Winter road plowing in Denali National Park and Preserve: Monitoring results 2016

Clark, William; Sizemore, Travis

Denali National Park and Preserve completed an Environmental Assessment in February 2013 that evaluated opening the park road to private vehicle traffic earlier than mid-March as is normal to increase the range of recreational opportunities along the Denali Park Road during winter months. The Finding of No Significant Impact, signed in June 2013, identified the alternative which allows road plowing from mile 3 to mile 12.6 (Mountain Vista Rest Area) as the preferred alternative. The Early Road Opening period begins annually near February 1st and will occur for three to five years while park staff monitor the impact on natural resources, park program finances, and visitor experience and opportunities. Here we report findings from the 2016 Early Road Opening period, the third year of the trial period, and make suggestions for future monitoring. Significant findings include: 1) Road use during the Early Road Opening period increased 31% and 26% compared to 2015 and 2014 respectively. 2) Road use peaks around weekends until about March 1st after which visitation increases steadily toward spring regardless of day of week. 3) Seventy-seven percent of Early Road Opening traffic are private vehicles. 4) Commercial use continues to be very low and was undetected by field observers in 2016. 5) Moose were the most commonly observed species. The only other target species observed was caribou. 6) No significant negative wildlife-vehicle interactions were observed in 2016. 7) No significant safety or law enforcement incidents were reported in 2016. 8) The use of the Mountain Vista Rest Area increased in 2016; an average of 5.0 vehicles were observed during 135 observations, compared to 3.6 average vehicles in 2015. 9) Few vehicles were observed idling in the Mountain Vista Rest Area during Early Road Opening, even on cold days. 10) Local weather during Early Road Opening continued to be warmer and dryer than the 1981-2010 average. This could (1) decrease skier, snowshoer, and musher visitation rates or (2) increase visitation by attracting visitors favoring milder and less snowy conditions. Likely, we observe a combination of both of these effects. 11) Denali should conduct a visitor survey to improve the understanding of the winter time visitor demographic and their motivations for visiting the park. Without such study we cannot assign causation to the correlation in our dataset between the Early Road Opening period and increased road use. 12) Road use that peaks on weekends could indicate use by local Alaskans, which increases park relevancy to nearby stakeholders and land owners.

Winter road plowing in Denali National Park and Preserve: Monitoring results 2016

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