United States
Department
of Agriculture
Forest Service
Rocky Mountain
Research Station
Proceedings
RMRS-P-15-VOL-5
September 2000
Wilderness Science in a
Time of Change Conference
Volume 5: Wilderness Ecosystems,
Threats, and Management
Missoula, Montana
May 23–27, 1999
Abstract
Cole, David N.; McCool, Stephen F.; Borrie, William T.; O’Loughlin, Jennifer, comps. 2000.
Wilderness science in a time of change conference—Volume 5: Wilderness ecosystems, threats,
and management; 1999 May 23–27; Missoula, MT. Proceedings RMRS-P-15-VOL-5. Ogden,
UT: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station. 381 p.
Forty-six papers are presented on the nature and management of threats to wilderness
ecosystems. Five overview papers synthesize knowledge and research on wilderness fire,
recreation impacts, livestock in wilderness, nonnative invasive plants, and wilderness air quality.
Other papers contain the results of specific research projects on wilderness recreation impacts
and management, wilderness restoration, fire and its management, and issues related to air,
water, and exotic species.
Keywords: air quality, campsites, fire, fish stocking, invasive species, livestock, recreation impact,
restoration, trails
RMRS-P-15-VOL-1. Wilderness science in a time of change conference—Volume 1:
Changing perspectives and future directions.
RMRS-P-15-VOL-2. Wilderness science in a time of change conference—Volume 2:
Wilderness within the context of larger systems.
RMRS-P-15-VOL-3. Wilderness science in a time of change conference—Volume 3:
Wilderness as a place for scientific inquiry.
RMRS-P-15-VOL-4. Wilderness science in a time of change conference—Volume 4:
Wilderness visitors, experiences, and visitor management.
RMRS-P-15-VOL-5. Wilderness science in a time of change conference—Volume 5:
Wilderness ecosystems, threats, and management.
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Please specify the publication title and number.
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E-mail
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Publications Distribution
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240 West Prospect Road
Fort Collins, CO 80526
Cover art by Joyce VanDeWater, Rocky Mountain Research Station
Conference symbol designed by Neal Wiegert, University of Montana
Wilderness Science in a Time
of Change Conference
Volume 5: Wilderness Ecosystems,
Threats, and Management
Missoula, Montana
May 23-27, 1999
Compilers
David N. Cole
Stephen F. McCool
William T. Borrie
Jennifer O’Loughlin
Compilers
David N. Cole is Research Biologist with the Aldo Leopold Wilderness Research Institute,
Rocky Mountain Research Station, located on The University of Montana campus in Missoula,
MT. Dr. Cole has A.B. and Ph.D. degrees in geography from the University of California,
Berkeley, and the University of Oregon. He has been conducting research on wilderness and
its management since the mid-1970’s.
Stephen F. McCool is Professor, Wildland Recreation Management, at the School of Forestry,
The University of Montana in Missoula, MT. He holds a B.S. degree in forestry from the University
of Idaho and M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Minnesota. His research and
applications projects concern wilderness and protected area management and planning, focusing
on management systems, applications of social science to management, public participation, and
sustainability questions.
William (Bill) T. Borrie is Associate Professor and Program Coordinator, Outdoor Recreation
Management, in the School of Forestry, The University of Montana. Dr. Borrie received a Ph.D.
from the College of Natural Resources, Virginia Tech, and has masters and bachelors degrees
from the School of Forestry, University of Melbourne, Australia. His research interests are focused
on the outdoor recreation experience and on the meanings of parks and wilderness.
Jennifer O’Loughlin holds a B.A. in journalism and history and an M.S. in environmental studies
from the University of Montana. After serving for 10 years as editor of the natural resource journal
Western Wildlands, she turned to a life of free-lance writing and editing.
Pesticide Precautionary Statement
This publication reports research involving pesticides. It does not
contain recommendations for their use, nor does it imply that the uses
discussed here have been registered. All uses of pesticides must be
registered by appropriate State and/or Federal agencies before they can
be recommended.
CAUTION: Pesticides can be injurious to humans, domestic animals,
desirable plants, and fish or other wildlife—if they are not handled or
applied properly. Use all pesticides selectively and carefully. Follow
recommended practices for the disposal of surplus pesticides and
pesticide containers.
CAUTION:
PESTICIDES
The use of trade or firm names in this publication is for reader information and does not
imply endorsement by the U.S. Department of Agriculture of any product or service.
