Approach
Maintain safe access at the beginning and end of the summer recreation season.
Tactics
- Educate the public about risks associated with early- and late-season access.
- Open trails, campgrounds, and facilities earlier in the season.
- Limit access when public safety is a concern.
- Place gates in areas of concerns to close roads for resource protection.
- Establish defined season of use for ATVs and mountain bikes during shoulder season and monitor conditions.
- Adjust recreation opportunities during the shoulder season, and communicate to users (e.g., with a phone application).
- Add language to concessionaire contracts to allow for seasonal flexibility.
- Engineer road and trail systems for wet weather movement (e.g., graveled trail open during shoulder season, roads to access targeted areas).
- Implement adaptive management—alter management as the length of the recreation season changes.
Sensitivity
Strategy
Raymond, C.L.; Peterson, D.L.; Rochefort, R.M., eds. (2014). Climate change vulnerability and adaptation in the North Cascades region. Gen. Tech. Rep. PNW-GTR-892. Portland, OR: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station., Raymond, C.L.; Peterson, D.L.; Rochefort, R.M. (2013). The North Cascadia Adaptation Partnership: a science-management collaboration for responding to climate change. Sustainability. 5: 136–159., Halofsky, J.E.; Warziniack, T.W.; Peterson, D.L.; Ho, J.J. (2017). Understanding and managing the effects of climate change on ecosystem services in the Rocky Mountains. Mountain Research and Development. 37: 340–352. https://doi.org/10.1659/MRD-JOURNAL-D-16-00087.1., Halofsky, J.E.; Peterson, D.L.; Ho, J.J.; Little, N.J.; Joyce, L.A., eds. (2018). Climate change vulnerability and adaptation in the Intermountain Region. Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS-GTR-375. Fort Collins, CO: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station.