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Tools for Research and Management

Effects of Recreation on Rocky Mountain Wildlife
By Mike Figgs

The Montana Chapter of The Wildlife Society has compiled and reviewed over 1,300 scientific studies and produced three documents from this review:

Effects of Recreation on Rocky Mountain Wildlife: A Review for Montana (full report)

Effects of Recreation on Rocky Mountain Wildlife: Summary of the September 1999 Review for Montana (brochure)

Effects of Recreation on Rocky Mountain Wildlife: Online Bibliography (bibliographic database)

The publications are available online in PDF format at www.montanatws.org.  The full report is derived from the extensive bibliography and is broken into chapters including amphibians and reptiles, birds, small mammals, ungulates, carnivores, domestic dogs, vegetation, and several appendices.  The following is from the report introduction:

"This project was not based on an assumption that recreation is inherently detrimental to wildlife...Rather it was undertaken with the recognition that any type of recreation activity or development, when uninformed, underplanned, underdesigned, inappropriately located, or unmanaged can result in substantial, detrimental effects to natural resources...The advent and growing popularity of recreational pursuits that are based on personal challenges and competition, including so-called "extreme" sports, require space, challenging terrain, and, in some cases, scenery.  However, they do not require the presence of wildlife nor that wildlife populations are healthy or that ecosystems are intact and functional.

A societal emphasis on recreation as the primary use of public lands has highlighted the significance of potential effects of recreation development, including cumulative effects.  The fact that outdoor recreation is dispersed across large areas has contributed to a long-standing assumption that recreation activity has little environmental impact compared to extractive uses of natural resources.  However, effects of recreation can be extensive for the very reason that they have been traditionally thought to be diluted, namely, recreationists are dispersed across large areas...Recreation that is not...dependent upon wildlife in any major way cannot be assumed to have been planned, implemented, or conducted in a manner that is sensitive to wildlife values.

There is growing realization that coexistence of wildlife with a growing human population indulging in an expanding array or recreational pursuits on a limited land base is contingent upon planning and management of both the recreational pursuits and wildlife needs at the landscape scale."

The Wildlife Society is an international professional society established in 1937.  The society's membership of more than 9,600 includes research scientists, educators, resource managers, conservation law enforcement officers, and students in more than 60 countries.  The Montana Chapter members who actively contributed to this project include individuals employed by state and federal agencies, education institutions, industry and consultants.