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Researchers are studying how to minimize human impact on public lands
Recreation researchers are studying how to minimize human impact on public lands while maximizing accessibility.
Through survey studies, structured interviews, and data from remote sensing technology like drones, a growing body of research is analyzing policy impacts on both ecosystems and visitors, digging into the effectiveness of less-restrictive rules, and revealing how to enact restrictions in the fairest way possible. Take the South Colony Basin, where to shrink visitation’s effects in 2007, the U.S. Forest Service decided to move the trailhead 2.5 miles down, restrict backcountry camping locations, and ban campfires in certain areas — all examples of direct land management strategies that use compulsory rules to change people’s interactions with the wild. Even in the face of partisan cuts to public-land agencies, and the quashing of research on climate change and inclusion — both of which are central to land management — he and his colleagues are gathering data to give outdoor enthusiasts the best experience possible, whether they’re standing next to a grill at a paved campground or atop the Crestone Needle.
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