Campsite impact in the wilderness of Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks: Thirty years of change

Cole, David; Parsons, David

In the late 1970s, in response to rapidly increasing visitor use and proliferating impacts, the condition of all campsites in the backcountry of Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks was assessed by park research staff. All campsites were located and assigned to one of 273 different subzones; their condition was assessed on the basis of eight impact parameters: vegetation density, vegetation composition, total area of the campsite, barren core area, campsite development, litter and duff, social trails, and tree mutilations. In 2006 and 2007, to ascertain trends in impact, the campsite survey was repeated in 120 of the 273 subzones (44% of the wilderness). A total of 2,955 sites impacted by camping were located during the 2006-2007 surveys. Of these, 1,795 were judged to be active campsites, with another 1,160 judged to be restoration sites. Restoration sites are sites that appear to no longer be used for camping but where campsite impact is still evident. Since the repeat sample included 44% of the subzones originally surveyed, this suggests that there are approximately 6600 impacted sites in the wilderness, of which about 4000 are being actively used as campsites. In the late 1970s, there were more than 7700 campsites in the wilderness. The most important finding of this study is that campsite conditions in the wilderness of Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks have improved dramatically since the late 1970s. Depending on assumptions and the comparability of the two surveys, aggregate campsite impact in 2006-2007 is almost certainly less than one-third what it was in the 1970s. The second fundamental finding is that the improvement in conditions that has occurred over the past 30 years has been remarkably uniform. With only a few localized exceptions, conditions have improved throughout the wilderness of Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks. Despite concerns to the contrary, impacts are not spreading or intensifying; they have retreated and diminished in magnitude. There are several competing potential explanations for the decrease in campsite impact over the past 30 years. There is evidence that use levels are not as high today as they were in the 1970s. There is also evidence that use is more concentrated in space than it was in the 1970s. Although the relationship between impact and the spatial distribution of use is complex, total impact is often less where use is concentrated rather than more widely distributed. Visitor behavior has also changed. There has been widespread adoption of minimum impact techniques, including Leave-No-Trace, and some of the activities with high impact potential (e.g. campfire building and traveling with large packstock groups) are more tightly regulated. Finally, in the period between the two surveys, there was a concerted on-the-ground management effort to reduce campsite impacts. It is our contention that all of these factors have contributed to improvement in conditions and have worked synergistically toward improved conditions. However, we also believe that the most important of these reasons for success has been the concerted effort and hard work of wilderness managers and rangers to reduce campsite impact throughout the wilderness. The fundamental strategy that evolved was to concentrate use on a smaller number of campsites, in appropriate locations, work to reduce campsite size and development, more actively maintain campsites, and educate visitors. This multi-faceted approach, directed by wilderness managers and implemented by wilderness rangers, has succeeded in substantially improving the wilderness character of the Sequoia and Kings Canyon Wilderness.

Campsite impact in the wilderness of Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks: Thirty years of change

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