Comparing Webshare services to assess MTB use in protected areas.

Introduction Natural parks are the majority of protected areas in Portugal, since most areas with high conservation value have resident populations. Like in other countries, the number of users seeking these territories for recreational activities is growing, but monitor and management resources are limited. With no reliable monitoring schemes, the construction of the Nature Sports Chart (CDN), which is a legal document that determines which sports activity can be done, where and when in each park, has proven to be difficult. In those 2 parks for which it has been done, recourses are not enough to make sure users comply with it, leading to several management and user conflicts. One of the growing activities is mountain biking (MTB) that leads to two major types of impacts: environmental (e.g. biodiversity and biomass losses, soil compaction, etc. (Marion e Wimpey 2007) and social, e.g. safety (Cesseford 2003), trespassing, among others. The increasing use of webshare services provided Nogueira Mendes et al. (2012) with a method that proved to be promising when tested as a way to monitor MTB in Arrábida, Portugal, without the need for many resources. This study, intends to test the applicability of this same method to the Sintra-Cascais Natural Park (PNSC), using and testing the results from other webshare services.