Assessment and Monitoring of Recreation Impacts and Resource Conditions on Mountain Summits: Examples From the Northern Forest, USA

Christopher A Monz,Jeremy Wimpey,Jeffrey L Marion,Christopher Carr,Robert E Manning,Kelly A Goonan

doi:10.1659/mrd-journal-d-09-00078.1

Abstract

Mountain summits present a unique challenge to manage sustainably: they are ecologically important and, in many circumstances, under high demand for recreation and tourism activities. This article presents recent advances in the assessment of resource conditions and visitor disturbance in mountain summit environments, by drawing on examples from a multiyear, interdisciplinary study of summits in the northeastern United States. Primary impact issues as a consequence of visitor use, such as informal trail formation, vegetation disturbance, and soil loss, were addressed via the adaption of protocols from recreation ecology studies to summit environments. In addition, new methodologies were developed that provide measurement sensitivity to change previously unavailable through standard recreation monitoring protocols. Although currently limited in application to the northeastern US summit environments, the methods presented show promise for widespread application wherever summits are in demand for visitor activities.

Highlights

Mountain tourism and recreation has often been seen as a vital and desirable way to sustain mountain communities and provide incentives for protecting montane resources, including sensitive flora and fauna
Recent work suggests that there has been a rise in the popularity of mountain recreation and tourism and, as such, an increase in the potential for associated ecological impacts to mountain ecosystems (Godde et al 2000; Nepal and Chipeniuk 2005; Geneletti and Dawa 2009)
Visitation and resource condition trend data for mountain ecosystems worldwide are rare, both anecdotal information and related trend data are suggestive of increased demand and ecological impact in mountain regions

Summary

Introduction

Mountain tourism and recreation has often been seen as a vital and desirable way to sustain mountain communities and provide incentives for protecting montane resources, including sensitive flora and fauna. Visitation and resource condition trend data for mountain ecosystems worldwide are rare, both anecdotal information and related trend data are suggestive of increased demand and ecological impact in mountain regions. Similar trends of increasing demand for recreation and tourism opportunities have been reported in mountain areas worldwide, including the mountain regions of Australia, New Zealand, and Nepal (Booth and Cullen 2001; Nepal 2003; Pickering and Buckley 2003). Tourism in mountain areas often entails outdoor recreational activities, such as hiking, backpacking, climbing, skiing, and mountaineering. This growing visitation to fragile mountain parks and summits is of importance to managers concerned with sustainable management of visitor use

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