Increasing levels of recreational use in wilderness, backcountry, and roadless areas has the potential to impact wildlife species, including those that depend on these protected areas for survival. Wildlife and wilderness managers will be more successful at reducing these impacts if they understand the potential impacts, factors affecting the magnitude of impacts, and available management strategies and implementation methods. In this reading list, we summarize over 230 books, articles, bibliographies, and Internet resources to provide managers with relevant research on backcountry recreation impacts on terrestrial wildlife amid the vast literature on this topic. The first section illustrates the importance of considering backcountry recreation impacts on wildlife, both for wildlife conservation and enhancement of wilderness visitor experiences. The second section reviews important concepts such as the types of impacts, methods for assessing them, and models for understanding these impacts. The third section provides an overview of field studies that documents recreation impacts on specific wildlife species and taxonomic groups. The fourth section contains information on management planning frameworks and specific techniques that may be useful for minimizing impacts of backcountry recreation to wildlife. The final section offers Internet resources and previous bibliographies related to the topic.

The large increase in outdoor recreation activity over the last 50 years has been recognized as a potentially serious threat to North American wildlife populations. Threats to wildlife in wilderness are a concern to backcountry recreationists as well as the American public. The protection of wildlife habitat and endangered species was one of the most highly valued benefits of wilderness according to a telephone survey of approximately 1,900 people in the United States (Cordell and others 1998). Many backcountry recreation users cite the opportunity to view wildlife as an important part of their wilderness experience. Threats to wildlife in wilderness are also a concern for wildlife preservation. Wilderness often provides a refuge for wildlife amid a matrix of more intensively developed lands, and is especially valuable for wide-ranging species that are sensitive to human disturbance and those that depend on special habitats found predominantly in wilderness (Hendee and Mattson 2002). Impacts of recreation on wildlife include increased energetic demands during critical periods of the year, loss of habitat through avoidance of areas of human activity, exposure to predators while avoiding humans, and loss of habitat through changes in vegetation resulting from recreation activities (Knight and Gutzwiller 1995). If widespread, cumulative impacts on individuals of a species may ultimately affect local and regional populations. Changes in species' populations may affect wildlife communities, especially if the impacted species have strong interactions with other species. The management of wilderness recreation impacts on wildlife in designated wilderness is complicated by the potentially conflicting mandates of The Wilderness Act of 1964 [Public Law 88-577]. The Act mandates the preservation of natural conditions in wilderness while requiring managers to provide opportunities for primitive recreation. However, when recreation affects wildlife species, populations, or communities, it can hinder the preservation of natural conditions. To address the dual mandates, appropriate wilderness recreational activities must not only be provided, but must be managed to minimize their impacts on wildlife, and more broadly, to wilderness ecosystems. Wilderness managers can use direct approaches such as restricting visitor numbers, activities, or access in some areas. In backcountry areas outside of designated wilderness, manipulating wildlife and wildlife habitat may be appropriate. Indirect approaches may also be used, such as visitor education and the careful location and design of trails, trailheads, and adjacent roads and campgrounds. We have compiled this annotated list of references to help wildlife, wilderness, and recreation managers better understand backcountry recreation impacts on wildlife and be informed of the variety of management tools available for minimizing impacts. Managing recreation impacts on wildlife is an interdisciplinary issue, with management decisions affecting both wildlife and visitors. We have designed this reading list to cross disciplinary boundaries. The reading list includes literature from the wildlife discipline, such as papers needed to understand impacts on wildlife, as well as literature from the recreation discipline that is needed to understand recreation management techniques. We suggest the expansion of future research to include other animal species that may be important to local ecosystems and/or have restricted ranges that overlap extensively with areas of high recreational use. Finally, previous studies on wildlife responses to primitive recreational activities have focused mainly on hiking. Managers would benefit from additional research on activities such as horseback riding, rock climbing, cross-country skiing, and kayaking in marine coastal areas.

Increasing levels of recreational use in wilderness, backcountry, and roadless areas has the potential to impact wildlife species, including those that depend on these protected areas for survival. Wildlife and wilderness managers will be more successful at reducing these impacts if they understand the potential impacts, factors affecting the magnitude of impacts, and available management strategies and implementation methods. In this reading list, we summarize over 230 books, articles, bibliographies, and Internet resources to provide managers with relevant research on backcountry recreation impacts on terrestrial wildlife amid the vast literature on this topic. The first section illustrates the importance of considering backcountry recreation impacts on wildlife, both for wildlife conservation and enhancement of wilderness visitor experiences. The second section reviews important concepts such as the types of impacts, methods for assessing them, and models for understanding these impacts. The third section provides an overview of field studies that documents recreation impacts on specific wildlife species and taxonomic groups. The fourth section contains information on management planning frameworks and specific techniques that may be useful for minimizing impacts of backcountry recreation to wildlife. The final section offers Internet resources and previous bibliographies related to the topic.

WILDLAND RECREATION THE AUTHORITATIVE GUIDE TO UNDERSTANDING AND MANAGING THE ECOLOGICAL IMPACTS OF RECREATIONAL ACTIVITIES IN WILDLANDS This third edition provides an updated and thorough examination of the ecological impacts of recreational use on wildlands and the best management practices to employ in places where recreation and preservation of natural conditions are important – and often conflicting – objectives. Covering the latest research, this edition provides detailed information about the environmental changes that result from recreational use. It describes spatial patterns of impact and trends over time, and then explores the factors that determine the magnitude of impact, including the amount of use, the type and behavior of use, and the environmental durability. Numerous examples, drawn from parks and recreation areas around the world, give readers an insight into why certain areas are more heavily damaged than others, and demonstrate the techniques available to mitigate damage. The book incorporates both the first-hand experience of the authors and an exhaustive review of the world’s literature on the subject. Boxes provide quick access to important material, and further resources are referenced in an extensive bibliography. Essential reading for all park and protected area management professionals, this book is also a useful textbook for upper division undergraduate and graduate students on recreation ecology and recreation management courses.

The 1964 Wilderness Act calls for "...an enduring resource of wilderness...for the use and enjoyment of the American people" and lists among the attributes of wilderness "outstanding opportunities for solitude or a primitive and unconfined type of recreation." These statements confirm experiential opportunities as one of the primary purposes of wilderness. Furthermore, by signing the act into law, Congress declared that wilderness experiences are so important they are worthy of protection by national legislation. Wilderness experiences have been credited with everything from personal psychological benefits to formation of the national character. Heavy or growing use levels at many wilderness areas are proof that the public increasingly values the opportunity to experience wilderness firsthand. In response to the fear that increasing use would threaten the experiential qualities of wilderness and wildlands, researchers with training in sociology, psychology, and anthropology began a focused program of outdoor recreation research in the 1960s. Although the initial focus was on determining objective visitor "carrying capacities" for protected areas, scientists soon found that the relationship between use numbers and wilderness visitor experiences is extremely complex. This research expanded to address the values that people hold for wilderness (including nonrecreation values), the types and dimensions of wilderness experiences, and factors that influence those experiences. Simultaneously, managers and scientists worked together to develop techniques and long-term planning frameworks to ensure that quality wilderness experiences continue to be available. Whereas early wilderness stewards had few resources other than instinct and personal experience to guide them, managers today have access to a significant body of literature related to defining, managing, and monitoring wilderness experiences. In fact, the volume of available information can be confusing or even overwhelming. This reading list gathers together and organizes a representative sample of this information in a way that we hope will be useful to both managers and researchers.