PERSEPSI MASYARAKAT TERHADAP PENGELOLAAN TAMAN WISATA ALAM MENIPO DESA ENORAEN KECAMATAN AMARASI TIMUR KABUPATEN KUPANG NUSA TENGGARA TIMUR

Natural tourism park, is a conservation area in Indonesia which is influenced by the people who live in and around the area. Communities living in and around conservation areas will continue to act as the main actors who may have an impact on the forest. Therefore local people cannot be kept away from the forest. Preservation of protected forest natural tourism areas is not only the responsibility of forest area managers. However, community involvement is also an important factor in maintaining forest sustainability. This study aims to determine the community's perception of the management of the Menipo Natural Tourist Park, Enoraen Village, East Amarasi District, Kupang Regency, East Nusa Tenggara. Sampling is done by using theformula Slovin. Then to calculate the perception included in the weight of thevalue Likert scale. The results obtained from observations using a questionnaire were analyzed using descriptive statistics in the form of a Likert scale and percentage. The results of this study were obtained, that the characteristics of the people of Enoraen Dusun 3 & 4 for gender were dominated by men (51.2%), for the age group of respondents it was dominated by the age group > 43 years by (27.9%), while the occupation was dominated by by people who work as farmers (75.6%), education level is dominated by people with elementary education level (45%) and community income is dominated by Rp. 225,000 – 350,000 with a percentage of 68.6%. Based on the results obtained, that the public perception of the existence of the Menipo natural tourism park is in the good category (36.05%) and very good (63.95%). Meanwhile, the public's perception of the management of the Menipo nature park is in the good (41.86) and very good (58.14%). Where it shows that the community around the natural tourist park area agrees or accepts the strategic plan for managing the natural tourism park in the future will have a really positive impact on the community, but the community's decisions will change over time related to the strategic implementation carried out by the park manager. nature cheats