The moderating effects of greenspace on the association between neighbourhood disadvantage and obesity among mid-to-older aged Australian adults.

This study examined whether the association between neighbourhood disadvantage and obesity was moderated by quantity and quality of greenspace. The sample included 2848 mid-to-older aged adults residing in 200 neighbourhoods in Brisbane, Australia from the HABITAT study. Self-reported height and weight were used to calculate body mass index (BMI), neighbourhood disadvantage was measured using a census-derived composite index and greenspace was measured geospatially. We found evidence of moderation by park quality: lower average BMI at higher levels of park quality was shown in the Q3 rather than the Q1 (least disadvantaged) neighbourhood disadvantage group. The findings suggest that, for reducing socioeconomic inequalities in obesity, the quality of greenspace is imperative.

Construction of the "Full Path" of restorative effects on older adults' mental health in parks under seasonal differences: taking Changchun as an example.

With the aging and older adults' mental health problems in China, more attention has been paid to the restorative environment. As an important restorative environment in the city, the mental health restorative effect of park environment has been confirmed. However, further exploration is needed to determine whether winter parks have positive effects, their differences from non-winter parks, and the specific pathways of these effects. Therefore, this study constructed a "full path" for the restorative effects of older adults' mental health in parks under seasonal differences, including four components: perceived environment, affective feedback, behavioral feedback, and restorative effect, forming four pathways. Based on this, this study obtained 211 and 240 sample data in winter and non-winter parks, and verified the validity of various hypotheses and mediation paths using structural equation models. It found that: (1) overall restorative effects existed in different seasons; (2) in winter, perceived environmental assessment was not a direct antecedent of restorative effects, and affective feedback and Moderate and Vigorous Physical Activity (MVPA) feedback were important mediating factors, and the chain mediated pathway existed; (3) in non-winter, both direct, indirect and chain mediated effects existed, and affective feedback and Low Physical Activity (LPA) feedback were important mediating factors. Based on this, this study divided parks into "affective inducing" and "behavioral promoting" types, and proposed corresponding planning priorities to positively intervene in planning and design practices.

The risk of contact between visitors and Borrelia burgdorferi-infected ticks is associated with fine-scale landscape features in a southeastern Canadian nature park.

BACKGROUND: Infectious diseases are emerging across temperate regions of the world, and, for some, links have been made between landscapes and emergence dynamics. For tick-borne diseases, public parks may be important exposure sites for people living in urbanized areas of North America and Europe. In most cases, we know more about the ecological processes that determine the hazard posed by ticks as disease vectors than we do about how human population exposure varies in urban natural parks. METHODS: In this study, infrared counters were used to monitor visitor use of a public natural park in southern Quebec, Canada. A risk index representing the probability of encounters between humans and infected vectors was constructed. This was done by combining the intensity of visitor trail use and the density of infected nymphs obtained from field surveillance. Patterns of risk were examined using spatial cluster analysis. Digital forest data and park infrastructure data were then integrated using spatially explicit models to test whether encounter risk levels and its components vary with forest fragmentation indicators and proximity to park infrastructure. RESULTS: Results suggest that, even at a very fine scales, certain landscape features and infrastructure can be predictors of risk levels. Both visitors and Borrelia burgdorferi-infected ticks concentrated in areas where forest cover was dominant, so there was a positive association between forest cover and the risk index. However, there were no associations between indicators of forest fragmentation and risk levels. Some high-risk clusters contributed disproportionately to the risk distribution in the park relative to their size. There were also two high-risk periods, one in early summer coinciding with peak nymphal activity, and one in early fall when park visitation was highest. CONCLUSIONS: Here, we demonstrate the importance of integrating indicators of human behaviour visitation with tick distribution data to characterize risk patterns for tick-borne diseases in public natural areas. Indeed, understanding the environmental determinants of human-tick interactions will allow organisations to deploy more effective risk reduction interventions targeted at key locations and times, and improve the management of public health risks associated with tick-borne diseases in public spaces.

Association Between Park Use and Moderate-to-Vigorous Activity During COVID-19 Years among a Cohort of Low-Income Youth.

