Overview
The Alpine Lakes Collaborative is a network of individuals who are joining forces to generate creative solutions for visitor management within the Alpine Lakes Wilderness. We are building a future where everyone can appreciate the benefits of this close to home wilderness area, ensuring it can thrive for generations to come.
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Today, the conditions in many areas of the wilderness are out of compliance with standards in the 1981 management plan, and high levels of visitation are resulting in a multitude of challenges, including erosion and vegetation loss along trails and camping areas, wildlife habituation, human waste management concerns, crowding, parking lot congestion, human safety, and high demands on search and rescue, and degradation of wilderness character.
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Process
The collaborative is following the Interagency Visitor Use Management Council’s framework for visitor use management planning to develop management proposals for Forest Service consideration. The collaborative will solicit public involvement throughout the various phases of the visitor use management planning process.
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The Interagency Visitor Use Management Framework is a process that balances visitor use with protection of resources using the following steps:
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Analyzing and describing the existing situation.
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Conceptualizing desired conditions for resources, visitor opportunities, facilities, and services.
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Determining strategies and actions that will help reach those desired conditions.
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Design a monitoring system to ensure the effectiveness of actions.
Visit the recording section to access a recording on the Visitor Use Managment Framework.
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