Wilderness Recreation Trends and Impacts: A Case Study of the Sawtooth Wilderness

As outdoor recreation on public lands continues to increase, land managers are tasked with managing the inevitable detrimental impacts.Wilderness managers must abide by federal legislation requiring them to balance the preservation of wilderness character with the unique recreation opportunity in wilderness for an unconfined experience.To accomplish this, managers need quantitative longitudinal trend data specific to the wilderness(es) they are responsible for.To facilitate this need, this study utilized the unique and robust longitudinal data set, ranging from 1965 to 2015, archived by the Sawtooth Wilderness.Fifty years of visitation data, campsite impact data, and management actions were visualized to reveal solitary trends, and then coupled to reveal relationships.The results from this longitudinal quantitative data exposed unexpected trends in visitation rates, visit characteristics not previously recognized, and successful management actions.By coupling the quantitative data, surprising patterns in detrimental impacts were also exposed, especially at unanticipated destinations throughout the Sawtooth Wilderness.This work will support Sawtooth Wilderness managers in their precipitous goals of endorsing wilderness recreation while simultaneously protecting the wilderness' natural conditions.Advice for management actions and educational messaging may be drawn from these results and recommendations.Future research from wilderness character monitoring in the Sawtooth Wilderness may continue to benefit management direction as it reveals trends in visitors, and detrimental behaviors previously undetected.iii Acknowledgments I would like to recognize the invaluable opportunity and support Dr. Elizabeth Metcalf provided me to pursue a graduate degree at the University of Montana.Your positive energy and insightful challenges introduced me to not only new ideas but new ways of thinking.Thank you.I am also grateful for my thesis committee, Dr. Jennifer Thomsen and Dr. Justin Angle, for their creative feedback and continuous supporteven through a pandemic!I would also like to thank the professors and staff at the University of Montana for the tireless investment in their students, especially Kari Gunderson and her contagious passion for wilderness.This work would not have been possible without the support of the Sawtooth National Recreation Area and their excitement to share over fifty years of historical records and data with me.Their encouragement and enthusiasm for this work are mutual, and I am thankful to have spent time there with so many incredibly public servants, volunteers, and stewards.A special thank you to Liese Dean, Katy Nelson, and Jack Ader for your