Neighborhood parks are important venues to support moderate-to-vigorous (MVPA) activity. There has been a noticeable increase promoting physical activity among youth in neighborhood parks. This paper aims to assess the association between park use and MVPA among low-income youth in a large urban area. We recruited a cohort of 434 youth participants during the COVID pandemic years (2020-2022) from low-income households in Washington, D.C. We collected multiple data components: accelerometry, survey, and electronic health record data. We explored the bivariate relationship between the accelerometer-measured daily MVPA time outcome and survey-based park use measures. A mixed-effect model was fitted to adjust the effect estimate for participant-level and time-varying confounders. The overall average daily MVPA time is 16.0 min (SD = 12.7). The unadjusted bivariate relation between daily MVPA time and frequency of park visit is 1.3 min of daily MVPA time per one day with park visits (p < 0.0001). The model-adjusted estimate is 0.7 daily MVPA minutes for 1 day with park visit (p = 0.04). The duration of a typical park visit is not a significant predictor to daily MVPA time with or without adjustments. The initial COVID outbreak in 2020 resulted in a significant decline in daily MVPA time (- 4.7 min for 2020 versus 2022, p < 0.0001). Park visit frequency is a significant predictor to low-income youth's daily MVPA time with considerable absolute effect sizes compared with other barriers and facilitators. Promoting more frequent park use may be a useful means to improve low-income youth's MVPA outcome.

Promoting public playgrounds usage and children's physical activity with sports activities: A quasi-experimental study.

This study aimed to evaluate the children's usage and their physical activity levels at playgrounds with (N = 4) and without (N = 4) organized sports activities, following a quasi-experimental study design. Direct observations were used to assess the playground usage and estimate the playground users' age category, sex, and physical activity intensity level. The results indicated that playgrounds with sports activities were associated with 53% more users at the time of the activities. However, this increase was only seen in boys. Furthermore, playgrounds with sport activities were not associated with different physical activity levels in children as compared to children on regular playgrounds.

Individual and Neighborhood Level Predictors of Children's Exposure to Residential Greenspace.

Inequities in urban greenspace have been identified, though patterns by race and socioeconomic status vary across US settings. We estimated the magnitude of the relationship between a broad mixture of neighborhood-level factors and residential greenspace using weighted quantile sum (WQS) regression, and compared predictive models of greenspace using only neighborhood-level, only individual-level, or multi-level predictors. Greenspace measures included the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), tree canopy, and proximity of the nearest park, for residential locations in Shelby County, Tennessee of children in the CANDLE cohort. Neighborhood measures include socioeconomic and education resources, as well as racial composition and racial residential segregation. In this sample of 1012 mother-child dyads, neighborhood factors were associated with higher NDVI and tree canopy (0.021 unit higher NDVI [95% CI: 0.014, 0.028] per quintile increase in WQS index); homeownership rate, proximity of and enrollment at early childhood education centers, and racial composition, were highly weighted in the WQS index. In models constrained in the opposite direction (0.028 unit lower NDVI [95% CI: - 0.036, - 0.020]), high school graduation rate and teacher experience were highly weighted. In prediction models, adding individual-level predictors to the suite of neighborhood characteristics did not meaningfully improve prediction accuracy for greenspace measures. Our findings highlight disparities in greenspace for families by neighborhood socioeconomic and early education factors, and by race, suggesting several neighborhood indicators for consideration both as potential confounders in studies of greenspace and pediatric health as well as in the development of policies and programs to improve equity in greenspace access.

Modifying effect of urban parks on socioeconomic inequalities in diabetes prevalence: a cross-sectional population study of Madrid City, Spain.

BACKGROUND: Evidence has shown contradicting results on how the density of urban green spaces may reduce socioeconomic inequalities in type 2 diabetes (equigenic hypothesis). The aim of this study is to test whether socioeconomic inequalities in diabetes prevalence are modified by park density. METHODS: We designed a population-wide cross-sectional study of all adults registered in the primary healthcare centres in the city of Madrid, Spain (n=1 305 050). We obtained georeferenced individual-level data from the Primary Care Electronic Health Records, and census-tract level data on socioeconomic status (SES) and park density. We modelled diabetes prevalence using robust Poisson regression models adjusted by age, country of origin, population density and including an interaction term with park density, stratified by gender. We used this model to estimate the Relative Index of Inequality (RII) at different park density levels. FINDINGS: We found an overall RII of 2.90 (95% CI 2.78 to 3.02) and 4.50 (95% CI 4.28 to 4.74) in men and women, respectively, meaning that the prevalence of diabetes was three to four and a half times higher in low SES compared with high SES areas. These inequalities were wider in areas with higher park density for both men and women, with a significant interaction only for women (p=0.008). INTERPRETATION: We found an inverse association between SES and diabetes prevalence in both men and women, with wider inequalities in areas with more parks. Future works should study the mechanisms of these findings, to facilitate the understanding of contextual factors that may mitigate diabetes inequalities.

