[Geysers] Mountian Bikes in Yellowstone : Commercially guided day trips

[srlb at eskimo.com]

>> If it's just the fact that the such groups increase the number of
>> individuals visiting the area in question, what's wrong with a greater
>> degree of citizen participation?
>
> Actually, nothing... except that with increased visitation, there is
> usually increased impact. In truth, 20 people in a "guided" trip probably
> have a lower total impact than 20 "unguided" individuals... but commercial
> guiding tends to allow (actually, encourage via advertising and the like)
> far larger number of people into delicate areas.

If a "larger number of people" is a problem, how do you propose limiting
that number. What criteria determines who gets in and who doesn't?

> Having personally
> witnessed this with caving (possibly one of the few environments even more
> delicate than thermal areas), I can attest that this is a very significant
> issue. It can certainly be taken into account... but the fact that a
> commercial operation does better is it puts more people through the
> process can result in a "tragedy of the commons" situation.

What solution do you propose?

Generally, I like entrance reservation systems to limit access per unit
time; but these are expensive to implement, and very often biased against
"less desirable" groups (commercially guided groups, perhaps).

Bob

> --
> Brian Davis
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