Visitor Preferences for Managing Wilderness Recreation after Wildfire

Abstract

Abstract The 2003 Bear Butte and Booth (B&B) Fires burned much of the Mount Jefferson Wilderness in the Deschutes and Willamette National Forests, Oregon. A question for managers is how best to manage recreation in fire-affected areas in ways that minimize adverse impacts on visitor experiences and the recovering landscape. To help address this question, we used onsite surveys (n = 221) asking visitors in the Mount Jefferson Wilderness about their past use and postfire changes in use and their preferences for managing recreation after fires. Results indicated that recreation use declined after the fires, but declines were less than those after recent policy and management decisions such as the Recreation Fee Demonstration Program. Visitor preferences for managing postfire recreation were mixed. Some visitors supported little or no management, some preferred access and use restrictions coupled with camping regulations, and some preferred either access and use restrictions or camping regulations alone.