"The capacity to use leisure rightly is the basis of a man's whole life." This observation by Aristotle clearly proves the significance that it holds in our time. Previously, when the struggle for food and shelter took most of a man's time, the ability to use leisure rightly had less significance. Over time there has been a vast change in thinking with regards to the usefulness of leisure, especially pertaining to issues concerned with land use and outdoor recreation resources. Hence, this essay will present a case study on Algonquin Provincial Park, which will draw on aspects of the workings of leisure and/or tourism and how various theories such as Distance Decay, the 'Ellis Curve', the theories of Valene Smith and Doxey, give an insightful meaning to the planning and management of sustainable ecosystems.

II. PERSPECTIVE ON PROVINCIAL PARKS

In Canada, the emergence of parks, especially national and provincial parks, plays an integral role in our consideration of outdoor recreation resources. Public awareness with regards to this importance has enabled the public to "recognize more clearly a collective responsibility for the management of our environme

Therefore, by establishing the park in 1893, it not only tended to stop logging but to establish a wildlife sanctuary, and by excluding agriculture, "to protect the headwaters of the five major rivers which flow from the park."

The third area where the Plan introduced far-reaching changes was that of recreation in the park interior. In an effort to preserve those qualitites shown by studies and questionnaires to be sought after by the vast majority of interior users, the Plan called for regulations such as banned motor boats from most lakes, limiting the number of canoeists, limiting the size of interior camping parties, and banning disposable cans and bottles in the park interior.

However, through the new objectives of the Provincial Government in levying user fees of campgrounds, the consolidation of logging under Crown supervision to deal with the issue of the carrying capacity, the placement of Algonquin could be placed back in Quadrant 'A'.

This leads us to the objectives of the necessity and objectives of our (Ontario) provincial park system. The basic reasons for establishing provincial parks have remained essentially fluid over time. "Protection, recreation, heritage appreciation, and tourism are the objectives of the current provincial park system." These were the same reasons evoked in the late 1800's for setting aside the first provincial parks in Ontario.

Recently, with respect to the objectives of provincial parks, the policy has taken an economic outlook towards its managements. For instance, according to the official mandate of Ontario Parks is "to protect, plan, develop, and manage Ontario's system of provincial parks while improving their self reliance." Thus, the objective of creating and managing these parks is to "improve services to increase revenues, and, inturn, to sustain other parks." This shows a marked difference in the nature of recreation perceived by park developers. By this we mean that the nature of the park itself has changed from one that was once for conservation and recreation to that of financial stability. For example, from excerpts from the Ontario Parks Objectives, the business objectives include the objective of "operating more like a business and improving customer service and market our products and services..." as goals. Their business plan includes, among others, objectives to create "a special purpose account for retaining and managing park revenues (fees, licences, permits, rentals) to be developed. It will improve customer service, maximize revenues and make park operations more efficient and accountable." As this shows, the very basic existence of Ontario Parks has changed from one that provided outdoor recreation opportunities to every man, woman and child, to that of a corporate enterprise, trying to maximize profit in a monopolized marketplace. This is how recreation has changed over the time frame of the development of the parks to the present day policies and initiatives undertaken by the province which manages these parks.

The original name was "Algonquin National Park", but it was in fact always under Ontario's jurisdiction. The name was officially changed to Algonquin Provincial Park in 1913. It was named to honour the Algonquin-speaking first nation people and to date covers more than 7725 square kilometres of forest, lakes, and rivers.

Some common words found in the essay are:
Provincial Park, PARKS Canada, Lands Life, Master Plan, Ontario Parks, Algonquin Park, McDonalization Tourism, Game Fish, Parks Objectives, Alexander Kirkwood, algonquin park, provincial park, algonquin provincial park, outdoor recreation, algonquin provincial, provincial parks, ontario parks, logging companies, master plan, type tourist, distance decay, algonquin park algonquin, outdoor recreation resources, park established 1893, land outdoor recreation,
Approximate Word count = 3165
Approximate Pages = 13 (250 words per page double spaced)