Lecture 5' Recreational use of wilderness and wildland

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Lecture 5. Recreational use of wilderness and
wildland

• Outline
• Wilderness recreation and benefits
• Economics and development
• Management of recreational use
• Workshop developing a wildland policy for
  England and Wales

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1. Recreational use and benefits

• THE main use of wilderness
• Focus of much research and management
• This lecture
• estimating levels and benefits
• character and distribution
• management

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1. Recreational use and benefits (contd)

• Estimating levels of use
• Difficult because
• many access points - monitoring difficult
• use is often dispersed over wide areas
• use is light and variable
• Indirect methods of measurement
• sample observations
• electronic counters and cameras
• trail registers and mandatory permits
• guestimates!

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1. Recreational use and benefits (contd)

• Quantifiable?
• Units of measurement
• number of overnight stays (NPS)
• number of visitor days (USFS)
• visitor hours
• number of visits (regardless of length)
• total number of people at one time (PAOT)

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1. Recreational use and benefits (contd)

• Which to use? - depends on purpose
• Impact of camping and camper congestion
• number of overnight stays
• Measure of solitude
• number of visitor days
• PAOT
• Impact of overall visitor pressure
• number of visitor days
• visitor hours

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1. Recreational use and benefits (contd)

• Character and distribution
• Determined by variety of factors
• length of stay
• party size
• method of travel
• activities pursued
• season of use
• social/organisational groupings
• visitor residence
• etc.

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1. Recreational use and benefits (contd)

• Characteristics of the individual
• age
• physical ability
• gender
• residence
• income
• occupation
• education
• membership of relevant bodies
• etc.

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Question

• Who is the typical wilderness user?

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1. Recreational use and benefits (contd)

• Who is the typical wilderness user?
• Results of US studies show
• young (though older groups represented)
• mostly male (31 ratio)
• from nearby urban areas
• moderately high income
• professional-technical occupation
• highly educated

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1. Recreational use and benefits (contd)

• Uneven geographical distribution
• wilderness recreation varies in popularity
• inter-wilderness variations in use
• variations between wilderness areas
• intra-wilderness variations in use
• many people concentrated in a few places
• few people dispersed across many places
• Management concerns
• extreme uneven distribution is undesirable
• variations in carry capacity mean even
  distribution also undesirable

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2. Economics and development

• Planned management requires knowledge of future
  trends
• Recent increase worldwide
• Current plateau in US usage
• Possible reasons
• aging population
• changes in population distribution
• constraints on leisure time/transport costs
• changing education and interests
• expansion of NWPS

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2. Economics and development (contd)

• Use projections
• Hampered by lack of suitable data
• lack of longitudinal records
• poor quality
• incomparable (different standards, etc.)
• Attempts to predict future use vary widely
• Need to be prepared

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3. Managing recreational use

• The goal of wilderness management is to
• identify the desired resource, social and
  managerial conditions to be maintained or
  restored in wilderness, with these desired
  conditions expressed as explicit, measurable
  standards. Thus the focus of management attention
  shifts from defining maximum use to identifying
  desired conditions and managing use levels and/or
  other management parameters so that impacts do
  not exceed these conditions. (Shelby and
  Heberlein, 1986)

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3. Managing recreational use (contd)

• 4 basic considerations
• determining impacts and possible implications is
  dependent on natural resource, socio-political
  and managerial factors
• recognition that recreational use inevitably
  leads to change
• determining acceptable level of change involves
  value judgement
• impacts related to factors other than amount of
  use
• i.e. type of use, timing, location, visitor
  behaviour, etc.