Environmental and Mobility Strategies During Early COVID-19: Insights From an Empirical Study Focusing on Park Visitations in El Paso, TX.

OBJECTIVES: We explored the importance of environmental and mobility strategies during early COVID-19 by age and ethnicity and investigated predictors of park visitations considering the COVID-19 impacts. BACKGROUND: Parks are safe and accessible venues to stay active and reduce social isolation, which is especially important considering COVID-19 and the associated lockdowns. METHODS: We analyzed online survey data from 683 residents (collected July 2020) of El Paso, TX, and objective measures of neighborhood park characteristics. Chi-square tests and mixed-effects logistic regression analyses were performed to examine the environmental/mobility strategies, personal and environmental factors, and park visitations, considering the COVID-19 impacts. RESULTS: The percentage of those who visited (1+ times/week) parks or trails/paths in the neighborhood dropped from 41.7% to 19.5% since the start of COVID-19 (OR = 0.015, p < .001). Before COVID-19, middle-aged and older adults were less likely to visit parks than younger adults, while this difference became insignificant during early COVID-19. Hispanic adults were more likely to visit parks than non-Hispanics both before and during early COVID-19. Positive environmental predictors of park visitations included park availability in the neighborhood, proximity to the closest park, seeing people being physically active in the neighborhood, and neighborhood aesthetics. CONCLUSIONS: Proximately located parks, trails, and paths well integrated into residential communities, and high aesthetic quality of the neighborhood are the potential features of pandemic-resilient communities and should be considered an important national priority to maintain and promote the health and well-being of the population, especially during pandemics like COVID-19.

A comparative study of dengue virus vectors in major parks and adjacent residential areas in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.

The primary dengue virus vectors, Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus, are primarily daytime biting mosquitoes. The risk of infection is suspected to be considerable in urban parks due to visitor traffic. Despite the importance of vector control for reducing dengue transmission, little information is available on vector populations in urban parks. The present study characterized mosquito habitats and estimated vector densities in the major urban parks in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam and compared them with those in adjacent residential areas. The prevalences of habitats where Aedes larvae were found were 43% and 9% for the parks and residential areas, respectively. The difference was statistically significant (prevalence ratio [PR]: 5.00, 95% CI: 3.85-6.49). The prevalences of positive larval habitats were significantly greater in the parks for both species than the residential areas (PR: 1.52, 95% CI: 1.04-2.22 for A. aegypti, PR: 10.10, 95% CI: 7.23-14.12 for A. albopictus). Larvae of both species were positively associated with discarded containers and planters. Aedes albopictus larvae were negatively associated with indoor habitats, but positively associated with vegetation shade. The adult density of A. aegypti was significantly less in the parks compared with the residential areas (rate ratio [RR]; 0.09, 95% CI: 0.05-0.16), while the density of A. albopictus was significantly higher in the parks (RR: 9.99, 95% CI: 6.85-14.59). When the species were combined, the density was significantly higher in the parks (RR: 2.50, 95% CI: 1.92-3.25). The urban parks provide suitable environment for Aedes mosquitoes, and A. albopictus in particular. Virus vectors are abundant in the urban parks, and the current vector control programs need to have greater consideration of urban parks.

Early-Life Exposure to Green Space and Mid-Childhood Cognition in the Project Viva Cohort, Massachusetts.

The association between early-life greenness and child cognition is not well understood. Using prospective data from Project Viva (n = 857) from 1999-2010, we examined associations of early-life greenness exposure with mid-childhood cognition. We estimated residential greenness at birth, early childhood (median age 3.1 years), and mid-childhood (7.8 years) using 30-m resolution Landsat satellite imagery (normalized difference vegetation index). In early childhood and mid-childhood, we administered standardized assessments of verbal and nonverbal intelligence, visual-motor abilities, and visual memory. We used natural splines to examine associations of early life-course greenness with mid-childhood cognition, adjusting for age, sex, race, income, neighborhood socioeconomic status, maternal intelligence, and parental education. At lower levels of greenness (greenness <0.6), greenness exposure at early childhood was associated with a 0.48% increase in nonverbal intelligence and 2.64% increase in visual memory in mid-childhood. The association between early-childhood greenness and mid-childhood visual memory was observed after further adjusting for early childhood cognition and across different methodologies, while the association with nonverbal intelligence was not. No other associations between early life-course greenness and mid-childhood cognition were found. Early childhood greenness was nonlinearly associated with higher mid-childhood visual memory. Our findings highlight the importance of nonlinear associations between greenness and cognition.

