Visitor Preferences for Managing Wilderness Recreation after Wildfire

al. 2001, Loomis et al. 2001, Hesseln et al. 2003). Postfire recreation use can differ by activity and location and depends on initial forest conditions, fire characteristics, and timing of fires (e.g., Kline 2004). In wilderness areas postfire recreation likely fluctuates over time in response to changing forest conditions. Immediately after fire, recreation use may decline substantially in response to access restrictions and damage to infrastructure such as roads, trails, and parking lots. Wilderness managers may expect lower visitation for several years because characteristics that once attracted visitors might be significantly altered. Many visitors, for instance, may be deterred by the burned landscape and choose to recreate elsewhere. Other visitors, however, may be attracted to burned areas to witness both the initial destruction and the natural landscape processes that occur after fire (Englin et al. 2001, Loomis et al. 2001). Some of these visitors may even return periodically to investigate the extent of postfire recovery over time. As burned landscapes recover, visitation may continue to decline as any novelty in the burn fades and recovering undergrowth and dead trees provide little or no shade. Over time and as larger trees return managers might expect visitation to return to prefire levels. Understanding changes in visitation is important because recreation impacts can compound wildfire effects. Biophysical impacts, such as trampling and erosion, may cause additional disturbance of soil and vegetation. Social impacts, such as visitor displacement, may increase visitation elsewhere and place greater pressure on recreation resources that may be unaffected by fire but already overburdened with excessive use. Monitoring actual visitation trends after wildfire and understanding who visitors are and how they perceive and respond to postfire recreation management options can help managers anticipate and plan for implications of potential changes, develop options that visitors are likely to accept, and meet broader public objectives regarding wilderness management and resource protection (Kneeshaw et al. 2004b; Winter et al. 2004). Visitors can be heterogeneous in their perceptions of recreation and its management, and managers should accommodate and incorporate this diversity of beliefs and expectations in forest planning and management (e.g., Shindler and Shelby 1993, Vaske et al. 1996, and Harshaw et al. 2006). Managers also need to understand situational factors that contribute to a particular management option being viewed favorably or unfavorably by diverse subgroups of visitors (Kneeshaw et al. 2004a, 2004b). We examined recreation visitation in Oregon’s Mount Jefferson Wilderness after the 2003 B&B Fires. Our objectives were to (1) identify any initial changes in visitation after these fires, (2) measure visitors’ preferences for postfire recreation management options, and (3) examine the extent to which management preferences are related to visitors’ recreation experiences and socioeconomic and demographic characteristics. We identified changes in visitation by examining data from trailhead visitor permits. We measured visitors’ preferences for postfire recreation management options using a survey of visitors exiting major trailheads of this wilderness area. We examined the extent to which management preferences are related to visitors’ recreation experiences and socioeconomic and demographic characteristics by conducting factor and cluster analyses on preference ratings and testing for statistically significant differences in visitors’ experiences and characteristics across visitor clusters.