Recreation Impact Type :
Excessive deterioration of campsites
Management Objectives:
Draft Quantitative Standards:
Campsites in high use wilderness zones would be a maximum of 750 square feet in size, 25 feet apart minimum, with 6 sites maximum within sight or sound of each other.
Qualitative Guidelines:

Sites would be level and well-drained to attract use
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Visitor use would be contained within designated areas (campsites and social trails)

Sites/social trails would not expand beyond pre-determined site boundaries

Areas outside designated use zones would be revegetated to restore the native plant community

Campfire-related impacts would be eliminated

Visitor use levels would be reduced to better meet Congressional intent for the area (as wilderness)
Strategies:
1) General overview of the major elements of management program:
The “Ozette Loop” along Olympic National Park’s wilderness coast is the most popular backcountry camp area of the Olympic National Park wilderness. Visitors to this area (24,000 visitor use nights) account for nearly one quarter of all park overnight wilderness users. Sand
Point lies at the sound end of the loop, a three mile hike to a beautiful sandy beach with offshore islands and abundant marine life. The tremendous use at Sand Point camping area resulted in extensive bare ground campsites and numerous social trails. A total of 38,000 square feet of bare ground was present in this one camp area, making it the most damaged wilderness camp area in the park. Sites were far greater in size than necessary with one campsite over 7,000 square feet in size, dramatically detracting from the area’s wilderness character.
A Sand Point camp area rehabilitation project was developed to address the sprawling campsites and extensive bare ground. Seventeen campsites (2 group sites, 6 large sites and 9 standard sites) were upgraded to mitigate erosion and damage to wilderness resources associated with heavy camper use. Campsite rehabilitation included site hardening, drainage enhancement, and delineation. Approximately 290 beach logs were moved inland using handpowered come-alongs to delineate campsite and social trail perimeters. Beach and facility access trails were upgraded and delineated. 51,000 plants were grown in the park greenhouse
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from seeds and cuttings obtained on-site. The one and two-year old plants were transported to
Sand Point with U.S. Coast Guard and NOAA Olympic Marine Sanctuary boat and personnel assistance. The native propagated species were outplanted to revegetate 32,430 square feet and 1,005 linear feet of bare ground. Six cable food storage facilities (“bear wires”) were erected to protect visitor’s food from marauding raccoons. Signs were placed to indicate locations of campsites and closed revegetation sites. 126 volunteers donated 3,771 hours assisting with greenhouse propagation and field revegetation and site rehabilitation. The majority of volunteers were individuals from the Puget Sound area, but also included organized volunteer groups: a Sierra Club Service Trip, a class of Shoreline Community College botany students, and Treetops West, a Seattle-based youth organization.
In addition, the Sand Point area was closed to campfires, and visitor use limits (300 overnight visitors) was put into effect for the entire loop.
2) List all actions taken to address the specific recreation impact type identified above and brief description of why the specific action was taken:
Action 1 : Campsite and social trail delineation using beach logs
Rationale : Sprawling campsites with thousands of square feet of bare ground continued to expand with no definition of campsite boundaries. Large logs were hauled up from the beach using hand-powered come-alongs to delineate the campsite and social trail edges so that areas of use were obvious to visitors and areas outside the use zones could be successfully revegetated. zones)
Action 2 : Revegetation, with native plants, of closed areas (outside delineated use
Rationale : Loss of vegetation over a broad area, soils compacted from visitor trampling over many years, and collection of dead and down woody material made natural recovery of the native plant community highly unlikely, even if visitors were kept out of the closed areas.
Action 3 : Closure to campfires
Rationale : Collection of campfire wood results in soil compaction from trampling, and loss of dead and down material for both regeneration of soils and provision o f “safe sites” for new seedlings to germinate.
Action 4 : Visitor use limits
Rationale : Visitation is extremely high to Sand Point, because of its natural beauty and amazing location on the Pacific Ocean coast. In combination with site delineation, revegetation and campfire closures, visitor use limits were put in place for overnight use.
Implementation Details:
1) How well did the actions work to accomplish management objectives?
Campsite and social trail delineation in combination with revegetation were extremely successful. Success would not likely be possible however without the addition of visitor use limits and campfire closures. Visitors stay within the delineated areas allowing on-going recovery of the plant community. Planted vegetation has grown prolifically providing a plant community environment where natural seeding can occur, diversifying the plant community.
Beach logs that delineate the sites and social trails now blend in with the natural environment as they have aged. With no fires and thus only a little (illegal) firewood collection, social trails
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through the area no longer develop so soils are not compacted which allows additional natural plant recovery. Use limits have reduced visitor volume and its consequent resource impacts.
2) How did you evaluate the action?
Campsites are monitored using a wilderness camp area monitoring program that has been in place for the Olympic National Park wilderness since the mid1970’s. In addition, revegetation research plots were established to monitor plant survival and species composition changes over time.
3) What aspects of implementation worked to help attain the desired condition?
The four actions described above worked, in combination, to attain the desired conditions. I do not believe any one alone or without the other three would have been successful. The visitor use has been and is too intense in this area for success to occur without major management actions.
4) What aspects did not work?
Closure of the Sand Point area to campfires shifted visitor use so that Cape Alava, another beautiful camp area on the north end of this wilderness coast loop has been inundated. Visitors who want a campfire choose to go to Cape Alava so that the quota for that area is filled 60-70% of the time between Memorial Day and Labor Day.
5) What were the difficulties of implementation?
The camp area rehabilitation project was a huge effort, though extremely worthwhile, requiring a great deal of dedication and organization. Funding was not readily available so needed to be obtained through a variety of grants and recruitment of volunteers. Plant and tool transport to the site was challenging due to its wilderness location on the coast. Annual visits are made with on-site ranger staff to assess the management actions’ success and outline needed routine maintenance.
6) What was the public acceptance?
There has been consistently positive feedback on the project. Some public are concerned about the high use that still exists at the site.
7) Were there any unexpected effects?
See Question 4).
8) What would you do differently next time; lessons learned; tips?
The wilderness would have greatly benefited by having more restrictive visitor use limits put in place than the 300 overnight visitors allowed on the loop and no campfires allowed on the entire loop, not just in the Sand Point area. With respect to campsite and social trail delineation and revegetation little is needed to be changed in implementation practices. We have accomplished the same type project again, the past four years, at Norwegian Memorial on the north wilderness coast utilizing fees moneys, grant funding and volunteer labor. Sprawling bare ground campsites (over 17,000 square feet in size) were again delineated with beach logs into
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social trails and sites meeting our draft campsite standard of 750 square feet maximum. Closed areas were revegetated with over 53,000 plants grown in the park greenhouse/nursery.
Success is already obvious.
9) What are the estimated or actual costs and staff time to plan and implement?
General description; offsets to costs from volunteers and partnerships.
$ 51,473
55,062
16,193
27,543
4,147
658
22,000
$177,076
State gas tax grant
Canon/National Park Foundation grant
OLYM base – salaries, FY 96 (Permanent employees)
OLYM base – salaries, FY 97 (Permanent employees)
OLYM base – salaries, FY 98 (Permanent employees)
OLYM base – equipment, FY 97 (Permanent employees)
Volunteer labor (does not include U.S. Coast Guard and NOAA boat/ labor)
TOTAL SAND POINT REHAB COST
3) Are there additional good contacts for this topic?
Mount Rainier and North Cascades National Parks also have well-developed wilderness revegetation programs.
Location and Contact Information:
1) Park/Wilderness name: Olympic National Park, WA
2) Manager contact information: Ruth Scott, ruth_scott@nps.gov
: (360) 565-3071
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