Spatially restricted occurrence and low abundance as key tools for conservation of critically endangered large antelope in West African savannah.

The effective conservation of mammals on the brink of extinction requires an integrated socio-ecological approach, yet the updated ecological knowledge of species remains fundamental. This study brings spatiotemporal behaviour, population structure, age-specific survival rates, and population size estimate of the Western Derby eland (WDE) in the Niokolo Koba National Park (NKNP), Senegal, investigated during dry seasons 2017 and 2018. WDE was strongly localised in the core area of NKNP (< 5%), active throughout the day with the highest peak in the hottest daytime, with a mean group size 7.6 ± SE 8.9. The adult sex ratio was female-biased and showed low annual adult male survival rates. The population consisted of high proportion of juveniles, whilst adults did not exceed 40%. The estimated population density was 0.138 WDE/km2 (± 0.0102) and estimated size 195 WDE in NKNP (CI95 from 54 to 708 individuals). Findings highlighted that the WDE population has potential to expand in the NKNP, due to an underutilized capacity. The age-specific vital rates indicate adult males as the most vulnerable; suggesting either an increase in the large predators' population, livestock encroachment pressure, and/or poaching. Findings imply that targeted monitoring with science-based interpretation may bring forward strong conservation solutions to the protected area management decision-makers.

Investigating the Relationship Between Accessibility of Green Space and Adult Obesity Rates: A Secondary Data Analysis in the United States.

OBJECTIVES: In spite of the importance of green space for reducing obesity-related problems, there has been little exploration of whether access to green space (e.g., parks and recreational facilities) influences the obesity rate of adults in the United States. The purpose of the study was to investigate the relationships among accessibility of green space, obesity rates, and socioeconomic and demographic variables among adults living in the State of Indiana, United States. METHODS: We conducted a secondary data analysis to investigate the relationships among accessibility to green space, obesity rates, and socio-demographic variables with employing Geographic Information System in order to measure the accessibility of green space. RESULTS: This study found that accessibility of green space served as a strong predictor of reduced obesity rates among adults (ß=-2.478; p<0.10). In addition, adults with higher education levels, as well as better access to green space, were found to have even lower obesity rates (ß=-0.188; p<0.05). Other control variables such as unemployment rates, food security, and physical inactivity are additional factors that influence obesity rates among adults. CONCLUSIONS: Accessibility of green space may play an important role in facilitating physical activity participation and reducing obesity rates.

Psychographic variables, tourist behaviour and vandalism in the South-East Asian tourism sector.

This study examines multi-stakeholders' perceptions of vandalism at tourist attractions in two Asian cities: Bangkok and Singapore. It provides an opportunity to explore the differences and similarities in stakeholder attitudes towards attraction management and reveals desired levels of participation of community in managing vandalism in tourism. This mixed method research employs community survey and interviews of site managers and government officials as its main data collection approach. It also offers an innovative approach to data analysis using the severity and optimist/pessimist psychographic variables coupled with quantitative analytical techniques. The results reveal complex relationship between psychographic profiles, future and current time dimensions, and location. In conclusion, the study offers several recommendations to city managers and policymakers on methods of vandalism control. It also highlights the importance of cultural context and its influence on community involvement. While this study is limited to tourism attractions, it provides a solid foundation for future research, one that can extend into urban planning and public policy design.

Assessment of losses to the local population due to restrictions on their ownership rights to land and property assets: The case of the Tunkinsky National Park, Russia.

The impact of protected areas on local communities is the subject of intense discussions as part of the implementation of the global ecosystem protection agenda. Conflicts between the interests of environmental protection and the needs of socio-economic development become particularly acute when large areas of land are taken out of economic circulation as a result of organizing protected areas. In this case, there is an urgent need for detailed and reliable information about the social impacts of such land withdrawal on the well-being of the local population. An analysis of the methodological approaches widely presented in the literature, used to assess the social impact of protected areas, testifies to the insufficiency of completed and practically applicable methodological guidelines for the areas with significant restrictions for people who form part of the protected landscape. In this study, we understand the cost estimate of the social impact of national parks on the local population as a quantitative calculation of the losses due to restrictions on their ownership rights to land and property assets. The methodological approach consists in considering the category of losses as a sum total of the actual damage and lost profits. The assessment algorithm includes three stages: systematization of social impacts on citizens, development of indicators and data collection, and calculation of actual damage to the population and lost profits. The assessment is performed using the example of the Tunkinsky National Park located in the Tunkinsky municipal district of the Republic of Buryatia, a region of the Russian Federation, where there are 14 rural settlements with a population of more than 20,000 people. The results of the calculations show that the losses of the rural population due to legal restrictions on the registration of land dealings amount to 170.4 million USD. Taking into account the potential amount of administrative fines and the value of property subject to demolition, the losses amount to 239.2 million USD. It is more than an order of magnitude greater than the amount of own revenues of the Tunkinsky municipal district in 2011-2019. The results obtained demonstrate the real picture of the impact of restrictions on the rights of local people to land within the boundaries of national parks and are useful for developing measures to account for their interests and include protected areas in the socio-economic development of regions. The methodological approach developed by the authors can be used in other national parks, where it is necessary to optimize the policy of improving land use for local residents.

