Type: journal article

Article abstract: Meeting public demand for wildlife recreation opportunities while avoiding undesirable impacts on wildlife and its habitat is a constant challenge for wildlife managers. The situation is complicated because recreational uses of wildlands may have multiple impacts. A recent survey of wildlife refuge managers and review of literature regarding impacts of consumptive and nonconsumptive recreationists on wildlife (Weeden 1976; Wilkes 1977; Kirkpatrick 1978; Ittner et al. 1979; Boyle and Sampson 1983, 1985; Lee et al. 1984) indicate that a dichotomous classification of recreationists as consumptive or nonconsumptive does not address the types of impacts resulting from various uses of wildlife and implies that 1 class of activities has impacts on the resource and the other does not. Furthermore, this activity-based classification does not sufficiently aid managers' decisions about acceptable recreational uses of wildlands. Consequently, we developed a classification of impacts that recreational activities can have on wildlife that we believe provides a useful alternative framework for making decisions regarding permissibility of various recreational uses of wildlands. We have classified the negative impacts to wildlife that result from recreational activities on wildlands into 6 categories (Table 1). The impacts are generic and 1 type does not necessarily exclude another. For instance, a birdwatcher hiking through prime nesting habitat of the piping plover (Charadrius melodus) may cause stress to the bird, reducing use of preferred habitat, which ultimately results in lowered productivity. As another example, the obvious impact of hunting is direct mortality, but the activity might also result in reduced use of the hunted area by wildlife, an indirect impact. Alternatively, different recreational activities may produce the same impact. At issue is not whether the intended outcome of an activity is considered to be consumptive or nonconsumptive of wildlife, or even that wildlife is considered the focus of the activity, but whether the impact on wildlife is acceptable.