Managing Visitors in Wilderness Environments Parks Canada's
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Managing Visitors in Wilderness Environments Parks Canada’s Western Workshop Surrey, British Columbia B.C. Forestry Association Green Timbers Conference Centre March 17-22,1996 Summary Proceedings Workshop Sponsors Parks Canada Pacific Yukon Region Natural Resources Branch, Ottawa Centre for Tourism Policy and Research School of Resource and Environmental Management Simon Fraser University Editors Alison Davis Siobhan Jackson Pamela Wright, Ph.D. Centre for Tourism Policy and Research School of Resource and Environmental Management Simon Fraser University Managing Visitors in Wilderness Environments, Parks Canada’s Western Workshop Parks Canada, Centre for Tourism Policy and Resear 8380-6/2 Vol. TABLE OF CONTENTS Acknowledgements.. .l Setting the Stage . .2 Tom Elliot and Pam Wright THE WILDERNESS PARADOX: PERSPECTIVES ON MANAGING WILDERNESS Taking the Ecosystem Perspective. 3 Ken Lertzman, SFU Cultural Resource Management and the Concept of Wilderness . .6 Sandra Zacharias, Deva Heritage Consulting Ltd. APPLYING SCIENCE TO MANAGING WILDERNESS AND THE WILDERNESS EXPERIENCE The Monitoring Context.. .8 Dave Cole, Aldo Leopold Institute Determining Indicators of the Wilderness Experience. .12 Alan Watson, Aldo Leopold Institute Managing Visitor Impacts in the Backcountry.. 14 Dave Cole, Aldo Leopold Institute Monitoring Levels of Use in the Backcountry.. 16 Paul Lauzon, formerly with Calgary Regional Office, Parks Canada PULLING IT ALL TOGETHER: VISITOR MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES AND DECISION MAKING Merging Ecological and Social Science Data: The Jasper River Use Study.. .18 Pam Wright, SFU West Coast Trail User and Willingness to Pay Research . .22 Rick Rollins, Malaspina University College . A Cumulative Effects Assessment (CEA) of Proposed Projects in Kluane National Park Reserve, Yukon Territory . .24 George Hegmann, Axys Environmental Consulting.. DEVELOPING A CULTURAL MONITORING FRAMEWORK The Gwaii Haanas Experience . r;. .32 Grant Peregoodoff and Anna Gadja, Gwaii Haanas National Park ReservelHaida Heritage Site . THE WHY, WHERE AND WHEN OF DETERMINING APPROPRIATE ACTIVITIES Parks Canada’s Appropriate Activity Assessment Framework .......................37 Per Nilsen, Head, Appropriate Activities Assessment and Risk Management .... Status of Appropriate Activity Assessments in Canada and the US .................40 Angus Simpson, Jasper National Park ................................................ A Range of Approaches - Panel Discussion ............................................... 1. The Managerial Approach: Using the Parks Canada Framework ........... .42 Per Nilsen, Appropriate Activities Assessment and Risk Management ....... 2.The Round Table Approach..................................................... .43 Angus Simpson, Maligne Valley Collaborative Process ........................ 3. Mixing the Scientific Panel with the Round Table Approach ............... -44 Judy Otton, Banff Park Planner .................................................... 4. Letting the Users Decide: Chilkoot Trail National Historic Site ............ .46 Tom Elliot, Yukon District Wilderness Specialist................................ RELATED FRAMEWORKS AND ISSUES FOR VISITOR ACTIVITY MANAGEMENT New Initiatives in Visitor Activity Management.. .47 Per Nilsen . APPROACHES TO MANAGING COMMERCIAL USE BC Lands, Commercial Backcountry Policy ........................................... 49 Charles Porter............................................................................. Commercial Operator Assessment ...................................................... .5 1 Marcy Saprowich, BC Parks ........................................................... Nakimu Caves............................................................................. .53 Dave Kaegi, Backcountry Manager, Mount Revelstoke/ Glacier National Parks. Balancing Commercial Values and Wilderness Opportunities ....................... .54 Glen Campbell, BC Parks ............................................................... RECREATIONAL USE ALLOCATION IN WILDERNESS Lessons from the Bob Marshall Wilderness Complex . 56 Suzanne Cable, USDA Forest Service REVENUE GENERATION Valuation of Recreational Resources .................................................... 60 Jack Knetsch, Simon Fraser University ............................................... Parks Canada Revenue Generation - Programs and Concepts ...................... .63 Ron McCarville, University of Waterloo ........................................... 