The USDA Forest Service is not responsible for statements and opinions advanced in this
publication. Authors are responsible for the content and quality of their papers.
ii
Preface
The Wilderness Science in a Time of Change Conference was held in Missoula, Montana, May 23 through
27, 1999. The conference was conceived to be both a
followup and an expansion of the first National Wilderness Research Conference, held in Fort Collins,
Colorado, in 1985. That conference brought together
most of the scientists in the world who are working on
issues related to the management of wilderness and
resulted in literature reviews and compilations of
research that remain critical references today (Lucas
1986, 1987). Our intent was to bring scientists together again, along with wilderness managers, to
produce an updated compendium of the current stateof-knowledge and current research. In addition, we
sought to increase the array of scientific disciplines
represented at the conference and to expand the range
of topics beyond the challenges of managing wilderness. Finally, we hoped to use plenary talks to highlight controversy, divergent viewpoints, and management dilemmas—to challenge participants’ belief
systems—in the hopes that this would stimulate interaction and personal growth.
Well over 400 people participated in the conference.
Conference attendees included a roughly equal mix of
people from federal land managing agencies and from
academia. There were also several representatives
from state, local, and tribal governments. There were
more than 30 attendees from 16 different nongovernmental organizations, as well as a number of private
individuals, consultants, and members of the press.
About 20 participants were from Canada, with about
20 more participants from other countries. We succeeded in attracting people from diverse disciplines,
united in their interest in wilderness. As usually is the
case, a large proportion of the researchers who attended specialize in the social science aspects of outdoor recreation. However, attendees also included
other types of social scientists, philosophers, paleontologists, and life scientists interested in all scales of
analysis from cells to the globe.
The conference consisted of plenary talks to be
presented before the entire conference, as well as more
narrowly focused presentations organized around three
conference themes and presented in concurrent sessions. The conference’s plenary talks were organized
into four sessions: (1) global trends and their influence
on wilderness, (2) contemporary criticisms and celebrations of the idea of wilderness, (3) the capacity of
science to meet the challenges that wilderness faces
and to realize the opportunities that wilderness presents, and (4) concluding talks related to conference
themes.
The bulk of the conference was organized around
three themes. The first theme was “Science for Understanding Wilderness in the Context of Larger Systems.” The emphasis of this theme was better understanding of the linkages between wilderness and the
social and ecological systems (regional, national, and
international) in which wilderness is situated. The
emphasis of the second theme, “Wilderness for Science: A Place for Inquiry,” was better understanding of
what we have learned from studies that have utilized
wilderness as a laboratory. The third and most traditional theme was “Science for Wilderness: Improving
Management.” The emphasis of this theme was better
understanding of wilderness visitors, threats to wilderness values, and means of planning for and managing wilderness.
We organized three types of sessions under each of
these three themes. We invited 18 speakers to present
overview papers on specific topical areas under each
theme. Many of these speakers developed comprehensive state-of-knowledge reviews of the literature for
their assigned topic, while others developed more
selective discussions of issues and research they judged
to be particularly significant. In addition, conference
participants were given the opportunity to contribute
either a traditional research paper or to organize a
dialogue session. Most of the research papers (131
papers) were presented orally, but 23 additional papers were presented in a poster session. The 14 dialogue sessions were intended to promote group discussion and learning.
The proceedings of the conference is organized into
five separate volumes. The first volume is devoted to
the papers presented during the plenary sessions.
Subsequent volumes are devoted to each of the three
conference themes, with two volumes devoted to wilderness management, the theme with the most papers. Within each theme, papers are organized into
overview papers, research papers, and papers from
the dialogue sessions. The format of dialogue session
papers varies with the different approaches taken to
capture the significant outcomes of the sessions. Research papers include papers presented orally and on
posters. Within each theme, research papers are organized into broad topical areas. Although the initial
draft of each proceedings paper was reviewed and
edited, final submissions were published as submitted. Therefore, the final content of these papers remains the responsibility of the authors.
We thank the many individuals and institutions on
the lists of committee members and sponsors that
iii
follow. They all contributed to the success of the
conference.
Planning Committee: Joan Brehm, Perry Brown,
David Cole, Wayne Freimund, Stephen McCool, Connie
Myers, and David Parsons.
Program Committee: David Cole (Co-chair), Stephen
McCool (Co-chair), Dorothy Anderson, William Borrie,
David Graber, Rebecca Johnson, Martha Lee, Reed
Noss, Jan van Wagtendonk, and Alan Watson.
Sponsors: Aldo Leopold Wilderness Research Institute; Arthur Carhart National Wilderness Training
Center; Bureau of Land Management; Forest Service,
Research; Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research
Station; Humboldt State University, College of Natural Resources; National Outdoor Leadership School;
National Park Service; Parks Canada; State University of New York, Syracuse, College of Environmental
Science and Forestry; The University of Minnesota,
Department of Forest Resources; The University of
Montana, School of Forestry, Wilderness Institute;
U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service; and U.S. Geological Survey, Biological Resources Division.
