Current condition of standards from the Denali Park road vehicle management plan: A summary report 2015

Clark, William

This report summarizes data collected to document conditions on six of seven Denali Park Road Vehicle Management Plan (VMP) indicators from the Denali Park Road 2015 regulatory year (May 23 - September 15, 2015). These six tier-1 indicators are: (1) Number of vehicles stopped at wildlife in the same place at one time (i.e. wildlife stops), (2) number of vehicles parked at rest stops at one time, (3) number of vehicles visible in specific viewscapes at one time, (4) hourly 10-minute gaps in traffic at sheep crossing locations (i.e. sheep gaps), (5) nighttime (2200-0600) traffic rates, and (6) amount of time a hiker waits for a bus (i.e. hiker wait time). The methodology for monitoring standards for the seventh indicator, large vehicle traffic (> 80,000 pounds gross vehicle weight rating), has not been implemented but we include recommendations for future monitoring. Here we (1) compare current conditions of the VMP indicators to the 1-year VMP standards, (2) use 2013-2015 data to begin assessment of the 5-year VMP standards, (3) assess the efficacy of the current monitoring techniques and make recommendations for improvement, and (4) make recommendations for improving the condition of the resource as measured by the indicators. Prior to the 2015 monitoring season, a decision was made to discontinue the use of fleet-based, on-board GPS data due to both systematic and random errors. In response, we amplified on-the-ground monitoring resulting in 22-53% increases in field-based samples providing adequate sample size to estimate traffic conditions and compare them to VMP standards. Assessment of the 1-year VMP standards: 1) Wildlife stop standards were met in all Wildlife Viewing Subzones. A single bus was stopped at 57% and two buses were stopped at another 27% of the total 2,542 wildlife stops. 2) Rest stop standards were met at all three sites. 3) Viewscape standards were met at all four sites. 4) Sheep gap standards were met at four of five sites. Mile 60.6 maintained a 10-minute gap in traffic 87.2% of the time, short of the 90% standard. Sheep gap results are a two-fold improvement over 2014 when only two sites met standard. 5) Nighttime traffic standards were met at five of six sites for the nightly average traffic standard and at only three sites for the nightly peak traffic standard. The traffic counter at mile 30.3 (TekGate) failed to meet either standard and mile 28.7 (Tek) and 39.6 (Sable) failed to meet the nightly peak traffic standard. 6) Hiker wait time standards were met. We used 2013-2015 data to begin assessment of 5-year VMP standards and assumed the use of the current sampling scheme for 2016-2017. The wildlife stop indicator in Subzone 3 may or may not meet the 5-yr standard for the percent time that one or fewer vehicles are present at wildlife stops; the standard is 75%, while its 2013-2015 weighted average is 74.80%. Subzone 3 will fail the 5-year standard if its results in 2016-2017 are similar to 2015 when it met this standard 73.6%. All other wildlife stop standards have at least three percentage-point margins to meet the 5-year standard. Viewscapes have a minimum margin of 8.8 percentage points to meet the 5-year standard. The 5-year standard for vehicle spacing at sheep gaps presents a clear challenge for park management. Sheep gap sites at mile 21.6, 52.8, and 60.6 cannot, and mile 37.6 is very unlikely to, meet the 5-year standard. Over the next two years mile 21.6, 52.8, and 60.6 must maintain 10-minute gaps in traffic for over 100% of sampled hours and 37.6 must maintain 10-minute gaps for an average of 98% of sampled hours to meet standard. To date, none of these sites have not exceeded a sheep gap maintenance rate of 93.3%. One sheep gap site (mile 68.5) will likely meet the 5-year standard.

Current condition of standards from the Denali Park road vehicle management plan: A summary report 2015

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