Collaborative visitor use management of the Alpine Lakes Wilderness

2023-2025
Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest
Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest
The Alpine Lakes Collaborative
Washington Trails Association

The purpose of this study was to support the Alpine Lakes Collaborative by assessing visitor use and management options in the Alpine Lakes Wilderness. The Collaborative lacked an objective method for evaluating and selecting among potential management actions aimed at mitigating trail deterioration, congestion of trailheads, the increasing density of backcountry campsites, and other indicators that could represent the desired future condition of the Wilderness. This study filled these gaps by examining how various management interventions and infrastructure improvements could affect visitor use through predictive models that link management actions to measurable outcomes. More specifically, the objectives of this project were to develop and apply mathematical models for relating social and/or ecological indicators to potential management actions and other conditions of the Wilderness and inform future management recommendations put forward by the Collaborative managers of the Wilderness.