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Wilderness
Permit Systems
and the Forest Service’s Infra Database
Many wilderness areas operated by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, require visitors to fill out permits or register before entering. This information allows Forest Service personnel to track the usage of the different wilderness areas and to learn about use levels and patterns. The Visitor Use Permit System (VUPS), one of Infra’s many management tools (figure 2), helps track wilderness usage. VUPS has been in place for 3 years and can be modified for permit systems that range from simple voluntary registration to complex quota systems involving reservations and fees. As wilderness areas become more popular, a computerized permit tracking system allows greater accuracy and efficiency. An example of Infra’s use in a computerized wilderness permit system can be found at the Inyo National Forest in California.
Figure 2—The Visitor Use Reservation and Permit template.
Users can enter, search, update, and delete information.
Seven wilderness areas covering about 1.5 million acres are within the Inyo National Forest. The Inyo has 64 trail heads and receives about 5 million visitors annually. Some of these trails have quotas for public and commercial use. The Inyo National Forest has found the VUPS to be a helpful management tool for their permit system. Infra allows Forest Service personnel to track quotas (figure 3), issue reservations and permits, and calculate fees. Infra also is able to incorporate wilderness-specific regulations into the permit system.
Figure 3—The Visitor Use Quotas form allows users to
keep track of the number of permits that have been issued.
Because no two wilderness permit systems are exactly alike, the power of VUPS lies in its ability to be highly customized. Permit system managers can log into the system at the start of the season to define numerous opening parameters. During the permit season, the system is optimized to run efficiently while processing reservations and permits.
VUPS users on the Inyo National Forest have found the application easy to learn and use. As with most computer applications, the more often a person uses Infra, the easier it becomes. Generating custom user reports requires some knowledge of Microsoft Excel or Access.
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| USDA Forest Service, Technology and Development Last Modified: 10/15/2016 23:43:18 |
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