Abstract
Previous research advocating for the use of systems thinking to tackle challenges in outdoor recreation management emphasizes the necessity for a paradigm shift in our perspectives and approaches to complex public land outdoor recreation management issues. This paper responds to appeals from other researchers to implement systems thinking in managing visitation and outdoor recreation on public lands. Specifically, it examines the interactions of public land recreation managers within a complex network of high-visitation public lands by utilizing systems thinking concepts and frameworks. Through this analysis, we found systems archetypes to be a valuable tool for illustrating how organizational scenarios are unfolding in the Moab, Utah, USA regional outdoor recreation-tourism system. This investigation revealed the isolated decisions made by individual agencies and highlighted the need for more proactive, collaborative regional-level visitor use and outdoor recreation planning instead of merely reacting to challenges. Overall, systems thinking served as a beneficial tool in this study. However, defining the system and outlining archetypes is merely the initial step. This process is iterative, complex, and necessitates considerable additional commitment from managers, researchers, and policymakers for the application of systems thinking in public land recreation management to be effectively realized in practice.