Visitor impact on backcountry campsites in the Great Smoky Mountains

Abstract

Over the last decade the Great Smoky Mountains National Park (GSMNP) has experienced a tremendous increase in visitation, especially in backcountry camping. In 1976 there were an estimated 117,500 backcountry visitor nights, with a peak of 16,865 visitor nights in April. The high use season extends from March to October. Visitation tends to be concentrated in certain sections of the park and at specific sites. The Appalachian Trail, which includes about 8 percent of the maintained trail mileage, carried 32 percent of the visitor nights in 1976.

Campsite disturbance is also concentrated in specific sites and sections of the park. Maximum camping disturbance per km of maintained trail was 3,400 m² for the sites on the Appalachian Trail. Shelter sites have more visitation per site and more total disturbance per site than open campsites, but shelters tend to have less intensive disturbance, such as bare soil, because they concentrate trampling impacts. Visitation levels were strongly correlated with disturbances such as bare soil at open campsites. Visitation was significantly correlated to the number of firepits at shelter sites but not to other types of disturbance. Regressions indicate that for each additional visitor night at a site (annual average), one can expect an additional 9 m² of total disturbance and 1 m²of bare soil. The distance of a site from the nearest road was not significantly correlated with damage or visitation. Elevation was correlated to visitation levels, especially in the case of the shelters. More legal sites and large illegal sites are in mesic forest types. Illegal camping accounted for 10 percent of the total camping disturbance.

The data imply that the suggested removal of shelters will require redistribution of visitor use or replacement developments, such as tent platforms, in order to mitigate damage. Zone camping is a possible alternative but presents difficulties because campers may concentrate in certain plant communities and topographic positions.