Trinity Alps Wilderness, California
Background: The United States Congress designated the Trinity Alps Wilderness in 1984 and it now has a total of 502,764 acres. A piece of the Wilderness along Canyon Creek and the Trinity River (4,623 acres) lies on BLM land, while the rest of the area, one of the state's largest, is situated on Forest Service land. The Trinity Alps Wilderness contains a total of 550 miles of maintained trails. Seventeen miles of the Pacific Crest Trail run through the northern part of the Wilderness.
Impact type: campsite impacts
Strategies: campsite monitoring, permit system, wilderness education
What we did. Describe your over all program (how overall problems are being dealt with). Describe specific tactic.
In the early 1990s our we began work on a Wilderness plan for the Trinity Alps Wilderness and needed LAC data on existing campsites, so a campsite inventory was done for the entire Wilderness. The initial campsite inventory identified 700 campsites.
Starting in 1995, our Wilderness Manager began re-inventorying major watersheds. In 2000, video walk-throughs (on tape based mini-DV camcorders) were initiated within the LAC process. In 2002, an LAC Access database was authored to input hardcopy field data into FS desktops in electronic form. In 2003, Hewlett Packard Pocket PC’s were adapted for use in the field for data collection. In 2004, DVD video cameras were used for the video capture. These cameras allow the video to be directly transferred to FS desktop computers for immediate viewing and archiving.
Also in 2004 our Wilderness Manager (Jim Holmes) and Rob Mason on the Sierra Forest teamed up to combine their work on independently developed LAC systems. The combined system has progressed to the point that now, all field-collected data (on Pocket PC’s) is automatically downloaded into the access database and automatically plotted in ArcGIS.
Opening up the ArcGIS "Campsite Reference Atlas" gives immediate plotted access to all inventoried campsites along with their associated campsite attributes. Hyperlinks from GPS located campsites link to LAC Reports, video walk-throughs, pictures, and any other associated file deemed worthy of inclusion into the ‘Campsite Reference Atlas’.
Also, starting in 1995, our Wilderness manager initiated our ‘”Trailhead Information Booth” program at our most popular trailheads on busy Holiday weekends. A virtual “Front Desk” is set up at busy trailheads with LNT information and campsite impact photos. A Wilderness ranger works at the booth to provide localized information/education about the Trinity Alps Wilderness.
The immediate success of these booths stimulated our Wilderness manager to attempt to codify these educational messages into an electronic form that was accessible to everyone desiring a Wilderness Permit. The first electronic Kiosk went on-line at the Weaverville Ranger District in 1998. It is now an Internet connected series of stand-alone kiosks that update each other through a central database.
While users query the kiosk for watershed specific information (which helps them make destination decisions) we are painlessly imparting watershed specific educational information through word and graphic files, videos, and lastly within the permit process itself. All Wilderness users are issued permits through the kiosk’s permit system. Those filling out permits on a kiosk watch one of two educational videos (backpacker or stock user) within the permit process itself. At the conclusion of the educational video, the kiosk prints out a Wilderness permit, a California fire permit, and a watershed specific legal-sized topographic map. The back of these maps gives us an 8.5 x 1 4-inch opportunity to impart one last watershed specific educational text for Wilderness users to take with them to their destination.
Of particular interest is the first entry page within the permit process itself. This page informs users of how many persons are already camping within all the Trinity Alps’s watersheds, and gives a suggested maximum number of persons we think the watershed can handle. This feature helps to even out usage within our non-limited permit ystem.
The system is now also configured so that anyone (including all Forest System desktops) can apply for and receive a permit through the Internet--complete with an educational slide show. We have no plans at this time however to make this aspect of the permit system available to the general public.
All data is input into a Sequel Server database and is accessed in real time for rescue, law enforcement, and “year-end” type of reporting. At some point in the future, this data can also be trans-coded into the INFRA system for upward reporting. Some form of a Wilderness permit system has been in place in the Trinity Alps Wilderness for over 15 years. Permit compliance is 85% to 90%. There is a group size limit of 10 people or less.
Despite all of our educational efforts, both simple and high tech, in the final analysis, it is our staff of Wilderness patrol volunteers that are our most critical resource in reducing campsite impact. And the reason for this revolves around campfire rings. Due to the low humidity and lack of summer rains we do not encourage Wilderness users to clean out their fire pits. If we encouraged them to do this on a regular basis, the chances of them spreading hot coals into the underbrush would be unacceptable. Because of this fact, only well trained Wilderness rangers should clean out fire pits. And since fire pit multiplication is the main cause of campsite environmental deterioration, Wilderness patrol persons are essential to the long-term environmental health of our campsite destinations (i.e. lakesides and meadows).