67 SHARED DECISION MAKING ON THE GROUND: WHAT WORKS AND WHAT DOESN’T A Shared Decision Making Primer...................................................... .65 Pam Wright, SFU Shared Decision Making from the Management Planning Perspective ............. .68 Wayne Bourque, Parks Planner, Parks Canada ...................................... Maligne Valley Round Table ............................................................. 69 Angus Simpson, Secretariat, Maligne Valley Collaborative Process ............... Banff-Bow Valley Study .................................................................. 70 Jeff Green, Banff-Bow Valley Task Force ............................................ PULLING IT ALL TOGETHER: WORKSHOP SUMMARY AND RESULTS ...................................................................... ..7 2 CONFERENCE PARTICIPANTS LIST . 76 Acknowledgments This workshop was coordinated by a team of individuals from Parks Canada including: Tom Elliot, Yukon District Wilderness Specialist; Peter Clarkson, Jasper National Park; Anna Gajda and Grant Peregoodoff, Gwaii Haanas National Park Reserve/Haidi Heritage Site; Doug Eastcott, Banff National Park; Perry Jacobson, Kootenay National Park; Per Nilsen, Headquarters; Brian MacDonald, Pacific- Yukon Regional Office in addition to Pam Wright from Simon Fraser University. This team approach was utilized to ensure that a wide range of interests and Park issues were addressed and to spread out the work load. Grant, Anna, Peter, Tom, Doug and Pam also served throughout the week as workshop moderators. Funding support was provided by Pacific-Yukon Region and by Headquarters with additional support provided by SFU’s Centre for Tourism Policy and Research. In addition, many of the Park’s contributed by providing assistance for staff traveling to the workshop and to the coordinators. While this workshop was designed to focus on visitor management in wilderness environments for Parks Canada, we recognized the need to look to other agencies for ideas and advice as well as to share the results of our explorations. The participation of representatives from: U.S. National Parks (in particular the Alaskan Parks and North Cascades N.P.); B.C. Parks; B.C. Lands; B.C. Forests; the U.S. National Forest Service Aldo Leopold Research Institute; and a number of Canadian universities (Malaspina University/College, University of Northern B.C., University of Waterloo, Simon Fraser University) made this workshop much more successful and enjoyable. The operational details of the workshop were coordinated by faculty and graduate students specializing in protected areas management in the Centre for Tourism Policy and Research at SFU’s School of Resource and Environmental Management. Facility arrangements were coordinated by Alison Davis and Siobhan Jackson and on-site registration by Dawn Kelly. Workshop note takers included: Dawn Kelly, Andrew Day, Rob Gorter, Kathryn Lack, Stewart Dill, Eva Riccius, Janet Dyment, Denise Taschereau, Siobhan Jackson, Alison Davis, and Karen Vagelotas. Summary proceedings were prepared by Alison Davis and Siobhan Jackson. Special thanks to Judy Otton from Banff National Park for coordinating and preparing the workshop result summary included at the end of these proceedings. “Properly of: Canadian Heritage Prof. & Tee. Services ._ : 3 For Reference 011ly”~ Setting the Stage What is wilderness? How do we transfer one business license to another? How do we monitor ecological and social impacts? Is helicopter flightseeing appropriate in a national park? How do we figure out what we will charge for Park services? To help address these questions, a variety of new tools have been developed over the last 15 years to assist in wilderness and backcountry visitor management. While managers, planners and researchers have been utilizing these tools there has been a general lack of coordination between these initiatives resulting in duplication of research efforts and/or inconsistent approaches in dealing with wilderness management issues. To address these problems, Parks Canada and Simon Fraser University hosted a 5 day workshop in March of 1996 for Parks Canada managers and for cooperating researchers and partners in western Canada. The workshop focused on skill development, networking, information sharing and finding solutions to common issues. The workshop was designed to be practical in nature with a focus on priority wildemess/backcountry management issues including: ecological, social and cultural research and monitoring, appropriate activities assessments, revenue generation, commercial activities management, and shared decision-making with stakeholders. Workshop Objectives The objectives of the workshop were to: provide training and skill development pertaining to: ecological, social and cultural impact monitoring techniques, appropriate activities assessment, designing willingness-to-pay studies, and dealing with stakeholders in shared decision making processes; identify research needs to academic researchers who might be able to