Balancing riparian management and river recreation: Methods for incorporating recreation data in wood management decisions

Background/Question/Methods

Riparian management in the Puget Sound lowland often includes placing large wood or retaining fallen logs to stabilize riverbanks and enhance salmon habitat. Although this practice benefits humans by protecting infrastructure and natural resources, it is unclear whether it may affect recreation users. This study tested methods for describing and estimating the number of river floaters, where they float in relationship to river projects and natural wood loading areas, the risks they take while floating, and their perceptions of large wood in the river. Selecting a high-use suburban river in Washington State, we used riverside observations, interviews, and an infrared counter to gather data in the summer of 2010.

Results/Conclusions

Statistical analyses provided general characteristics of users, trends in engaging in risky behaviors, and estimates of use for the entire season and on the busiest day. Data mapping with GIS demonstrated that the density and highest frequencies of recreation use along the river overlapped with the primary river management projects. Qualitative analysis of interviews clarified that the public considers large wood to be the riskiest of all factors when recreating on the river. A case study describes how such data was used in the 2011 to inform river management decisions for removing large wood and how it could have been used to inform the closure of the river to recreation following a particularly strong flood year. To address the multiple mandates of river managers, it is important to understand recreation users, the relative factors that could be putting them at risk, and how the actual users perceive and interact with large wood in the river.