Living on the edge: a process for redesigning campgrounds in grizzly bear habitat

The North Fork of the Shoshone Highway Corridor contains 52% of the develop ed recreation sites within the Shoshone National Forest. The highway is a p opular access route for visitors traveling from Cody, WY to Yellowstone Nat ional Park. This river corridor is also an important habitat for a growing population of grizzly bears. The Shoshone National Forest is currently prop osing a major reconstruction of recreation facilities along the highway cor ridor. This has presented the Forest with an excellent opportunity to recre ate facilities that encourage more appropriate human behavior in grizzly ha bitat. This concept for campground design is a composite of many design str ategies currently used internationally in bear habitat designs and informat ion derived from current research in bear/human conflict, grizzly bear beha vior and bear habitat use and habitat assessment. The application of this c oncept to recreational facilities in the North Fork Corridor is the product of an interagency design team of landscape architects and biologists from the US Forest Service, Wyoming Game and Fish Department, US Fish and Wildli fe Service, and the National Park Service in the Greater Yellowstone Area. The design process involves identifying local grizzly bear use patterns and zoning campground components to accommodate these patterns. The most vulne rable facilities (tent pads), are located furthest from bear travel corrido rs and food preparation areas. Buffer zones, leave strips, trails and barri ers are used to help direct bear travel around the campground. Food storage facilities, garbage facilities, cooking sites, and other attractants are c onsolidated. Human access into bear travel zones is structurally controlled . A major focus of the design is to emphasize the presence of the bear thro ugh the actual layout of campground facilities and to capitalize on the uni que experience of camping in the grizzly bear's domain. (C) 1998 Elsevier S cience B.V. All rights reserved.