Management Unit / Wilderness Name(s)

Wilderness: Weminuche Wilderness

Management Unit:San JuanNational Forest, Columbine R.D.

Matrix Problem Categories:

  • Campsite Management.

Matrix Strategy Categories:

  • Modify Location of Use.

Recreation Impact Type:

  • Meeting standards and guidelines for campsite condition and campsite density.
  • Water Quality concerns.

Management Objectives:

  • Reduce total number and cumulative impact of sites.
  • Reduce impacts of individual sites.

Actions Taken:

Action 1:Baseline monitoring work (begun in 1988-1989.)

Rationale: Starting point for implementing standards.

Action 2: Updating of regulations.

Rationale:Protect riparian areas and limit social impact of camps on other visitors by moving people away from shoreline areas.

  • 100’ campsite setback from water.
  • 200’ camping setback from most lakes.
  • 200’ campfire setback from lakes.
  • Group size limit of 15 people or total 25 people and stock.
  • ¼ mile camping setback for specific lakes.

Action 3: Closed specific sites where standards were not met. This included active restoration efforts with volunteer projects.

Rationale: Only way to meet standards.

Action 4:Education program. Heavy use of volunteer “Wilderness Information Specialists” at trailheads; good signing at all wilderness portals; production of a guidebook; field presence of seasonal wilderness rangers.

Rationale: Need visitors to understand regulations and the underlying LNT philosophy.

Implementation Details:

How well did the actions work?

  • Quality of the monitoring data varies. Good for looking at overall conditions and trends, but numbers aren’t necessarily firm and complete.
  • Site closures and restorations have largely been successful; a few NOVs written, but overall compliance is good.

How is the success of these actions monitored?

  • Volunteer crews are used to do most of the field level data gathering on site locations, site conditions, encounter levels, and so forth. Results are compiled annually into spreadsheets and reviewed, but not at a level of statistical analysis.

What aspects of implementation worked to help attain desired conditions?

  • The trailhead volunteer WIS program has been very successful at reaching large number of visitors. One-on-one contacts in the field seem most effective for education.
  • Although volunteers put in a lot of hours, it’s also been important to have a core seasonal staff able to write NOVs and enforce regulations when necessary.
  • Upgraded portal signing seems to have also been effective.
  • Volunteer crews have worked well for monitoring encounters and locating campsites for inventory purposes.

What aspects did not work?

  • A standard for “inter-visible” campsites was unworkable; site density is much more useable.
  • Education works well in some ways, but really hasn’t been effective at reducing crowding at popular destinations.
  • Collecting and compiling data is a necessary step, but so far there has not been follow through on taking the bigger step of management actions (such as implementing a permit system) that would really address crowding and overuse.

Public Acceptance:

  • For the most part, the public has been very cooperative with site closures and regulations.

Unexpected results:

  • N/A

Lessons Learned and Tips for Others:

  • Need to trust the data and act upon it.
  • Internal resistance and staff turn-over are really the main barriers to moving forward.

Estimated Costs to Implement:

  • Columbine Ranger District has about 200,000 acres of wilderness.
  • In recent years, staffing has been:

1 supervisor, GS-9(partial duties)

1 seasonal lead wilderness ranger (13/13, GS 5/67)

2-5 seasonal wilderness rangers

about 1,000 volunteer hours

Contact for more information:

name: Nancy Berry

position: Recreation/Wilderness Forester

email:

phone: 970-375-3304

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