MODELING AREAL MEASURES OF CAMPSITE IMPACTS ON THE APPALACHIAN NATIONAL SCENIC TRAIL TO ENHANCE ECOLOGICAL SUSTAINABILITY

Johanna Arredondo, PhD Student

Virginia Tech

THE FAILURES OF UNCONFINED

CAMPING 𝐴𝑔𝑔𝑟𝑒𝑔𝑎𝑡𝑒 𝐼𝑚𝑝𝑎𝑐𝑡 =

𝑖=1

𝑁

𝑐𝑎𝑚𝑝𝑠𝑖𝑡𝑒 𝑠𝑖𝑧𝑒𝑖

**An increase in site size OR the number of sites increase

aggregate impact

◦ Site expansion creates excessively large campsites,

◦ Site proliferation creates excessive #’s of unnecessary sites,

◦ Crowding/conflict occurs due to high campsite densities.

Sustainability is inclusive of RESOURCE, SOCIAL, AND MANAGERIAL

dimensions

Definition: A “sustainable” campsite can: accommodate the

intended type and amount of use over time without unacceptable

levels of expansion, degradation, maintenance, and social crowding

or conflict.

ECOLOGICAL/PHYSICAL SUSTAINABILITY

Once visitors are on the campsite, what qualities of the campsite will help limit resource impacts?

• Generally, a primary resource protection objective is to minimize the “aggregate” area of camping impact by minimizing campsite numbers and sizes.

• Ability of the campsite to contain visitor use and prevent campsite expansion or proliferation

• Ability of the campsite to withstand the impacts of permitted users

• Challenged alignments can be mitigated with various techniques: borders, facilities, permitting

• Level of impact during development stage appropriate for sensitivity of area

• Level of long term impact of campsite commensurate with landscape

Individual

Sites

Shelter

Sites

Group

Sites

McCargoe Cove Campground

Isle Royale National Park

The Importance of Topography!

(Marion and Farrell,

2002)

LIGHT DETECTION AND RANGING (LIDAR)

STUDY AREA

FIELD COLLECTED DATA

Assessment of inventory

indicators:Site expansion potential

Tree canopy cover

Use type

Use level

Offsite Rugosity

Offsite Woody Vegetation Density

Assessment of campsite

impact indicator:Total site area

Exposed soil

Vegetation ground cover on-and off-site

42 study

segments with

LiDAR data

37 downloaded

as DEMs

5 downloaded

as classified

point clouds and

interpolated to

DEMs

SLOPE

STANDARD DEVIATION OF ELEVATION

TOPOGRAPHIC POSITION INDEX

ZONAL STATISTICS TO BUFFER

Aspect

Slope

Soils

Slope

Curvature

Terrain Ruggedness Index

TPI (Landscape Scale)

TPI (Mid Scale)

TPI (Micro Scale)

Buffer

LASSO REGRESSION

FOR VARIABLE SELECTIONOnsite

Aspect

NLCD

Forest Cover Type

Landform

Level 4 Ecoregion

Canopy Cover

State

• Surrounding

Slope

TPI

TRI

StDev Slope

StDev Elev

• Distances

Water

Shelter

Vista

Toilet

Parking

AT

Other Site

• Other

Use Level

Use Type

Rugosity

Density of Woody Veg

Picnic Table

Stove Rock

OLS with chosen variables

To simplify further: removed

variables with p>0.05 in

succession from largest to smallest

REGRESSION MODELING RESULTS

Significant variables

Variables

Regression Models

Categories Site Size (m2)Area of Vegetation

Loss (m2)

Estimate p-value Estimate p-value

Campsite Type

Shelter 65.5 <.0001* 34.0 <.0003*

Campsite -20.9 0.0495* -5.5 0.4172

Side-hill -42.7 0.0073* -20.3 0.0327*

Road Site -2.0 0.9284 -8.3 0.5520

Offsite Terrain

>15% Slope (%)-0.7 <.0001* -0.3 0.0004*

Tree Cover (%) 0.4 0.0005*

Dist to Nearest

Site (m)-0.1 0.0024* -0.04 0.0029*

Rugosity

High -28.8 0.0015* -8.5 0.0986

Medium 5.4 0.4662 -3.1 0.4743

Low 23.4 0.0002* 11.7 0.0021*

Intercept 269.22 31.01

R-square 0.34 0.28

SIGNIFICANT FINDINGS: SUSTAINABLE CAMPSITES ARE

...CONSTRAINED BY TOPOGRAPHY

Campsites located in sloping terrain resist expansion and

effectively concentrate use to limit campsite size.

Most effective if a campsite is mostly surrounded by sloping

terrain

SIGNIFICANT FINDINGS: ROCK AND ROUGHNESS

A topographically rough landscape deters campers and

concentrates use

GIS measurements were not significant –possibly rockiness/terrain roughness on too fine a scale to be picked up by LiDAR or

interpolation methods

IMPLICATIONS

Identify susceptible camping areas or sustainable campsites

Side-hill Campsite after 3 years of use

Implications: Design campsites to limit

growth

Implications

Build or relocate trails to avoid unsustainable formation of campsites

Regression Modeling Results

Significant variables that influence area of impact and

vegetation loss:

• Sloping Topography – sloping offsite terrain (>15%)

significantly deters campsite expansion

• Side-hill Campsites – significantly smaller than campsites or

shelter sites

• Rugosity – offsite rockiness discourages expansion

• Grasses –Grasses/sedges on sunny sites constrain campsite

expansion and increase vegetation cover

VISITOR CAMPSITE PREFERENCES

Identifying an ecologically sustainable campsite does little good

if visitors don’t find the attributes they are seeking.

WHAT CONTRIBUTES TO A SOCIALLY SUSTAINABLE CAMPSITE?

Focusing only on physical sustainability will yield durable textbook campsites,

but may not produce the campsites users desire which can lead to other

problems.