Steering Committee Members: Perry Brown (CoChair),
David
Parsons
(Co-Chair),
Norman
Christensen, Rick Coleman, Chip Dennerlein, Dennis
Fenn, Denis Galvin, David Harmon, John Hendee,
Jeff Jarvis, Kenneth Kimball, Luna Leopold, Robert
Lewis, David Lime, Nik Lopoukhine, James
MacMahon, Michael Manfredo, William Meadows,
III, Chris Monz, Margaret Shannon, Jack Ward
Thomas, and Hank Tyler.
References __________________________
Lucas, Robert C., comp. 1986. Proceedings, national
wilderness research conference: current research; 1985
July 23-26; Fort Collins, CO. Gen. Tech. Rep. INT-212.
Ogden, UT: Intermountain Research Station. 553 p.
Lucas, Robert C., comp. 1987. Proceedings, national
wilderness research conference: issues, state-of-knowledge, future directions; 1985 July 23-26; Fort Collins,
CO. Gen. Tech. Rep. INT-220. Ogden, UT: Intermountain Research Station. 369 p.
—The Compilers
iv
Contents
David N. Cole
Stephen F. McCool
Page
Wilderness Ecosystems, Threats, and Management ......................................1
1. Overviews ................................................................................................................................................. 3
James K. Agee
Wilderness Fire Science: A State of Knowledge Review ................................5
Yu-Fai Leung
Jeffrey L. Marion
Recreation Impacts and Management in Wilderness:
A State-of-Knowledge Review ................................................................. 23
Mitchel P. McClaran
Improving Livestock Management in Wilderness .......................................... 49
John M. Randall
Improving Management of Nonnative Invasive Plants in
Wilderness and Other Natural Areas ....................................................... 64
K. A. Tonnessen
Protecting Wilderness Air Quality in the United States .................................. 74
2. Recreation Impacts and Management .................................................................................................. 97
L. Alessa
C. G. Earnhart
Effects of Soil Compaction on Root and Root Hair Morphology:
Implications for Campsite Rehabilitation .................................................. 99
Laurel Boyers
Mark Fincher
Jan van Wagtendonk
Twenty-Eight Years of Wilderness Campsite Monitoring in
Yosemite National Park ......................................................................... 105
Tracy A. Farrell
Jeffrey L. Marion
Camping Impact Management at Isle Royale National Park:
An Evaluation of Visitor Activity Containment Policies
From the Perspective of Social Conditions ............................................ 110
Anna M. T. Gajda
Judson Brown
Grant Peregoodoff
Patrick Bartier
Managing Coastal Recreation Impacts and Visitor Experience
Using GIS .............................................................................................. 115
Ernest Hartley
Thirty-Year Monitoring of Subalpine Meadow Vegetation
Following a 1967 Trampling Experiment at Logan Pass,
Glacier National Park, Montana ............................................................. 124
Mark C. Jewell
William E. Hammitt
Assessing Soil Erosion on Trails: A Comparison of Techniques ................. 133
Paul R. Lachapelle
Sanitation in Wilderness: Balancing Minimum Tool Policies
and Wilderness Values .......................................................................... 141
Yu-Fai Leung
Jeffrey L. Marion
Wilderness Campsite Conditions Under an Unregulated
Camping Policy: An Eastern Example ................................................... 148
Christopher A. Monz
Tami Pokorny
Jerry Freilich
Sharon Kehoe
Dayna Ayers-Baumeister
The Consequences of Trampling Disturbance in Two Vegetation
Types at the Wyoming Nature Conservancy’s Sweetwater River
Project Area ........................................................................................... 153
v
P. E. Moore
D. N. Cole
J. W. van Wagtendonk
M. P. McClaran
N. McDougald
Meadow Response to Pack Stock Grazing in the Yosemite
Wilderness: Integrating Research and Management ............................. 160
Regina M. Rochefort
Darin D. Swinney
Human Impact Surveys in Mount Rainier National Park: Past,
Present and Future ................................................................................ 165
Akemi Yoda
Teiji Watanabe
Erosion of Mountain Hiking Trail Over a Seven-year Period in
Daisetsuzan National Park, Central Hokkaido, Japan ........................... 172
3. Wilderness Restoration ....................................................................................................................... 179
David N. Cole
David R. Spildie
Soil Amendments and Planting Techniques: Campsite Restoration
in the Eagle Cap Wilderness, Oregon .................................................... 181
Sean Eagan
Peter Newman
Susan Fritzke
Louise Johnson
Restoration of Multiple-Rut Trails in the Tuolumne Meadows of
Yosemite National Park ......................................................................... 188
Joseph P. Flood
Leo H. McAvoy
The Influence of Wilderness Restoration Programs on Visitor
Experience and Visitor Opinions of Managers ....................................... 193
David R. Spildie
David N. Cole
Sarah C. Walker
Effectiveness of a Confinement Strategy in Reducing Pack Stock
Impacts at Campsites in the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness, Idaho ......... 199
Charisse A. Sydoriak
Craig D. Allen
