from off-road vehicles using the wildlife sanctuary. Data were collected from three roads and were analyzed by descriptive statistics, t-test, two-way analysis of variance and multiple regression analysis. The research found that the numbers of seedlings and saplings at the edge of the three roads studied were significantly less than the numbers found in nearby natural areas, indicating that off-road vehicles caused impacts to vegetation in the area. The quantity of soil loss on Takianthong-Sarawa road was the greatest at 118.43 t/ha. The three roads impacted on the habitat of six wildlife species because of the potential for habitat fragmentation. The physical resistance analysis found that Ti Neoy-Maharaj road within dry dipterocarp forest had the highest soil dispersion ratio of 52.43%. Two-way analysis of variance found that forest type significantly influenced the soil dispersion ratio. Finally, multiple regression analysis found that the soil dispersion ratio, percentage of soil moisture, and percentage of organic matter significantly influenced soil loss. However, the analysis yielded a low coefficient of determination of only 0.235.    

Keywords: Tourism impact, Off-road vehicle, Western Thung Yai Naresuan Wildlife Sanctuary