Rekreasyonel ve Etkinlik (Festival) Amaçlı Kullanımların Korunan Alanlara Etkileri: Aymaç Tabiat Parkı Örneği

Abstract

People living in cities with crowded, stressful and busy-paced environments may tend to prefer rural and open space recreation areas in natural environments outside and far from cities. Today, as the Covid 19 Pandemic is also effective and people's desire to escape from the crowds has increased, it is observed that such areas in rural areas and natural environments host more people. In this context, one of the most preferred outdoor recreation areas is forest recreation and picnic areas and natural parks. Such areas contribute to people getting away from the stressful environments of cities, even for a short time, gaining vitality and refreshment, renewing physically and mentally, and participating in various recreational activities in places where the risk of Pandemic is less. One of such environments is the Aymaç Nature Park, located near the Kümbet Village, within the borders of Alancık Village in the Dereli district of Giresun province. While Aymaç Nature Park was a picnic area before, it was declared as a nature park in 2017 and was taken under protection. In study, it is aimed to reveal the potential of Aymaç Nature Park in terms of recreation activities and ecotourism, to examine the recreational activities that can be done, to investigate the recreational and activity uses in the natural park and their effects on Aymaç Nature Park, to examine the problems arising from these uses and to present solutions for these problems. Research area covers Aymaç Nature Park. The case study method, one of the qualitative research methods, was used as a research method in the study. As a data collection method, first of all, secondary data sources such as theses, articles, papers, books and internet resources were examined. Then, field observations were used from primary data sources. As a result of our research, Aymaç Nature Park is one of the 11 natural parks in Giresun province, it has a recreation and ecotourism potential at a level that can be evaluated, it is one of the most popular places for daily recreation activities, especially picnicking in Giresun province, but this potential is in Aymaç Nature Park. It is understood that it cannot be adequately evaluated due to some infrastructure and superstructure deficiencies. In addition, it is seen that the carrying capacity has been exceeded, albeit for a short time, due to the highland festival organized within the body of Aymaç Nature Park. In this context, we believe that when necessary arrangements are made, Aymaç Nature Park can be utilized more effectively for recreational activities and will contribute to its better protection.