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Abstract |
Joshua Tree National Park (JTNP) has the highest concentration of rock climbing routes in the world and an estimated 250,000 people visit JTNP each year to rock climb. Although less than 5% of rock climbers visit the designated wilderness areas, a steady increase in the number of climbers has focused attention on managing wilderness climbing resources to retain wilderness character. The main controversy centers on rock climber’s placing fixed anchors, or bolts, while establishing new climbing routes. Park staff believes that continued unregulated placement of bolts in JTNP’s wilderness leads to greater impacts and is unsustainable. This paper describes a method for understanding wilderness climbing in order to develop fair and effective wilderness recreation policy. Behavior and spatial modeling is based on two years of data that include a comprehensive climbing resource inventory, wilderness visitor flow data, and psychological test results. Static and dynamic models consider factors such as travel networks, climbing route difficulty and quality, sensitive resources, landscape complexity, and climber preferences. A comprehensive understanding of recreation flow allows fixed anchor regulations and wilderness management to address site-specific issues. |
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