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3. Managing recreational use (contd)

• Basic aims of wilderness management
• manage to provide visitors with opportunity for
  quality wilderness experience
• manage to limit impact of recreation on the
  wilderness environment/resource to within
  specified carrying capacities

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3. Managing recreational use (contd)

• The tragedy of the commons...
• Each man is locked into a system that compels
  him to increase his use of the commons without
  limit - in a world that is limited. Ruin is the
  destination to which all men rush, each pursuing
  his own best interests in a society that believes
  in the freedom of the commons. Freedom of the
  commons brings ruin to all. (Hardin, 1972,
  p.255)
• Principles of wilderness management
• manage under a non-degradation concept
• set carrying capacities to prevent unnatural
  change

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3. Managing recreational use (contd)

• Definition of wilderness carrying capacity
• the amount, kind and distribution of use that
  can occur without leading to unacceptable impacts
  on either the physical-biological resource or the
  available wilderness experience. (Stankey et
  al., 1990, p.214)
• use an area can tolerate without unacceptable
  change
• wilderness carrying capacity is limited
• Biophysical and socio-psychological components

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3. Managing recreational use (contd)

• Biophysical carrying capacity
• the amount and type of use an ecosystem can
  sustain without undue evidence of unnatural
  impact
• e.g. soil erosion and disturbance of wildlife
• Socio-psychological carrying capacity
• the level of human use an area can accommodate
  before solitude and other experiential values are
  diminished
• e.g. concentration of visitors

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3. Managing recreational use (contd)

• Over-use can destroy wilderness quality
• e.g. too many people, trail erosion, devegetation
  of popular campsites, etc.
• By anyones definition, wilderness has been lost
  when such conditions prevail. (Hendee, et al.,
  1990, p.215)
• Establishment of appropriate levels of use is
  typically addressed through the concept of
  carrying capacity
• fundamental principle of wilderness management
• problem determining carrying capacity

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3. Managing recreational use (contd)

• Determining carrying capacity
• simple concept - difficult to implement
• dynamic nature of ecosystems makes it difficult
  to calculate
• it can be increased/decreased by management
  actions/human use
• it is NOT a fixed value
• is different for different uses
• varies spatially and temporally
• product of value judgement as well as scientific
  evidence

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3. Managing recreational use (contd)

• Management implementation
• biophysical and socio-psychological evidence
  important only as decision aid
• based largely on value judgements
• determination of consensus view
• recognise that wilderness management is really
  about managing wilderness users and their impacts
  (Principle 9)
• political process
• Visitor Impact Management (VIM)
• Limits of Acceptable Change (LAC)

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3. Managing recreational use (contd)
The LAC model
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3. Managing recreational use (contd)

• Typical management paradox
• impacts affect visitor experience
• reducing these would improve experience
• management of impacts restricts visitors
• adversely affects visitor experience
• Quandry of management cant keep everyone happy
• i.e. solutions rarely work without affecting
  something else and/or creating problems elsewhere

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3. Managing recreational use (contd)

• Types of recreational problems
• illegal actions
• careless/thoughtless violation of regulations
• unskilled actions
• uninformed behaviour
• unavoidable minimum impacts

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Question

• What kind of problems fit into these categories?
• - illegal
• - careless
• - unskilled
• - uniformed
• - unavoidable

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3. Managing recreational use (contd)

• Illegal actions
• direct contravention of regulations
• examples
• motorised transport
• graffiti and vandalism
• incompatible with wilderness
• effects of motorised transport
• disruption of wildlife
• disturbance of other visitors
• excessive erosion and noise pollution
• appropriate management response is law enforcement

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3. Managing recreational use (contd)

• Careless/thoughtless violation of wilderness
  regulations
• due to irresponsible actions
• examples
• littering
• short-cutting of trail switchbacks
• building wood fires in prohibited areas
• manager must try to alter behaviour
• persuasion
• making it easier to do the right thing
• discouraging the wrong thing

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3. Managing recreational use (contd)

• Unskilled actions
• many once recommended practices are now
  considered inappropriate
• examples
• burying rubbish
• ditching around tents
• building bivouac shelters
• most are unnecessary with modern gear
• management response
• educate users in new ways
• enforce rules where necessary

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3. Managing recreational use (contd)

