Importance/Issues

Public visitation is a primary purpose of the national parks. In some cases, however, visitation may result in unacceptable impacts to park natural resources, either through intensive use of authorized facilities or through illegal or unauthorized uses, such as off-trail travel, use of off-road vehicles, and illegal smuggling and migration associated with the international border.

Parks Monitored

This will be determined by the management staff of each individual park. SODN will not actively monitor visitor use impacts; it was deemed more appropriate for individual parks to monitor impacts due to their mandate to restore and maintain park trails.

Parks where this monitoring would be appropriate include Chiricahua NM, Coronado NMem, Fort Bowie NHS, Organ Pipe Cactus NM, and Saguaro NP.

Monitoring Objectives

Detect the status of and determine 5-year trends in trail width and trail width x depth ratio of authorized and unauthorized trails in SODN parks.

Detect the status of and determine 5-year trends in soil compaction, soil stability, soil cover, and vegetation cover within 2 meters of the trail edges of authorized and unauthorized trails in SODN parks.

Identify the status of and detect trends in the occurrence and frequency of exotic plants along selected trail segments in SODN parks.

Potential Measures

Change in trail width, width x depth ratio, compaction indices (distance x blows), soil bulk density, % cover of mineral soil by lifeform and object class, soil aggregate stability class (0-5), % cover of biological soil crusts by lifeform and color, presence/absence and frequency of exotic plant species.

Management Applications

The SODN will develop this protocol for implementation by parks. The design will be flexible enough to allow parks to address a variety of different management needs, such as trail maintenance, erosion potential, and impacts caused by illegal travel.

Protocol Development Status

This protocol is in development, with pilot studies in 2006 and 2008. We anticipate completion of this protocol in 2008. A visitor use impact monitoring guide will be produced in lieu of a monitoring protocol.

Status & Trends

This protocol is currently under development and has not yet been implemented; no status or trend information is available.

Project Leads

Andy Hubbard, Network Program Manager
Kristen Beaupre, Assistant Data Manager