The limits of acceptable change process: modifications and clarifications

Limits of Acceptable Change (LAC) was originally formulated to deal with the issue of recreation carrying capacity in wilderness. Enthusiasm for the process has led to questions about its applicability to a broad range of natural resource issues—both within and outside of protected areas. This paper uses a generic version of the LAC process to identify situations where LAC can usefully be applied and situations where it cannot. LAC’s primary usefulness is in situations where management goals are in conflict, where it is possible to compromise all goals somewhat, and where planners are willing to establish a hierarchy among goals. In addition, it is necessary to write standards for the most important (constraining) goals—standards that are measurable, attainable, and useful for judging the acceptability of future conditions.