• Uniformed behaviour
• can intensify impacts
• examples
• use of popular trails and access points leading
  to concentration of use
• pursuit of certain activities in sensitive areas
• managers can
• inform users of alternative areas to disperse use
• set entry quotas at key access points
• inform users of sensitive areas

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3. Managing recreational use (contd)

• Unavoidable minimum impacts
• every visitor causes unavoidable impact
• examples
• trampling vegetation
• going to the toilet
• disturbing/attracting wildlife
• managers can
• encourage minimum impact practices
• move use to less sensitive areas
• If all other options have failed and impact
  remains unacceptable then manager must regulate
  to reduce/eliminate use

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3. Managing recreational use (contd)

• Management parameters (aspects of use that can be
  controlled or influenced)
• amount of use
• distribution of use
• timing of use
• method of travel
• party size
• length of stay
• behaviour
• effect on environment
• effect on other visitors experience

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QuestionWhat problems are likely to arise when
attempting to manage wilderness users?
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3. Managing recreational use (contd)

• General management approaches
• direct management
• indirect management
• Direct management emphasises regulation
• loss of experiential value
• requires extra resources
• set behavioural standards
• prevent over use
• Indirect management emphasises influencing or
  modifying visitor behaviour through education

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3. Managing recreational use (contd)

• Guidelines for regulatory practices are
• use non-regulatory alternatives if possible
• try to develop non-regulatory practices
• explain regulations
• regulate at minimum level needed
• regulate at entry rather than activity level
• monitor problem and effects of regulation
• remember wilderness exists partly for visitor use

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4. Examples

• Managing the impacts of recreations is the main
  focus of most wilderness management
• Main areas of management include
• managing campsite impacts
• managing trail impacts
• managing horse-related impacts

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4. Examples (contd)

• Managing campsite related impacts
• more time spent on campsite than anywhere else
• impacts include
• changes in vegetation and soil characteristics
• due to trampling, collecting fire wood, etc.
• factors influencing impact include
• amount and frequency of use
• type and behaviour of users
• environmental characteristics of site itself

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4. Examples (contd)

• management strategies include
• limiting use
• changing type and behaviour of users
• shifting use to more durable sites
• encouraging minimum impact camping
• use of proper equipment
• keeping party sizes small
• selecting resistant and appropriate sites
• being careful with fire
• avoiding site improvement
• minimising pollution (rubbish and human waste)
• limiting length of stay

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4. Examples (contd)

• Managing trail impacts
• localised impacts but very visible
• costly to repair
• common problems
• excessive erosion
• boggy areas in saturated soils
• proliferation of unplanned or impromptu trails
• management options include
• rehabilitation of badly eroded/multiple trails
• relocation of trails to more durable routes
• trail engineering

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4. Examples (contd)

• Managing horse related impacts
• use of horses still significant in certain areas
  (e.g. USA, South Africa, Siberia, etc.) but
  banned in others (e.g. Australia)
• impacts similar to hikers but more pronounced and
  with behavioural differences
• management strategies
• limit or reduce their use
• encourage less damaging behaviour
• discourage use during sensitive seasons
• encourage use in only resistant areas
• contain impacts to certain trails

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5. Summary

• Carrying capacity as a key concept in wilderness
  management
• builds on Hardings ideas re the tragedy of the
  commons
• practical application through LAC model
• General principles and approaches in managing
  wilderness recreation
• Types of recreational problems
• Examples of recreation management

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Directed reading

• Hendee et al., (1990) Wilderness Management.
  Fulcrum Publishing, Colorado. Chapter 9
• Mitchell, B. (1979) Geography and Resource
  Analysis. Longman, London. Chapter 7

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Workshop

• Developing an wildland policy for England and
  Wales

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Next week...

• 6. Non-recreational use of wilderness
• Hunting and fishing
• Forestry and forest products
• Water resources
• Minerals, oil and gas
• Agriculture
• Renewable energy
• Workshop web poster development QA session