Impacts of human recreation on wildlife are increasingly of importance in landscapes where wilderness and urban areas are in close proximity. In the Pusch Ridge Wilderness area outside of Tucson, AZ, the bighorn sheep population disappeared in the 1990s, eventually resulting in the decision to repopulate the area with translocated sheep. While the sheep face many other obstacles to their repopulation, tourism impacts on this experimental bighorn population have not been adequately addressed in the historical literature because visitor usage statistics are difficult to quantify with limited resources. In addition, visitor behaviors may carry different weight of impact with regard to different species, or even between two genders of the same species. Using combined visitor/wildlife data from an extensive trail camera survey, we noted the time and size of recreational parties on the Pusch Peak trail in Pusch Ridge Wilderness. Two off-trail Wilderness areas and two unofficial trail locations were also included.
We noted the time at which fifteen species of wildlife used the trails. We calculated the time lag between each animal sighting and most recent human sighting to test whether attributes of the human recreational party (size of party, presence of a dog, etc) and attributes of the wildlife (sex, group size) affected the time lag between humans and wildlife on these trails.
Results/Conclusions
We found that time lags varied greatly across species and was strongly influenced by intrinsic behaviors (such as nocturnalism). Visitor usage also varies greatly, from a few local, frequent hikers in the summer to many large groups during the winter and spring seasons. Our results have implications for land managers regulating public recreation areas that are also targets for conservation of threatened species. Where possible, land managers should continue to update tourist-focused outreach and education efforts in the Pusch Ridge Wilderness area to reach bighorn sheep conservation goals.