A socio-economic survey of campers in four British Columbia Provincial Parks, 1967

This descriptive study of campers in Golden Ears, Kokanee Creek, Monck and Bamberton Provincial Parks in British Columbia is based upon 140 on-location personal interviews conducted in the summer of 1967. The clientele have been described in terms of their socio-economic characteristics. Further analysis of the data occurred in testing the hypothesis that there were no statistically significant differences at the five percent level when the variables of age, income, occupation, education and distance from home were compared with a variety of camper needs and preferences. This information may help various agencies concerned with the use of parks to plan educational programs for the park visitor. The study revealed that families were the main users of the four Provincial study parks. The head of the family unit was generally a man possessing some high school education and receiving an annual income of less than $10,000. Most of the respondents visited a succession of Provincial parks while on their camping trips. The tent, as in earlier times, remains the most common form of shelter used by campers. The appeal of a camping holiday was centered mainly on the change of life-style offered by this recreational form. However, campers having a non-professional work background also laid considerable stress on the health and social advantages of camping. The high regard of campers for the Provincial parks interpretation program was made evident by the high percentage of campers who favoured on-site instruction as a preferred means of gaining information about the outdoors. Further confirmation appeared in the expressed wish that some form of the program should be implemented in all of the study parks currently lacking this facility. Continuing education courses with camping content held considerable appeal for the respondents, particularly those under 29 years of age with some university training.Education, Faculty ofEducational Studies (EDST), Department ofGraduat