Public parks and the pandemic: How park usage has been affected by COVID-19 policies.

Public parks serve an important societal function as recreational spaces for diverse communities of people, with well documented physical and mental health benefits. As such, parks may be crucial for how people have handled effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly the increasingly limited recreational opportunities, widespread financial uncertainty, and consequent heightened anxiety. Despite the documented benefits of parks, however, many states have instituted park shutdown orders due to fears that public parks could facilitate SARS-CoV-2 transmission. Here we use geotagged social media data from state, county, and local parks throughout New Jersey to examine whether park visitation increased when the COVID-19 pandemic began and whether park shutdown orders were effective at deterring park usage. We compare park usage during four discrete stages of spring 2020: (1) before the pandemic began, (2) during the beginning of the pandemic, (3) during the New Jersey governor's state-wide park shutdown order, and (4) following the lifting of the shutdown. We find that park visitation increased by 63.4% with the onset of the pandemic. The subsequent park shutdown order caused visitation in closed parks to decline by 76.1% while parks that remained open continued to experience elevated visitation levels. Visitation then returned to elevated pre-shutdown levels when closed parks were allowed to reopen. Altogether, our results indicate that parks continue to provide crucial services to society, particularly in stressful times when opportunities for recreation are limited. Furthermore, our results suggest that policies targeting human behavior can be effective and are largely reversible. As such, we should continue to invest in public parks and to explore the role of parks in managing public health and psychological well-being.

Hunter-Gatherers in context: Mammal community composition in a northern Tanzania landscape used by Hadza foragers and Datoga pastoralists.

In many regions of sub Saharan Africa large mammals occur in human-dominated areas, yet their community composition and abundance have rarely been described in areas occupied by traditional hunter-gatherers and pastoralists. Surveys of mammal populations in such areas provide important measures of biodiversity and provide ecological context for understanding hunting practices. Using a sampling grid centered on a Hadza hunter-gatherer camp and covering 36 km2 of semi-arid savannah in northern Tanzania, we assessed mammals using camera traps (n = 19 stations) for c. 5 months (2,182 trap nights). In the study area (Tli'ika in the Hadza language), we recorded 36 wild mammal species. Rarefaction curves suggest that sampling effort was sufficient to capture mammal species richness, yet some species known to occur at low densities in the wider area (e.g. African lions, wildebeest) were not detected. Relative abundance indices of wildlife species varied by c. three orders of magnitude, from a mean of 0.04 (African wild dog) to 20.34 capture events per 100 trap-nights (Kirk's dik dik). To contextualize the relative abundance of wildlife in the study area, we compared our study's data to comparable camera trap data collected in a fully protected area of northern Tanzania with similar rainfall (Lake Manyara National Park). Raw data and negative binomial regression analyses show that wild herbivores and wild carnivores were generally detected in the national park at higher rates than in the Hadza-occupied region. Livestock were notably absent from the national park, but were detected at high levels in Tli'ika, and cattle was the second most frequently detected species in the Hadza-used area. We discuss how these data inform current conservation efforts, studies of Hadza hunting, and models of hunter-gatherer foraging ecology and diet.

Marine communities of the newly created Kawésqar National Reserve, Chile: From glaciers to the Pacific Ocean.

