Mapping threats to wilderness character in the Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park

Tricker, James; Bockus, Danguole; Frost, Forest; Rothrock, Matt

The recent update of the interagency strategy to monitor wilderness character, Keeping It Wild 2: An Interagency Strategy for Monitoring Wilderness Character Across the National Wilderness Preservation System (Landres et al. 2015), allows on-the-ground managers and decision-makers to assess whether stewardship actions for an individual wilderness are fulfilling the legislative mandate to “preserve wilderness character.” By using credible data that are consistently collected, one can assess how wilderness character changes over time and evaluate how stewardship actions affect wilderness character. As most of these data depict spatial or geographic features in wilderness, a Geographic Information System (GIS) -based approach was developed to depict threats to wilderness character in the Black Canyon of the Gunnison Wilderness. A set of measures was identified by the project team to capture the impacts to the five qualities of wilderness character (untrammeled, natural, undeveloped, solitude or primitive and unconfined recreation, and other features of value). These measures were depicted using a variety of spatial datasets, which were normalized using a common relative scale such that disparate metrics could be analyzed together. Each measure was “weighted” by the team to reflect its relative impact to wilderness character. Maps generated for each of the weighted measures were then added together to produce the composite map of threats to wilderness character in the Black Canyon of the Gunnison Wilderness. The map products in this report delineate the range in the condition of wilderness character based on the measures that were identified and the datasets that were used, and serve as a baseline for evaluating threats to wilderness character in the Black Canyon of the Gunnison Wilderness. Future maps of threats to wilderness character can be updated with new and improved data as they become available. The maps also will be used by park staff to analyze the potential impacts of different management actions on wilderness character, inform decision-making and support new management plans, and improve internal staff communication and external public communication about wilderness.

Mapping threats to wilderness character in the Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park

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