A Survey of Day and Overnight Backcountry/Wilderness Visitors in Rocky Mountain National Park
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Final Report A Survey of Day and Overnight Backcountry/Wilderness Visitors in Rocky Mountain National Park Sponsored by the National Park Service and conducted by George N. Wallace Jeffrey J. Brooks Matthew L. Bates The College of Natural Resources Department of Natural Resource Recreation & Tourism Colorado State University Fort Collins, Colorado March 2004 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS We would like to thank the members of the visiting public that participated in the study for the time, the information, and ideas they gave us. We are grateful to John Titre for helping to implement the sampling strategy, members of the research team who helped hand out and collect the survey data including, Cheri Yost and the NPS VIP crew, Diane Markow, Kerri Poore, Kyle Collins, and Vicki Beaugh. We would like to thank Jim Wurz for his assistance with content analysis for two of the survey questions. We also acknowledge The National Park Service for financial and logistical support and their commitment to visitor management that is informed by diverse social science. Suggested American Psychological Association Citation: Wallace, G. N., Brooks, J. J., & Bates, M. L. (2004). A survey of day and overnight backcountry/wilderness visitors in Rocky Mountain National Park. Phase II Final Project Report for The National Park Service. Fort Collins: Colorado State University, Department of Natural Resource Recreation and Tourism. II Executive Summary Background. In 2001, Rocky Mountain National Park (RMNP or the Park) managers, having just completed a Backcountry/Wilderness Management Plan, expressed a need to have improved information about those who visit the Park’s Backcountry/Wilderness areas. Among other things, they wished to better understand (1) the socio-demographic characteristics of visitors, (2) their trip characteristics, (3) motives for visiting, (4) activities pursued, (5) things adding or detracting from their experience, (6) their perceptions about future wilderness designation in the Park and a variety of current and potential Backcountry/Wilderness management actions. A team from Colorado State University (CSU) conducted a survey of visitors to RMNP Backcountry/Wilderness1 during the summer of 2002. The survey was developed with park staff and was informed by findings from a preliminary study (Brooks & Titre, 2003) conducted the previous summer. The survey contained both quantitative scales and open-ended items. It was distributed at trailheads to visitors leaving Backcountry/Wilderness and at the Backcountry Office from late July to mid-September. The response rate was 67% with 682 usable surveys obtained out of distribution of 1015. Key findings. Visitors to Backcountry/Wilderness were 56% male and 44% female with a mean age of 43, highly educated, and a majority (67%) had household incomes from $50,000 - $100,000 annually. Over one half were raised in small and medium-sized cities and currently reside in Colorado (60%), the Midwest (22%) or the South (10%). Of those from Colorado, 94% were from the Front Range. Many study participants were experienced visitors at RMNP, and 43% had visited the Park’s Backcountry/Wilderness six or more times, and almost 28% had visited more than ten times. This trip to RMNP Backcountry/Wilderness was the first visit for 22% and the first visit to any Backcountry/Wilderness for about 9%. More than one half of the visitors sampled during summer 2002 were visiting in groups of two and the majority (85%) came in groups of one to four. These visitors came with family members (58%), friends (30%), or both (6%). Slightly less than one quarter (24%) stayed overnight in Backcountry/Wilderness and the rest were day visitors. Overnight visitors spent an average of 1.9 nights but 49% spent only one night in Backcountry/Wilderness. Day visitors spent anywhere from one to fifty hours in the backcountry with the average time being 7.8 hours. This includes day visitors who made more than one trip to the Backcountry/Wilderness. Overnight visitors hiked 18 miles on average with 72% hiking less than 20 miles and 28% hiking greater than 20 miles. Day visitors hiked an average distance of nine miles, but this includes 32 people who may have made multiple day trips into the Backcountry/Wilderness but did not spend the night camping in backcountry. Visitors reported coming to RMNP because they enjoy the Backcountry/Wilderness (61%) itself. Others visited to do specific activities (22%), to be with family or companions (9%), and some specified that they were seeking quiet and solitude (8%). Hiking, photography, and nature study topped the list of 1 The study is part of a suite of related visitor studies conducted between 2001 