Without a significant Wilderness patrol presence even a fully successful educational program would fail. To ensure the continued use of the Fire Pits that we deem appropriate, they must be kept small (non-volcano) and relatively neat. Once a campfire ring reaches approximately three rocks in height, there exists a significant danger that the next party will build another fire ring, and then another one, and another, and so on. This trend toward multi fire rings is primarily responsible for campsite growth and campsite multiplication. Only trained Wilderness rangers can keep this critical aspect of campsite health in focus and under control.
With this in mind, our Wilderness manager, despite continued budget cuts, has managed to keep up an adequate field presence. This has been accomplished by supplementing paid staff with volunteers. Volunteers can now be easily solicited through Internet Career Services (i.e. monstertrac.com jobmonkey.com). In the last five years, volunteers have provided between $40,000 and $60,000 worth of labor per year for a net outlay (in Per Diem) of $4,000 to $6,000 per year.
Why we did it? (Specific tactic)
We created the “Campsite Reference Atlas’” because campsites change so slowly that you don’t notice the incremental impacts. If Wilderness managers want any validity over time, then the creation of an electronic “Campsite Reference Atlas” is essential. This Atlas adds visibility to the original LAC concept. The old adage ‘Out of Sight, Out of Mind’ is certainly true of campsites. Trying to get district rangers and forest supervisors into the field to witness campsite problems simply isn’t often practical, so we must discover ways to effectively bring the field into the office. Making the LAC data digital, and especially the addition of the video, helps to accomplish this goal. Using ArcGIS as a Presentation Format Hub brings this goal into corporate acceptance.
We created the electronic kiosk to let the Wilderness user know what the specific issues were within the watershed he/she was visiting—as well as to impart some general ‘Leave No Trace’ messages. A Wilderness permit system evolved as one of the best ways to accomplish this task.
We developed our volunteer Wilderness patrol program to compliment our educational program and to accept responsibility for activities that we should not expect of the general public.
How well did it work?
Our LAC system has the support of all that see it. The Deputy Director for Recreation for Region 5 wants to expand it to include many aspects of Forest Service business. LAC video shot in 2002 was used as the primary support for a permanent campfire restriction that is going into effect this summer in our two major watersheds. The “Campsite Reference Atlas” is fresh off the press, so a few more years will be necessary to evaluate it’s true effectiveness.
As a result of our education efforts, campsite impacts, human waste, and litter have been reduced significantly. So much so in fact, that this year we are able to initiate a ‘User Trail’ component to our Wilderness patrol program. Our trail crew deals with system trails, and our Wilderness patrol has traditionally been responsible for only campsite and visitor contact. Consequently, user trails have slipped through the cracks and are becoming and increasing problem. This year two of our staff (one paid Trails Professional and one Volunteer) will be dealing strictly with user trail issues.
The Washington Office reviewed our Kiosk Permit system in February 2005 for possible use as the “Proof of Concept” for permit systems that do not charge a fee. It is received very favorably be all Forest Service managers that see it.
Our volunteer program is awesome. Not only is it cost effective, but we also have one of the best-maintained Wildernesses in the nation. This year volunteers in addition to their regular duties are going to: 1) add two more six-minute information/education videos to the kiosk (about a $12,000 value); 2) work with our Fire Department to author a report on fuels build up and the re-vegetation of burnt-over areas within the Wilderness; and 3) work with RCD to perform water quality testing in many of our eastern lakes.
How did you evaluate it?
Our evaluation of the old (1992) LAC monitoring came the hard way. We tried to use it as supportive documentation for a full campfire restriction in our two most popular watersheds with limited success. Our current upgraded inventory procedure has not been evaluated.
We never have truly evaluated our kiosk system. We’ve just finished struggling to get all the complex functions to behave!
