Information about Wilderness Visitors and Recreation Impacts Is It Adequate

Abstract

The Wilderness Act of 1964 (P.L. 88-577) established a National Wilderness Preservation System (NWPS) to be administered “for the use and enjoyment of the American people in such manner as will leave them unimpaired for future use and enjoyment as wilderness.” To provide for the use and enjoyment of these areas while preserving their wilderness character, it is important to study and monitor wilderness recreation visitors and the impacts they have. Some people state that The Wilderness Act mandates that recreation impacts not be allowed to increase following wilderness designation (Worf 2001). Ideally, baseline conditions should be inventoried at the time each area is designated as wilderness and added to the NWPS, and then periodically monitored in the future to assess trends in conditions and the efficacy of existing recreation management programs. Such data will become increasingly valuable to future attempts to evaluate trends in the wilderness character of each area in the NWPS.