[Geysers] Commercially Guided Tours

[Jeff Cross]

Perhaps the reason for increased impact due to tour groups
is that tour groups tend to stay together.  They will all visit
the same locations en masse.

Twenty people arriving singly over the course of 12 hours
are more likely to visit a variety of completely different areas,
and they will each do so alone.  This could spread out the impact.

Jeff Cross
jeff.cross at wallawalla.edu

________________________________________
From: geysers-bounces at lists.wallawalla.edu [geysers-bounces at lists.wallawalla.edu] On Behalf Of Robert  C. Johnson [birdboy48 at hotmail.com]
Sent: Monday, January 26, 2009 5:09 PM
To: Geyser List
Subject: [Geysers] Re: Mountian Bikes in Yellowstone : Commercially guided      day trips.

Dear Bob,

   Yes, one of the main concerns regarding the situation in our location is the physical size of the groups.

  While an argument could be made that having 20 people show up one at a time is no different than having 20 show up in one big wad, our experience has been that large numbers of people together in a group have a larger overall environmental impact than smaller numbers of individuals spaced out over a period of time.  Granted, our area may be more sensitive than the Park, but all one has to do is take a tour of our lake to notice the degradation that has come about since the introduction of these tours.