White River Forest: A National Reserve Since the Late Eighties - Research Paper

Introduction

The White River Forest was established in the late eighties, and it was formerly known as the 'White River Plateau Timber Reserve.' It was the second reserve in the United States and in 1905, the Us Forest Service, which was freshly founded, was given the authority to run the reserve. Before the designation was declared a national reserve, it was inhabited by Indian pastoralists who seasonally followed their herds in search of fresh pastures and water (Kopel, 2017). The forest covers over 2.2 million acres and is home to a variety of animals including the lynx (Chazdon & Brancalion, 2019). Today, the White River National Forest is a world-known recreation center for all outdoor activities enthusiasts. The forest is the most-visited forest in the entire country, specifically for recreational activities with an estimation of over 10 million local and international tourists. People visit this forest for reasons such as hiking, camping, recreational fishing, Skiing among other fun activities. Due to the increased use of this forest, the United States Forest Service has proposed to introduce a fee of $20 for adults and $10 for children below 16 years during the day. The proposal has also included a $35 fee for night activities.

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Save 25%

Research Objectives

The primary objective of introducing access charges into the White River National Reserve is to help cover the cost of service provision by the Forest Service officials. Before the area was established as a national reserve, only Indian pastoralists live there. They were only a small population, and their growth was limited due to their nomadic way of life (Kopel, 2017). Very few tourists visited the forest by then and their impact was not felt. Today, with over 10 million visitors annually, the forest has experienced several problems mostly human-related. Therefore, the forest authorities researched to come up with ways of rehabilitating the forest and reducing human impacts to conserve the environment. The White River National Forest is home to many wildlife species and continued use of the area without practical management approaches may interfere with the animals. Some wild species like the Lynx found in the forest might relocate to Canada if human activities are not controlled in the forest (Tablado & Jenni, 2017). Researchers advocated for the introduction of an access fee to cover the cost of providing services to those who visit the forest.

Issues and Problems Facing the Forest

Overcrowding is major problem parks, forests and restricted areas face and White River Forest is no exception. Being the most visited recreational forest in the United States, the forest is attracting huge crowds surpassing its capacity. With large populations visiting the forest, the forest supervisors have found it challenging to maintain the designation with the funding allocated by the government, which is inadequate. Social amenities such as toilets and water points in the forest are overstretched since new toilets and water taps have not been built with the growing number of visitors (Kern et al., 2017). With few toilets in the forest, visitors have found themselves pooping in the bushes, and a large portion of the forest cannot be accessed since its full of poop and awful stenches.

The limited number of watering points or water taps has resulted in the visitors coming with bottled water into the park. With limited spots designed explicitly for dumping, water bottles and snack containers have become a challenge to the forest officials. Vast portions of the forest are covered in bottles and papers which are non-biodegradable (Kern et al., 2017). These papers and containers are a significant risk to animals living in the forest. The proposed fee is set to supplement the kitty provided by the government in employing more officers to take care of the waste problem. The White River Forest has lost a significant number of birds who have been strangled by these papers and bottles.

Apart from overcrowding, the growing size of visitors has created more problems. After a long period in which the number of visitors remained constant, White River Forest, like other parks and restricted areas, have experience over a 25 percent increase in visitation. Increased visitation of the forest has been termed as both a blessing and a curse. These vast crowds are often witnessed especially in the middle of summer. Parking has become a considerable challenge since the designated parking slots are quickly filled by the ever-growing visitors (Laurance, Campbell, Alamgir & Mahmoud, 2017). People end up parking along roadsides creating unnecessary traffic congestion.

The proposed fee of $20 for adults and $10 for children below 16 years and a night fee of $35 will supplement the funds allocated by the government in various ways, including:

The charges will assist in the payment and remuneration of forest officers hired to clean, patrol and guide tourists.

More toilets and sanitation facilities will be constructed to service the growing population of tourists. The charges will also allow the forest supervisors to hire sanitation contractors to clean reclaim the areas affected by human waste. This will increase the accessible areas since these polluted forest regions are not accessible.

The charges will also provide the Forest Service with enough funds to develop more watering points for both people and animals. Increased watering points will help in reducing the problem of papers and water bottles, which is a massive challenge in the forest. Visitors will not be bringing their water since it will be available.

The proposed changes will also allow forest management to construct and install more litter bins all around the forest. More litter bins will reduce littering as well as conserve the environment.

The charges will also allow the expansion of major roads and parking lots in the forest. More roads will also be built to access the most remote regions of the forest and reduce pressure to some areas.Conclusion

Introducing higher charges for everyone visiting the White River will help cover service costs. More toilets, watering points, and litter bins will be constructed. New access roads will be built, and the existing ones will be expanded. The problem of littering, overcrowding, and traffic jams during peak periods will be addressed.

Implications and Recommendations

Since the forest has become a victim of her success, other recommendations to reduce human impact include;

The Park should encourage more tourists to visit the forest during winter to reduce overcrowding in summer (Vaisanen, Haapala, Lappalainen & Tomppo, 2016). This can be done by increasing summer activities such as skiing.

The park management should also encourage people to visit the lesser-known regions to reduce pressure on the more-known areas. Construction of more roads to access remote areas will allow people to visit these forest areas.

If these recommendations, together with increasing the charges, are keenly applied, human activities such as littering and pollution will be controlled significantly. Animals living in the forest will have safer habitats to live and thrive, and the forest will be self-sufficient.

References

Chazdon, R., & Brancalion, P. (2019). Restoring forests as a means to many ends. Science, 365(6448), 24-25. Retrieved from https://wsf-inc.org/sites/wsf-inc.org/files/trees.pdf

Kopel, D. B. (2017). The Right to Arms in Nineteenth Century Colorado. Denv. L. Rev., 95, 329. Retrieved from http://www.davekopel.com/2A/LawRev/Right-to-arms-in-19th-century-Colorado.pdf

Kern, C. C., Burton, J. I., Raymond, P., D'Amato, A. W., Keeton, W. S., Royo, A. A., ... & Willis, J. L. (2017). Challenges facing gap-based silviculture and possible solutions for mesic northern forests in North America. Forestry: An International Journal of Forest Research, 90(1), 4-17. Retrieved from https://academic.oup.com/forestry/article/90/1/4/2605845

Laurance, W. F., Campbell, M. J., Alamgir, M., & Mahmoud, M. I. (2017). Road expansion and the fate of Africa's tropical forests. Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution, 5, 75. Retrieved from https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fevo.2017.00075

Tablado, Z., & Jenni, L. (2017). Determinants of uncertainty in wildlife responses to human disturbance. Biological Reviews, 92(1), 216-233. Retrieved from https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Zulima_Tablado/publication/282873326_Determinants_of_uncertainty_in_wildlife_responses_to_human_disturbance/links/59f31bc7aca272607e270403/Determinants-of-uncertainty-in-wildlife-responses-to-human-disturbance.pdf

Vaisanen, T., Haapala, A., Lappalainen, R., & Tomppo, L. (2016). Utilization of agricultural and forest industry waste and residues in natural fiber-polymer composites: A review. Waste Management, 54, 62-73. Retrieved from https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Md_Washim_Akram/post/what_are_the_possible_ways_for_utilizing_municipal_waste_in_agriculture/attachment/5b343f784cde265cb64b4c01/AS%3A642313063763968%401530150776374/download/visnen2016.pdf