The Stephen Mather Wilderness: Wilderness character baseline assessment
Riegel B and Oelfke J. 2020. The Stephen Mather Wilderness: Wilderness character baseline assessment. Natural Resource Report. NPS/NOCA/NRR—2020/2164. National Park Service. Fort Collins, Colorado
The Wilderness Act of 1964 created a legislative mandate to preserve wilderness character on protected federal lands encompassed under the law, leading to the network of lands managed as wilderness that exist today within the National Wilderness Preservation System. Wilderness management policy and practice has evolved to focus on wilderness character monitoring as a means of understanding if the preservation of wilderness character is being achieved. This report is a baseline assessment of wilderness character for the Stephen Mather Wilderness in the North Cascades National Park Service Complex, WA. It is intended to serve as a standalone document that outlines a framework and monitoring protocol for ongoing wilderness character monitoring within the Park Complex. The report fulfills the first step of the directive in the National Park Service Director’s Order 41 to develop a wilderness character assessment, establishes 2015 data as the baseline year for most measures, and provides for the ongoing monitoring of trends in wilderness character. The 24 measures identified in this report form the basis for this long-term monitoring program that, through repeated monitoring and trend analysis, will track wilderness character in the Park Complex. The report is also intended to provide a foundation for the future creation of a wilderness stewardship plan for the Stephen Mather Wilderness.
- Type
- Published Report
- Authors
- Riegel, Ben; Oelfke, Jack
- Date of Issue
- 2020-08
- Publisher
- National Park Service
- Units
- LACH , NOCA , NRSS , ROLA
- Keywords
- baseline assessment, framework, management, measure, monitoring, natural, primitive, solitude, Stephen Mather Wilderness, stewardship, trends, undeveloped, untrammeled, Wilderness Act, wilderness character