THE

ECOLOGICAL IMPACT OF BACKCOUNTRY RECREATION

IN

KEJIMKUJIK NATIONAL PARK

FINAL REPORT

by

R.J. Payne, Ph.D.

Professor

School of Outdoor Recreation, Parks & Tourism

Lakehead University

Thunder Bay, Ontario

P7B 5E1

rjpayne@flash.lakeheadu.ca

August, 2001

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Acknowledgements	ii

List of Figures	iii

List of Tables	iv

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY	v

A.	Introduction	1

B.	Literature Review	3

C.	Methodology	13

D.	The Ecological Impact of Backcountry Recreation in Kejimkujik

National Park	15

E.	Discussion and Recommendations	27

F.	References	33

Acknowledgements

Special thanks go to Steve Kingston, research associate on the human ecology project, for sampling design, data collection and analysis.

Angus Carr, Geospatial Inc., Thunder Bay, also deserves special thanks for his work in developing the topological network describing backcountry use.

Thanks also to Nancy Parish who assisted Steve with data collection during the 1999-2000 field season.

List of Figures

Figure 1:	The Logistic S-Curve	4

Figure 2:	Number of Visitors and Area of Obvious Impact on Campsites	16

Figure 3:	Number of Parties and Area of Obvious Impact on Campsites	17

Figure 4:	Maximum Party Size and Area of Obvious Impact on Campsites	17

Figure 5:	Number of Visitors and Area of Obvious Impact on Trail Segments	18

Figure 6:	Number of Visitors and Area of Obvious Impact on Trail Segments	19

Without TP 8 & 10

Figure 7:	Number of Parties and Area of Obvious Impact on Trail Segments	20

Without TP 8 & 10

Figure 8:	Maximum Party Size and Area of Obvious Impact on Trail Segments	20

Without TP 8 & 10

Figure 9:	Plot Sampling Design	30

Figure 10:	Station Sampling Design	31

Figure 11:	Arm Sampling Design	32

List of Tables

Table 1: Univariate Tests, Depth of Material on the Soil with all plots (MATDEP)

and with Campsites and Trail Segments (MATDEP*IMPACT)	21

Table 2: Repeated Measures Analysis, Depth of Material on the Soil

(MATDEP)	22

Table 3: Univariate Tests, Basal Area of Trees Within all Plots (TREES)and

with Campsite and Trail Segment Plots (TREES*IMPACT)	23

Table 4: Univariate Analysis, Diversity (DIVERSIT) with all plots and with

Campsite and Trail Segment Plots (DIVERSIT*IMPACT)	23

Table 5: Repeated Measures Analysis, Diversity	24

Table 6: Univariate Analysis, Plant Density with all Plots (DENSITY)

and with Campsite and Trail Segment Plots (DENSITY*IMPACT)	25

Table 7: Repeated Measures Analysis, Plant Density	25

Table 8: Univariate Analysis, Species Richness with all plots (SP RICH)

and with Campsite and Trail Segment Plots (SP RICH*IMPACT)	26

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

This report constitutes the results of a research project to examine the ecological impacts of backcountry recreation in Kejimkujik National Park. Measuring ecological impact focused on vegetation and obvious physical effects such as "disturbed area" at campsites and along trail segments. Variability in human use was measured by means of the national park's backcountry permitting system, using the 1995 season.

During the first field season (1998), the research team established a vegetation sampling protocol that allowed subsequent analysis by "repeated measures" procedures. Twenty plots, 10 adjacent to campsites and 10 along trail segments, were placed in Kejimkujik's backcountry areas using this sampling protocol.

In the second field season (1999), measurements of vegetation on the 20 plots established in Year 1, were completed, data were stored in computer files and preliminary analysis was begun.

More detailed analyses, including the development of a topology of visitation nodes and connecting arcs and the computation of indices of species richness and diversity, set the stage for the repeated measures analysis. The final level of analysis sounght to answer two research questions:

•	what are the relationships between backcountry travel and camping and (terrestrial) ecological impacts in Kejimkujik National Park?, and,

•	has the backcountry recreation management strategy developed by the national park staff been successful?

The repeated measures analysis revealed that human use variables (number of visitors, number of parties and maximum party size) are correlated fairly strongly with the area of obvious impact on campsites and trail segments. The number of visitors seems a particularly robust causal factor in determining the area of obvious impact, especially on campsites, but also along trail segments.

The effects of distance from campsites and trail segments were noticeable on several of the ecological variables. The variables, depth of material on the soil, plant diversity and plant density, were statistically different immediately adjacent to campsites than farther away in the plots. These distance effects did not arise along trail segments.

Adding human use variables, especially the number of visitors to campsites or using trail segments, did not yield significant statistical results, suggesting that the intensity of visitor use does not affect plant communities adjacent to the campsites and trail segments.

The report concludes that the backcountry recreation management strategy has been generally successful in focusing vegetation impacts on campsites and trails and in protecting ecological integrity in Kejimkujik National Park.

A.	Introduction

This project addresses a perennial issue in national parks - maintaining ecological integrity and biodiversity while encouraging visitor use. That this issue continues to bedevil park managers in Canadian national parks is readily apparent. Consider, for example, the most recent State of the Parks Report (Parks Canada, 1995a), in which a cause and effect link is made between facilities for visitors and threats to ecological integrity. More recently, the Banff-Bow Valley Task Force (1996) detailed in explicit fashion the relationships between heavy visitor use and reductions in biodiversity in the Bow Valley corridor of Banff National Park. Another source of critical comment is the federal Auditor-General who, in his 1996 annual report, subjected Parks Canada's operations to scrutiny (Office of the Auditor-General, 1996). Chief among the Auditor-General's concerns was the inability of Parks Canada to manage biodiversity in national parks in a satisfactory way. More recently, a subsequent State of the Parks report (Parks Canada, 1997) ranked national parks on how well each maintained ecological integrity within its boundaries; Kejimkujik National Park rated 3, indicative of a moderate decline in ecological integrity. The Report of the Panel on Ecological Integrity in Canada's National Parks (Parks Canada, 2000) represents the most recent assessment of how well the agency meets its mandate of maintaining ecological integrity. The EI Panel was critical of Parks Canada's efforts in three ways important to this report, maintaining that:

Parks Canada lacked a "culture of conservation";

Parks Canada lacked scientific capacity; and,

Parks Canada's management of human use was weak.

These criticisms cannot be allowed to overshadow progress made by Parks Canada in managing to maintain ecological integrity. Woodley (1991) and Welch (1995) both illustrate the advances made in defining ecological integrity in operational terms and the efforts to develop baseline data to anchor monitoring. In Kejimkujik National Park, ecological database development is well-
advanced (Drysdale, 1995); furthermore, the recent Park Management Plan for Kejimkujik National Park (1995b) commits park managers to protecting biodiversity. These commitments are given more specific direction in the park's draft (1998) Ecosystem Conservation Plan where coming to grips with "human ecology" is accorded high priority status under the terrestrial ecological integrity category.

However, information about park visitors does not match that which exists for species or ecosystems in national parks (Payne, 1997), a fact which represents a serious impediment to ecosystem management. The combination of natural science and social science information has become a repeated, although problematic, requirement in ecosystem management (U.S. Forest Service, 1994). One purpose of this project was to bring attention to the ecological implications of visitor use of park environments. Specifically, this research project seeks to provide an answer to the following question of carrying capacity:

What are the relationships between backcountry travel and camping and (terrestrial) ecological impacts in Kejimkujik National Park?