The newly created Kawésqar National Park (KNP) and National Reserve (KNR) in southern Chile consists of diverse terrestrial and marine habitats, which includes the southern terminus of the Andes, the Southern Patagonia Ice Fields, sub-Antarctic rainforests, glaciers, fjords, lakes, wetlands, valleys, channels, and islands. The marine environment is influenced by wide ranging hydrological factors such as glacier melt, large terrigenous inputs, high precipitation, strong currents, and open ocean water masses. Owing to the remoteness, rugged terrain, and harsh environmental conditions, little is known about this vast region, particularly the marine realm. To this end, we conducted an integrated ecological assessment using SCUBA and remote cameras down to 600 m to examine this unique and largely unexplored ecosystem. Kelp forests (primarily Macrocystis pyrifera) dominate the nearshore ecosystem and provide habitat for myriad benthic organisms. In the fjords, salinity was low and both turbidity and nutrients from terrigenous sources were high, with benthic communities dominated by active suspension feeders (e.g., Bivalvia, Ascidiacea, and Bryozoa). Areas closer to the Pacific Ocean showed more oceanic conditions with higher salinity and lower turbidity, with benthic communities experiencing more open benthic physical space in which predators (e.g., Malacostraca and Asteroidea) and herbivorous browsers (e.g., Echinoidea and Gastropoda) were more conspicuous components of the community compared to the inner fjords. Hagfish (Myxine sp.) was the most abundant and frequently occurring fish taxa observed on deep-sea cameras (80% of deployments), along with several taxa of sharks (e.g., Squaliformes, Etmopteridae, Somniosidae, Scyliorhinidae), which collectively were also observed on 80% of deep-sea camera deployments. The kelp forests, deep fjords, and other nearshore habitats of the KNR represent a unique ecosystem with minimal human impacts at present. The KNR is part of the ancestral territory of the indigenous Kawésqar people and their traditional knowledge, including the importance of the land-sea connection in structuring the marine communities of this region, is strongly supported by our scientific findings.

A synthesis of health benefits of natural sounds and their distribution in national parks.

Parks are important places to listen to natural sounds and avoid human-related noise, an increasingly rare combination. We first explore whether and to what degree natural sounds influence health outcomes using a systematic literature review and meta-analysis. We identified 36 publications examining the health benefits of natural sound. Meta-analyses of 18 of these publications revealed aggregate evidence for decreased stress and annoyance (g = -0.60, 95% CI = -0.97, -0.23) and improved health and positive affective outcomes (g = 1.63, 95% CI = 0.09, 3.16). Examples of beneficial outcomes include decreased pain, lower stress, improved mood, and enhanced cognitive performance. Given this evidence, and to facilitate incorporating public health in US national park soundscape management, we then examined the distribution of natural sounds in relation to anthropogenic sound at 221 sites across 68 parks. National park soundscapes with little anthropogenic sound and abundant natural sounds occurred at 11.3% of the sites. Parks with high visitation and urban park sites had more anthropogenic sound, yet natural sounds associated with health benefits also were frequent. These included animal sounds (audible for a mean of 59.3% of the time, SD: 23.8) and sounds from wind and water (mean: 19.2%, SD: 14.8). Urban and other parks that are extensively visited offer important opportunities to experience natural sounds and are significant targets for soundscape conservation to bolster health for visitors. Our results assert that natural sounds provide important ecosystem services, and parks can bolster public health by highlighting and conserving natural soundscapes.

Observing COVID-19 related behaviors in a high visitor use area of Arches National Park.

INTRODUCTION: Visitation to parks and protected areas is a common COVID-19 coping strategy promoted by state and national public health officials and political leadership. Crowding and congestions in parks has been a perennial problem and the ability to socially distance within them is an unproven assumption. Is it possible to socially distance in a busy national park that has been designed to concentrate use? METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: An observational study was conducted in July 2020 at the outside foyer of the Visitor Center of Arches National Park. Motion sensor cameras were placed to record one-minute videos when a person entered the field of view. Number of groups, group size, facial coverings and encounters within 6 feet (1.83 meters) of other groups were recorded. Groups were smaller on average than recorded in previous studies. Approximately 61% of the visitors wore masks. Most groups (69%) were able to experience the visitor center with no intergroup encounters. We model the probability of intergroup encounters and find as group size and number of groups increases, the probability of encounters rises. With four groups present, the probability of one or more encounters ranges from 19% to 40% for common group sizes, while if eight groups are present, the probability of one or more encounters increases from 34% to 64% for common group sizes. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: Under conditions in which park visitors have the physical space to avoid close encounters with other groups they are taking advantage of the opportunity. Visitors are minimizing group size, wearing masks, and remaining socially distant. However, encounters increase as the number or the size of the groups increases. In other areas of the parks this ability to avoid encounters may not be as possible. We recommend that park managers continue to appeal for compliance with CDC guidelines, especially the wearing of masks and encouraging visitors to split up into small groups when visiting.