> “Calls for such research became louder in the 2000s. As visitation to national parks and forests increased, and climate change and human development put more pressure on public lands, the need for evidence-based approaches to human impacts became stark […] In 2009, the director of the National Park Service hired its first official science adviser.”

Sounds like necessary work— creative and effective management. I dont envy the choices.

I live now in NY we have the privilege of wilderness dispersed camping. In some of those areas you will find designated campsites.

I planned and took a camping trip to PA and they don’t have wilderness camping. Everything is designated AND they require reservation.

Some of the areas I go to in NY have these old outhouses. Kinda sketchy. There are some areas where the use pressure is high, and they don’t even have the sketchy outhouses. There you may find areas 100 feet from designated campsite a surrounded by a sea of toilet paper tufts.

In PA, when you reserve your spot, the reservation system directs you to odd or even numbered sites to reduce pressure and let the ecosystem recover. And the outhouse I found on my trip was literally a brick s#!thouse.

I think I can say peeps in PA have upped their game.

While I like the opportunity to do wilderness camping, of what I’ve seen in NY, unmanaged sites suck.