Research Interests

Dr. Martin is the 2015 recipient of the national award for Excellence in Wilderness Stewardship Research, awarded by the Chief of the U.S. Forest Service.

My research focuses on visitor use of recreation settings and managing recreational use of natural resource areas, particularly parks, wilderness areas and similar public lands.

Much of my research involves recreation visitor studies which aim to increase our understanding of:

the nature of the outdoor recreation experience
problems that detract from recreation visitor enjoyment
how to enhance the experience of recreation visitors
how recreational activities may impact resources
how to minimize the impacts of recreation
issues of visitor access to areas, and how to balance an area’s recreational use with protection of its resources
the direct and indirect techniques used to manage recreation visitors
the factors that influence people's participation in outdoor recreation
changing recreation use patterns and trends

As such, my research is best characterized as “human dimensions of natural resources” and involves quite a bit of social science, though in a natural resources context. Since my publications are a reflection of my research interests, click here to see a list of my publications.

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