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Effects on recreation benefits were assessed using questionnaires and image sets depicting visitor density ranges and anthropogenic setting changes at two heavily-visited wilderness sites. Visitor benefits were less affected by high visitor densities at the more accessible of the two sites. New age medicine wheels had a positive effect on visitor benefits, as did trail revegetation. Although wilderness visitor density guidelines are frequently exceeded at both sites, wilderness designation is defended as acceptable, because frontcountry wilderness borders buffer less accessible backcountry...

This paper describes the features of recreational noise impacts and presents examples from popular New Zealand backcountry trails. Some noise effects were noticed at very high levels, and a varied range of tolerance for these was noted. Aircraft noise provided the most extreme impact example, while noise impacts from motorboats and social behaviour in huts were also notable. The need for more active management cooperation with authorities managing adjacent airspace and waterways is emphasised. Research on links between noise effects and social conflict perceptions is recommended.

This research used descriptive information collected in visitor studies conducted between 1990 and 1992 in eight different wildernesses around the United States to evaluate behaviors and preferences of wilderness visitors regarding cookstoves and camping away from lakes. The majority of visitors used stoves for cooking. However, in all but the Desolation Wilderness, at least 50% of visitors had a wood fire on their trip. In all five areas, most visitors prefer camping within 200 feet of a lake. Appeals were successful in convincing over half of the campers to move farther away from...

The inverse relationship between user perceptions of crowding and satisfaction with the wilderness experience was studied in three national wilderness areas in Oregon (1991) and in four state wilderness areas in the Adirondack Park of New York State (1997). User perceptions of crowding were correlated (low negative coefficients) with user satisfaction on the wilderness trip experience, but only a small proportion of the total variance was explained in the path analysis models. The authors emphasize that future research should identify what contributes to wilderness trip satisfaction since...

Earlier research using interviews of backcountry hikers in Shenandoah National Park raised concerns that visitors may not know much about federal wilderness. This lack of knowledge has implications for research on wilderness experience and for support for wilderness management policies. In this study, self-assessed knowledge of wilderness, researcher-assessed knowledge, and knowledge filter questions were tested for their effectiveness in classifying wilderness knowledge; relationships between knowledge and attitudes toward management were also explored. More than 90% of hikers assessed...

While the concept of “acceptability” is central to the Limits of Acceptable Change (LAC) framework, there is inadequate understanding of how “acceptability” is judged and how unacceptable conditions affect visitor experiences. To address this knowledge gap, visitors to nine wilderness areas were interviewed. Judgments of social and environmental conditions fell into three categories: acceptance, nonacceptance, and conditional acceptance (in which visitors were not entirely satisfied but felt that achieving a more acceptable condition might have negative consequences). Persons expressing...

Day-use visitors to the Desolation Wilderness were asked about making voluntary donations at the trailhead. Of the 111 visitors who used one of the four trailheads at which voluntary donations were requested, 55% reported making a donation, with an average reported donation amount of $4.20. Subjects were categorized into three groups: donors, would-be donors, and nondonors. Donors had fewer previous visits, and fewer years since their first visit than nondonors. Among donors, higher place attachment was associated with larger donations. Donors and would-be donors perceived significantly...

In June 1992, representatives from 172 countries gathered at the "Earth Summit" in Rio de Janeiro to discuss environmental issues. The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (FCCC) was adopted to achieve ". . . stabilization of greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere at a level that would prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system. Such a level should be achieved within a time frame sufficient to allow ecosystems to adapt naturally to climate change, to ensure that food production is not threatened, and to enable economic development to...

Earlier analyses of the supply and demand of timber assumed the continuation of historical climate and thus, did not explicitly incorporate factors such as temperature or precipitation into the projections of timber growth. Forests are adapted to local climates and changes in these climates are likely to impact future forest growth and timber outputs. Within the strategic planning process of the Forest Service, the analysis of ecosystem productivity, as influenced by climatic factors, has been identified as a critical question in order to address the challenging problems associated with...

Comprehensive, large-scale carbon accounting systems are needed as nations agree to work toward reducing their greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. However, adopting a standard accounting system is difficult because multiple science and policy uses for such a system help fuel the debate about the nature of an appropriate system. Accounting systems must address all major sources and sinks of GHGs, or more pragmatically, focus on subsets of important sources and sinks and feature transparent, fundamental rules that may be adopted easily by all nations. Here, we review some issues in carbon...