Changing Conditions on Wilderness Campsites: Seven Case Studies of Trends Over 13 to 32 Years
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Changing Conditions on Wilderness Campsites: Seven Case Studies of Trends Over 13 to 32 Years David N. Cole United States Department of Agriculture / Forest Service Rocky Mountain Research Station General Technical Report RMRS-GTR-300 June 2013 Cole, David N. 2013. Changing conditions on wilderness campsites: Seven case stud- ies of trends over 13 to 32 years. Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS-GTR-300. Fort Collins, CO: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station. 99 p. Abstract This report brings together seven case studies of trends in the number and condition of wilderness campsites over periods ranging from 13 to 32 years. Case examples come from five mountainous wilderness areas in the western United States: Sequoia-Kings Canyon Wilder- ness in California, the Eagle Cap Wilderness in Oregon, the Frank Church-River of No Return Wilderness in Idaho and the Selway-Bitterroot and Lee Metcalf Wilderness in Montana, as well as Grand Canyon National Park in Arizona and Caney Creek Wilderness in Arkansas. The case studies used two different research designs. In one design, small samples of campsites were selected and studied in detail, making it possible to detect relatively small changes in condition. The other approach involved inventorying all campsites in an area and collecting rudimentary data on the condition of each campsite. This approach provides insight into landscape-scale change in the number and condition of campsites but the relatively imprecise measures of campsite conditions do not provide reliable information on campsite change at the scale of individual sites. Most of these studies suggest that aggregate campsite impact increased for much of the latter twentieth century, but that by the first decade of the twenty-first century, this trend reversed. Campsite impacts have recently plateaued or declined in most wildernesses in this compilation. In the most extreme cases, campsite improvement reflects (1) successful implementation of a use concentration or containment strategy, and (2) an active wilderness ranger program, involving obliteration of unnecessary or poorly located campsites and main- tenance and cleaning of established campsites. Keywords: campsite impact, recreation impact, wilderness management Author David N. Cole is a Research Geographer at the Aldo Leopold Wilderness Research Institute, Rocky Mountain Research Station, Forest Service, Missoula, Montana. He holds a Ph.D. in geography from the University of Oregon and an A.B. in geography from the University of California, Berkeley. You may order additional copies of this publication by sending your mailing information in label form through one of the following media. Please specify the publication title and number. Publishing Services Telephone (970) 498-1392 FAX (970) 498-1122 E-mail [email protected] Web site http://www.fs.fed.us/rmrs Mailing Address Publications Distribution Rocky Mountain Research Station 240 West Prospect Road Fort Collins, CO 80526 Acknowledgments Many individuals contributed substantially to the research presented in this report. Some of the most significant contributors are as follows: • Lee Metcalf: Sid Frissell and Dave Spildie • Selway-Bitterroot: Dave Spildie • Sequoia-Kings Canyon: Dave Parsons, Gregg Fauth and Sandy Graban • Eagle Cap: Troy Hall • Grand Canyon: Pam Foti, Mathieu Brown, Jennifer Burns and Linda Jalbert • Caney Creek: Doug McEwen and Tom Ferguson • Frank Church: Peter Kola, Linda Hagedorn, Tony Botello, Tom Gionet and Dave Spildie In addition, Jeff Marion and Bill Hammitt provided useful review comments and Dave Turner as- sisted with data analysis. i ii Contents Introduction.............................................................1 This Compilation . 2 Limitations ...............................................................3 The Spanish Peaks portion of the Lee Metcalf Wilderness, Montana: 1972-2004 ....5 Study Area . .5 Methods .................................................................6 Results .................................................................6 Conclusions . .9 List of Figures and Tables Figure 1—Upper Spanish Lake in the Spanish Peaks portion of the Lee Metcalf Wilderness, Montana. ..............................5 Figure 2—Change in the number of campsites, in different condition classes, in a portion of the Lee Metcalf Wilderness: 1972-2004. ..............7 Table 1—Number of campsites at each lake: 1972, 1988, and 2004. ...........7 Table 2—Number of campsites in each condition class in 1972 and 2004. 9 Three Drainages in the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness, Montana: 1977-2002 .......11 Study Area . 