The Forest would like to share findings from the first step of the Recreation Commercial Services Analysis, the Needs Assessment, which was completed in early November. Public involvement included two open houses and generated over 15,000 form letters and approximately 20 unique responses. The Needs Assessment provides a framework to determine where public and agency need exists for current and additional commercial services.
The evaluative criteria ranking in the Needs Assessment showed four activities in the general forest area (outside of wilderness) were there was a higher need for commercial services: Dog sledding, Winter camping, Ice fishing, and Rock climbing.
The majority of activities showed a moderate or lower need for commercial services to supply opportunities for visitor participation. This indicates that in some areas there is low demand, access is easy, and visitors are capable of pursuing activities on their own.
- There were a number of activities for which there is a moderate need for recreational commercial services including: Backcountry skiing/boarding, Backpacking, Big game hunting, Biking (mountain), Biking (road), Camping (canoe-based), Camping (motor boat), Canoeing/kayaking, Education, Hiking, Horseback riding (day and overnight), Jeep/OHV/motorcycle, Photography (includes night sky tours), Rock climbing, Towboats, and Yurts.
In Wilderness, there were three activities that showed a higher need for commercial services: Backpacking, Winter camping, and Dog sledding.
- There were several activities that showed a moderate need, Camping (canoe-based), Camping (motorboat based), Canoeing/kayaking (day use), Cross-country skiing/snowshoeing, Education, Fishing (day and overnight), Hunting, Ice fishing, Photography, including night sky tours, and Towboats.
What these activities have in common includes increased time with participants for discussion, interpretation, and development of wilderness-based primitive skills and ethics—all of which can be beneficial to developing knowledge and appreciation of wilderness. Additionally, dispersing certain types of uses (for example, those that result in higher encounters and/or cause resource-based impacts) from wilderness to locations outside of the wilderness may be beneficial for both physical and social natural resources.
In general, forest trends that were common among many respondents included the following:
- More people are participating in shorter trips and using base camps than in the past; it is often difficult to find campsites closer to the entry points and within 1-2 days of entry points due to this.
- Though most respondents focused on the wilderness area, several thought that there were additional opportunities outside of the wilderness, particularly biking. Others said that their business needed the wilderness opportunities to operate.
- Many respondents advocated for changes in quotas for various entry points, saying that this would help distribute use.
- Respondents were equally split on resource and social concerns, with some stating that they did not have any concerns, while others mentioned negative effects in high use areas of the wilderness.
- The Moose Chain in particular was often mentioned for its high level of motorized and non-motorized use. Crowding was reported in this area and at other entry points.
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