Application of LAC-type processes and concepts to nonrecreation management issues in protected areas

Abstract

When Limits of Acceptable Change concepts are applied to nonrecreational issues, two primary problems are encountered: (1) developing zoning schemes which are compatible when multiple issues are addressed, and (2) defining the desired condition and establishing measurable standards for ecosystem attributes which change in unpredictable ways. Approaches to overcome these two difficulties are described. We conclude that LAC can and should be used to address many impacts that are not related to recreational use. Where impacts are localized, nearby reference sites are often available, thus LAC standards can be developed for the amount of acceptable deviation from conditions at the reference site. However, effects-based, measurable standards may be impossible to define for landscape-scale impacts where no undisturbed reference sites exist. Substituting time as a reference, using system inputs rather than outcomes, and identifying the desired direction of desired change without specifying a standard are three approaches to overcome the problem with changeable ecosystem attributes but each approach has drawbacks.

Parent Publication

• Proceedings - Limits of Acceptable Change and related planning processes: Progress and future directions

Citation

Merigliano, Linda; Cole, David N.; Parsons, David J. 1997. Application of LAC-type processes and concepts to nonrecreation management issues in protected areas. In: McCool, Stephen F.; Cole, David N., comps. Proceedings - limits of acceptable change and related planning processes: progress and future directions: from a workshop held at the University of Montana''s Lubrecht Experimental Forest. Gen. Tech. Rep. INT-GTR-371. Ogden, UT: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station: 37-43