11 Methods ................................................................12 Results ................................................................12 Conclusions . .16 List of Figures and Tables Figure 1—Big Creek Lake in the Montana portion of the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness. ...............................................11 Figure 2—Class 4 campsite with exposed mineral soil. ....................13 Figure 3—Change in the number of campsites, in different condition classes, in a portion of the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness 1977-2002. .........15 Table 1—Changes in the number and condition of campsites in the Sweeney Creek drainage.....................................13 Table 2—Changes in the number and condition of campsites in the Bear Creek drainage. .14 Table 3—Changes in the number and condition of campsites in the Big Creek drainage..........................................14 Table 4—Number of campsites in each condition class in 1977 and 2002. .16 The Wilderness of Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks: 30 Years of Change ...............................................17 Study Area . .17 Methods ................................................................21 Results ................................................................25 Discussion and Management Implications......................................34 Conclusions . .38 List of Figures and Tables Figure 1—Cirque lake basin in the Sequoia-Kings Canyon Wilderness.........18 Figure 2—Trends in overnight use, as reported on wilderness permits. ........19 Figure 3—Barely noticeable class 1 campsite. ...........................25 Figure 4—Class 4 campsite with widespread severe impact. ................26 iii Figure 5—Change in number of sites impacted by camping, by condition class, between 1976-1981 and 2006-2007. ......................27 Figure 6—Change in number of campsites between 1976-1981 and 2006-2007, with distance of campsite from water. .................28 Figure 7—Variation in campsite impact with distance from food storage lockers, 2006-2007 .........................................29 Figure 8—Change in number of sites impacted by camping and weighted value per campable mile, between 1976-1981 and 2006-2007, by distance from the closest trailhead. ..........................29 Figure 9—Change in number of sites impacted by camping and weighted value per campable mile, between 1976-1981 and 2006-2007, by type of trail access. 30 Figure 10—Change in number of sites impacted by camping and weighted value per campable mile, between 1976-1981 and 2006-2007, by whether or not campfires are allowed. ..........................31 Figure 11—Change in number of sites impacted by camping and weighted value per campable mile, between 1976-1981 and 2006-2007, by whether or not food lockers are provided.........................31 Figure 12—Scatterplot relating total campsite impact in 2006-2007 to initial campsite impact for each subzone. .33 Table 1—Criteria and rating factors used to assess campsite condition. .......22 Table 2—Number of sites impacted by camping, by condition class for sites still being used and referenced as restoration sites for those no longer being used, 2006-2007..........................25 Table 3—Change in the number and condition of campsites and all sites impacted by camping in the subzones sampled in 2006-2007. ...27 Table 4—Multiple regression results for variables that influence change in total campsite impact (weighted value). .......................32 The Eagle Cap Wilderness, Oregon: 1975-2007 . 39 Study Area . .39 Methods ................................................................40 Results ................................................................42 Conclusions and Implications................................................52 List of Figures and Tables Figure 1—Campsites included in the sample are in subalpine forest close to lakes, such as Tombstone Lake. ........................39 Figure 2—Campsite at Steamboat Lake illustrates a central barren core with disturbed vegetation beyond the core........................41 Figure 3—Change between 1979 and 2005/2006 in median cover of ground cover categories on campsites and control sites. ............44 Figure 4—Change between 1979 and 2005/2006 in median relative cover of four common vascular plant species on campsites and control sites. ...........................................45 Table 1—Median change between 1979 and 2005/2006 in size and tree damage on all 24 campsites. ..............................43 Table 2—Median change between 1979 and 2005/2006 in seedling density and ground cover conditions on all 24 campsites............43 Table 3—Median change between 1979 and 2005/2006 in species richness and species compositional change on all 24 campsites. .45 Table 4—Median change in campsite conditions on high, moderate, and low use campsites. .........................................47