The Trailhead Information Booths are essentially evaluated every Holiday. One 4th of July in Canyon Creek, 286 overnight users went up into that dead end watershed. I manned the information booth on Friday and Saturday. I went up into the watershed on Sunday and maintained all 104 campsites until Wednesday. When I got back to the trailhead, I had, literally, one pocket full of garbage. That’s pretty much the way it works out. Cookies are good too… Used them twice on opening weekend of hunting season. I don’t really know how effective they were. For the first two years we did it on opening weekend. Over 100 horses traveled up the trail, but all the wranglers left the booth with a smile…
My evaluation of the volunteers have been mostly monetary. As I stated elsewhere, we get $40,000 to $60,000 worth out of them every year (figured at government wage estimates for volunteers). I’ve had to let two of them go in ten years, and that was because I knew they weren’t doing anything. That’s very easy to discover. The next ranger up the watershed can tell—and always lets me know. As a rule, they work at least as hard as the paid folks, often times much harder.
What is the level of public acceptance?
The general public doesn’t even know of its existence! (The LAC stuff) Rarely do we come in contact with users when performing an inventory, and I do not remember any instances of disapproval from users.
The educational efforts and the volunteer program seem to be met with a range from acceptance to wild enthusiasm.
What did NOT work?
In 1992 the initial campsite inventories were completed using the traditional methods of taking photographs and completing a hard copy inventory forms for each campsite. In 2000 managers were considering campfire restrictions at upper elevations in the Trinity Alp Wilderness. They found they couldn’t use the 1992 data to support the campfire restrictions because the initial inventory didn’t quantify biophysical changes onsite with changes off-site.
What would you do differently next time? What did you do that you wish you had not done?
Perhaps we did not do a thorough enough job of understanding the LAC process back in 1990. If we had, perhaps our old LAC Inventories would have been more applicable when we needed them to support management decisions.
At the very least we should have had the foresight to inventory the campsites with an eye toward “Possible Future Management Actions.” We now have a text box within the form on our data collector (Pocket PC) with that title. Bringing this perspective into the data collection process helps to keep the data collector looking for the kind of information that will be useful in the years ahead.
We should not have focused our photos so much on the center of the campsite, but should have focused the photos more on the edges. It is the edges where most of the critical changes take place. It also would have been nice to have more ‘General Area Perspective’ type of shots, and some way to quantify the surrounding vegetation.
We should have recognized the effectiveness of our combined efforts (educational and volunteer patrol) several years ago and started our ‘User Trail’ component of the Patrol back then. We now have a bit of catch up to do.
Any unexpected effects?
Local managers are working out ways to make the campsite monitoring field collection module more cost effective, user friendly, and compatible with other Forest Service databases.
The use of video right on the Forest Service desktop can powerfully bring field conditions into the office. The video is also useful for clarifying issues with field Patrol Personnel in the office before they go into the field.
Trailhead information booths were initially viewed somewhat as “Big Government in Your Face’” by Wilderness Users. But, with a little bit of psychology and fine-tuning, they are now viewed as an asset by most Wilderness users. They only need to be set up on Friday and Saturday for a Monday Holiday to reach 90% of Wilderness users. Letting them know you will be heading up into the watershed yourself on Sunday helps a lot with compliance…
The entire volunteer experience adds vitality to the overall program. Usually we generate college volunteers with a Natural Resource or Wilderness major. They come with limitless enthusiasm and it is a terrific opportunity to mentor as well as give tomorrow’s Wilderness managers some “hands on” experience.
Tips
Anyone can set up trailhead information booths. It involves minimal equipment and costs. Trained volunteers and seasonal wilderness rangers can operate the information booths on busy weekends.
Anyone can author watershed specific topographic handouts for the General Public. If you aren’t handy with a scanner and Photoshop type of software, you can hire someone for about $100 per watershed to create the topographic part of the handout. It’s the backside that’s really the important part. That’s where you get to address the critical watershed issues for their reading pleasure. And with the topographic maps on the front side, chances are they will actually read the backside before they use the handout for kindling. After the initial maps are created, copies for handout at your Front Desk are as easy as making copies through a double-sided printer.
Use trained volunteers and trained paid staff to conduct Wilderness patrols. There are several web-based career centers where you can advertise and recruit volunteer positions. Volunteers can help augment the existing Wilderness program.
And lastly, keep that Wilderness patrol functioning! After all, the destination is where 90% of the users spend 90% of their time. If a trail segment gets impacted, chances are, it was not properly located in the first place and trails can usually be easily relocated. Destinations (lakeside campsites), on the other hand, cannot be relocated.
Contacts—for further information and resources
Jim Holmes, Wilderness Ranger
Weaverville RD, Shasta-Trinity NF, Region 5
Phone: 530-623-1766
E-mail:
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