Highway 89 Boundary Trespass Monitoring 2009: Wupatki National Monument

Schelz, Charles; Whitefield, Paul

In 2008, in order to facilitate pronghorn movement in the area, the NPS, AGFD, and the Arizona Department of Transportation agreed to cooperatively remove the right-of-way fence along both sides of US 89 through Wupatki National Monument (WUPA) for an experimental period of three years. The fence that was removed was located approximately 50 feet from either edge of the shoulder pavement of Highway 89. The project compliance record, under the National Environmental Policy Act and the National Historic Preservation Act, includes a commitment to reconstruct the fence if there is an unacceptable level of illegal off-road travel adjacent to the highway or other resource impact issues that may result from the lack of a fence. In order to determine the extent and level of impacts a monitoring program needed to be devised. This program was developed by National Park Service staff to monitor off-road and other activities originating from within the US 89 corridor into WUPA. It is designed as a long-term monitoring program which requires regular seasonal follow-up documentation to record any impacts to natural resources. Most of the impacts along the established transects at WUPA appear to have occurred during the dismantling of the fence and during some periodic maintenance performed by crews on the telephone lines that traverse the study site on the east side of Highway 89. Our first monitoring efforts in the Spring of 2009 recorded many tracks from these activities, but by August of the same year these same tracks were barely evident. Serious impacts include tracks that head straight into the monument for at least 300 meters but no serious trespass incidents were recorded in 2009. It appears that any damage to soils or vegetation occurred only during the activities mentioned above and that the general public is not trespassing into the monument. All damage recorded was along the fenceline or limited to temporary emergency pull overs by vehicles in distress. Since very little persistent impacts were recorded in 2009, recommendations were given that are primarily concerned with ongoing monitoring and resource protection measures.

Highway 89 Boundary Trespass Monitoring 2009: Wupatki National Monument

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