Brian F. Jacobs
Would Ecological Landscape Restoration Make the Bandelier
Wilderness More or Less of a Wilderness? ............................................ 209
Catherine Zabinski
David Cole
Understanding the Factors That Limit Restoration Success on
a Recreation-Impacted Subalpine Site .................................................. 216
4. Wilderness Fire and Management ...................................................................................................... 223
Stephen F. Arno
David J. Parsons
Robert E. Keane
Mixed-Severity Fire Regimes in the Northern Rocky Mountains:
Consequences of Fire Exclusion and Options for the Future ................. 225
Anthony C. Caprio
David M. Graber
Returning Fire to the Mountains: Can We Successfully Restore
the Ecological Role of Pre-Euroamerican Fire Regimes to
the Sierra Nevada? ................................................................................ 233
Peter Z. Fulé
Thomas A. Heinlein
W. Wallace Covington
Margaret M. Moore
Continuing Fire Regimes in Remote Forests of Grand Canyon
National Park ......................................................................................... 242
Thomas A. Heinlein
W. Wallace Covington
Peter Z. Fulé
Margaret M. Moore
Hiram B. Smith
Development of Ecological Restoration Experiments in Fire
Adapted Forests at Grand Canyon National Park .................................. 249
vi
Jon E. Keeley
Nathan L. Stephenson
Restoring Natural Fire Regimes to the Sierra Nevada in an Era of
Global Change ....................................................................................... 255
MaryBeth Keifer
Nathan L. Stephenson
Jeff Manley
Prescribed Fire as the Minimum Tool for Wilderness Forest and
Fire Regime Restoration: A Case Study From the Sierra
Nevada, California ................................................................................. 266
Kurt F. Kipfmueller
Thomas W. Swetnam
Fire-Climate Interactions in the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness Area ............ 270
David J. Parsons
The Challenge of Restoring Natural Fire to Wilderness .............................. 276
Matthew Rollins
Tom Swetnam
Penelope Morgan
Twentieth-Century Fire Patterns in the Selway-Bitterroot
Wilderness Area, Idaho/Montana and the Gila/Aldo Leopold
Wilderness Complex, New Mexico ........................................................ 283
G.Thomas Zimmerman
David L. Bunnell
The Federal Wildland Fire Policy: Opportunities for Wilderness
Fire Management ................................................................................... 288
5. Air, Water, and Exotic Species ............................................................................................................ 299
Paul Stephen Corn
Roland A. Knapp
Fish Stocking in Protected Areas: Summary of a Workshop ....................... 301
L. Bruce Hill
Wendy Harper
John M. Halstead
Thomas H. Stevens
Ina Porras
Kenneth D. Kimball
Visitor Perceptions and Valuation of Visibility in the Great Gulf
Wilderness, New Hampshire .................................................................. 304
R. A. Knapp
K. R. Matthews
Effects of Nonnative Fishes on Wilderness Lake Ecosystems in
the Sierra Nevada and Recommendations for Reducing Impacts ......... 312
Marilyn Marler
A Survey of Exotic Plants in Federal Wilderness Areas .............................. 318
David S. Pilliod
Charles R. Peterson
Evaluating Effects of Fish Stocking on Amphibian Populations
in Wilderness Lakes ............................................................................... 328
Ellen M. Porter
Air Quality Management in U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
Wilderness Areas ................................................................................... 336
6. Wilderness Management ..................................................................................................................... 341
Shannon S. Meyer
Legislative Interpretation as a Guiding Tool for Wilderness
Management .......................................................................................... 343
S. Thomas Olliff
Sue Consolo Murphy
Seeking a Scientific Approach to Backcountry Management in
Yellowstone National Park ..................................................................... 348
Derek Petersen
Grizzly Bears as a Filter for Human Use Management in
Canadian Rocky Mountain National Parks ............................................. 354
Nicholas Sawyer
The Development of the 1999 Management Plan for the
Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area (Australia) ........................ 362
vii
Michael J. Tranel
Wilderness Management Planning in an Alaskan National Park:
Last Chance to Do It Right? ................................................................... 369
7. Dialogue Session Summary ................................................................................................................ 375
Peter B. Landres
Mark W. Brunson
Linda Merigliano
Charisse Sydoriak
Steve Morton
Naturalness and Wildness: The Dilemma and Irony of Managing
Wilderness ............................................................................................. 377
viii
1. Overviews
2. Recreation Impacts
and Management
3. Wilderness Restoration
4. Wilderness Fire and
Management
5. Air, Water, and
Exotic Species
6. Wilderness Management
7. Dialogue Session
Summary