and 2003 by CSU and the US Geological Survey. III activities pursued by visitors. Slightly more than 20% of those sampled reported that they had hiked off designated trails during their visit to Backcountry/Wilderness and more than half of those visitors hiked cross-country more than once. They sought destinations without trails, pursued activities like fishing or climbing while off trail, wanted to get better views, explore, to be alone. Many described their best discoveries while off trail. In a separate measure of place attachment, more than 71% reported being highly attached to the Park. Nearly 40% of these visitors reported being highly familiar with RMNP. These visitors were neutral regarding their social identity with the place. Almost 41% of the visitors surveyed met either a park ranger or other staff member during their visit, and 85% of these encounters were evaluated positively. Interestingly, 254 respondents described the encounters and a content analysis of these revealed among other things that 64% based their evaluation on the qualities of the individual such as, being friendly, knowledgeable, and 21% made comments related to the importance of staff “presence” (e.g., patrolling, monitoring, enforcing) and feelings of increased security. A number of items probed conditions that added to or detracted from the Backcountry/Wilderness experience. Almost 25% of respondents said they saw too many people and over 30% said they felt crowded and 202 specified the location. Some of these were where trails to the backcountry pass near well-known attraction sites. When asked to rate the degree of acceptability of a variety of impacts, visitors found litter near water bodies, feces and toilet paper, harassment of wildlife, graffiti, campsite and social trail proliferation, noise from cell phones, pagers, and radios, and the collection of natural resources as the most (highly to moderately) unacceptable. Visitors wrote open-ended comments to express dislike for an array of behaviors on the part of other visitors. These annoyances related to vehicle congestion and parking, over development within and adjacent to the Park, and other things not included in the scaled survey items. The priorities that visitors assigned to management actions largely mirrored their desire to mitigate conditions that they found to be unacceptable. Visitors would have managers address: littering, evidence of human waste, illegal camps, unplanned trails, approaching and feeding wildlife, and resource collection as priorities. While visitors considered the use of cell phones, pagers, and radios to be unacceptable in the Backcountry/Wilderness, they were divided on the importance of taking action to mitigate noise impacts. Almost 40% supported limiting group size, and most of these suggested that the limit be between 6-10 people. When asked if they considered themselves to be in Wilderness in RMNP nearly 70% answered that it depends on where they were in the Park. Although this response category represents the way most managers define wilderness, the purpose of this question was to probe how visitors view wilderness at RMNP. Additional wilderness designation in RMNP was seen as moderately to extremely important by 72%. In spite of this support, results revealed a limited understanding of the National Wilderness Preservation System or the management direction given to managers by the Wilderness Act of 1964. This was also evident in the range of visitor comments about changes that they expected to see following wilderness designation. Many visitors (37%) expected restrictions like no fishing and severe restrictions on hiking, which are not likely to occur with additional wilderness designation. IV Throughout the study, few statistical differences where found between day visitors and overnight visitors. However, day visitors were significantly more attached to the place and experienced with Backcountry/Wilderness than overnight visitors. The report discusses a variety of issues for managers to consider regarding, visitor management and education, impact mitigation, and the public’s understanding of wilderness and wilderness designation. Humans need wilderness and they need to be in touch the natural world. The further removed we become from these things, the more problems we develop. Groomed parks and golf courses do not count. Highways with occasional pullouts do not count. People who crave the absolute wilderness. Also, our world will lose so much with the repercussions that occur when we begin to lose the natural systems of our world. We somehow need to maintain these pure natural systems for the well being of humans and all wildlife and all life at whatever cost to our comfort. Thanks for making the effort. Survey respondent describing the relationship between people and wilderness. V Table of Contents Page Acknowledgements II