Managing consumptive and nonconsumptive use in the United States largest wilderness

Abstract

With more than 13 million acres (5,260,913 ha) of land and in excess of 9 million acres (3,642,171 ha) of designated Wilderness, Alaska’s Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve is the largest national park in the United States and includes the country’s largest single-name wilderness area. Park managers face a variety of challenges in managing consumptive and nonconsumptive uses of the park and its resources while at the same time protecting wilderness values. When it was created, efforts were made to protect the fragile resources of its varied ecosystems while at the same time honoring well-established traditions of human use within the park. Under the provisions of the park’s enabling legislation, subsistence hunting and fishing by local rural residents—Native and non-Native—are allowed on park lands, recognizing the important role that the harvest of wild resources has played in the lives of area residents. In addition, sports hunters and fishers as well as tourists come to Wrangell-St. Elias in search of their desired experiences and with their own sets of expectations. This paper explores the challenges of managing consumptive and nonconsumptive uses of park resources while at the same time protecting wilderness values.

Parent Publication

• Science and stewardship to protect and sustain wilderness values: Eighth World Wilderness Congress symposium

Citation

Snitzler, Vicki; Cellarius, Barbara. 2007. Managing consumptive and nonconsumptive use in the United States largest wilderness. In: Watson, Alan; Sproull, Janet; Dean, Liese, comps. Science and stewardship to protect and sustain wilderness values: Eighth World Wilderness Congress symposium; September 30-October 6, 2005; Anchorage, AK. Proceedings RMRS-P-49. Fort Collins, CO: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station. p. 302-307