GREATER YELLOWSTONE COORDINATING COMMITTEE 2006

Recreation in the Greater Yellowstone Area

A TECHNICAL REPORT

GREATER YELLOWSTONE COORDINATING COMMITTEE 2006

RECREATION IN THE GREATER YELLOWSTONE AREA

A TECHNICAL REPORT

REPORT TO THE GREATER YELLOWSTONE COORDINATING COMMITTEE

INTERAGENCY WORKING GROUP

BEAVERHEAD-DEERLODGE NATIONAL FOREST BRIDGER-TETON NATIONAL FOREST CARIBOU-TARGHEE NATIONAL FOREST GRAND TETON NATIONAL PARK AND JDR PARKWAY NATIONAL REFUGE RED ROCK LAKES YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK

2006

GREATER YELLOWSTONE COORDINATING COMMITTEE 2006

MAN IS HERE, BUT HE HAS NOT YET LAID A HEAVY HAND ON HIS SURROUNDINGS. —Margaret Murie

GREATER YELLOWSTONE COORDINATING COMMITTEE 2006

Table of contents

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ...... i CHAPTER 1 – INTRODUCTION ...... 1 CHAPTER 2 – PRINCIPLES OF RECREATION MANAGEMENT...... 13 CHAPTER 3 – GREATER YELLOWSTONE: THE LAND ...... 27 CHAPTER 4 – GREATER YELLOWSTONE: THE PEOPLE ...... 67 CHAPTER 5 – FINDINGS ...... 98 APPENDICES ...... 114 A - UNIT-SPECIFIC NICHE STATEMENTS...... 115 B - TABLE AND SUPPLEMENTARY MAP ...... 160 C - MAPPING PROTOCOL S, ROS AND EQUIVALENTS ...... 180 D – LIST OF PREPARERS...... 184 E – REFERENCES CITED...... 186 POCKET OF FOLDED MAPS IN BACK OF PACKET

GREATER YELLOWSTONE COORDINATING COMMITTEE 2006

Figures and tables

CHAPTER 1 FIGURE 1. Distribution of the national forests, parks and wildlife refuges in the GYA .... 4 FIGURE 2. Recreation Setting Within the GYA…………….…………………………….. 6

CHAPTER 2 FIGURE 3. Diagram of heavy recreation traffic and solutions to it ...... 17 FIGURE 4. A wild land and recreation planning framework with the role of ROS ...... 21

CHAPTER 3 FIGURE 5. Satellite photo of road densities in the western United States...... 31 FIGURE 6. Recreation settings in the GYA ...... 33 FIGURE 7. Recreation settings in the Custer National Forest, Beartooth District...... 42 FIGURE 8. Primary recreation activities, Custer National Forest...... 43 FIGURE 9. Recreation settings in the Bridger-Teton National Forest ...... 44 FIGURE 10. Primary recreation activities, Bridger-Teton National Forest...... 45 FIGURE 11. Recreation settings in the Gallatin National Forest ...... 46 FIGURE 12. Primary recreation activities, Gallatin National Forest...... 47 FIGURE 13. Recreation settings in Grand Teton National Park ...... 48 FIGURE 14. Participation in recreation activities, Grand Teton National Park ...... 49 FIGURE 15. Recreation settings in the Madison Ranger District ...... 50 FIGURE 16. Primary recreation activities, Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest...... 51 FIGURE 17. Recreation settings in the National Elk Refuge ...... 52 FIGURE 18. Primary recreation activities in the National Elk Refuge ...... 53 FIGURE 19. Recreation settings in Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge...... 54 FIGURE 20. Recreation settings in the Shoshone National Forest...... 55 FIGURE 21. Primary recreation activities, Shoshone National Forest...... 56 FIGURE 22. Recreation settings in the Targhee National Forest ...... 57 FIGURE 23. Primary recreation activities, Caribou-Targhee National Forest ...... 58 FIGURE 24. Recreation settings in Yellowstone National Park...... 59 FIGURE 25. Primary recreation activities, Yellowstone National Park...... 60

TABLE 1. Federal land units of the GYA and acreage totals by agency ...... 32 TABLE 2. Acreage in each ROS setting by GYA unit ...... 34 TABLE 3. Facilities that support recreation in the GYA ...... 36 TABLE 4. Services and concessions provided on federal lands in the GYA ...... 38 TABLE 5. Recreation offerings by non-federal and BLM lands in the GYA ...... 61 TABLE 6. Major upland vegetation types by land ownership ...... 62

GREATER YELLOWSTONE COORDINATING COMMITTEE 2006

CHAPTER 4 FIGURE 26. Population growth in the GYA, 1930-2000 ………………….………………72 FIGURE 27. A comparison of the number of housing units in the GYA ...... 74-75 FIGURE 28. Growing and declining economic subsectors in ...... 78 FIGURE 29. Core areas of forecasted growth in rural housing, 2020 ...... 79 FIGURE 30. Estimated recreation use in the GYA by federal land unit ...... 81 FIGURE 31. Origin of 50-75% of visitors to National Forests within the GYA...... 82 FIGURE 32. County of residence for visitors to national forests of the GYA ...... 82 FIGURE 33. Top activities visitors participate in, GYA forests and parks ………………...83 FIGURE 34. Participation rates in outdoor recreation by adults in Idaho ...... 84 FIGURE 35. Top facilities or special areas used by forest visitors ...... 85 FIGURE 36. Visitor use of the , May-September 2004 ...... 86

TABLE 7. Population change by county in the GYA, 1970 to 2000 ...... 73 TABLE 8. Projection index for increased recreation, 2010, 2030 and 2050...... 92 TABLE 9. Selected recreation activities and projected trends ...... 94-95

Chapter 5 Figure 37 Fast-growing communities and Federal lands nearby…………………………103