Historic, Archive Document

Do not assume content reflects current
scientific knowledge, policies, or practices.

L_ IOvl II IWV^I W I I O W I UUI I

UUIIUlll

TP&Z- roc
Cl&DI
■ tzS'

. .Man, ,
Leisure, and

Wildlands:

a complex interaction

OCT

Vail, Colorado
September 14-19, 1975

fcjj

EISENHOWER CONSORTIUM
for Western Environmental Forestry Research

Arizona State University
Tempe, Arizona

University of Arizona
Tucson, Arizona

Northern Arizona University
Flagstaff, Arizona

Colorado State University
Fort Collins, Colorado

University of Colorado
Boulder, Colorado

New Mexico State University
Las Cruces, New Mexico

University of New Mexico
Albuquerque, New Mexico

Texas Tech University
Lubbock, Texas

University of Wyoming
Laramie, Wyoming

Rocky Mountain Forest and
Range Experiment Station
Fore st Service

U. S. Department of Agriculture
Fort Collins, Colorado

Additional copies available for $9.25 from:
National Technical Information Service (NTIS)

285 Port Royal Road

Eisenhower Consortium Bulletin 1

MAN, LEISURE, AND WILDLANDS:

A COMPLEX INTERACTION

Proceedings of the First Eisenhower Consortium
Research Symposium, Sept. 14-19, 1975, Vail, Colorado

* * L * 3

Eisenhower Consortium

for Western Environmental Forestry Research

NATURE TO BE COMMANDED MUST BE OBEYED

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The planning and successful implementa¬
tion of a research symposium is by no means
a task one takes lightly. Coordinating the
input of an organization comprised of nine
universities and a Federal agency over a five -
state region compounds the complexity of such
a mission.

Despite the complexity, the Eisenhower
Consortium decided that, after three years of
research effort in a wide range of environ¬
mental problems, a state-of-the-art sympo¬
sium was needed. The purpose and objectives
of the symposium are enumerated in President
Welch's Foreword.

In any organization, the key to success is
reflected in the capacity of the units within the
organization to work in concert towards a
common set of objectives. Implicit is a high
level dedication and motivation of numerous
individuals.

Many people contributed directly to this
symposium. First was the tremendous effort
of the planning core committee consisting of
David Herrick, Gordon Lewis, Robert Dils,
William H. Welch, and David Thorud. These
people were the principal idea generators and
organizers for the symposium. I must also
give special recognition to the staff of the
Rocky Mountain Forest and Range Experiment
Station for their spirited assistance through¬
out the project.

Special recognition is due Tom Evans,
Supervisor of the White River National Forest,
and District Rangers Tom Bell and Larry
Larson for setting up and directing an excel¬
lent field tour.

The full support of Dean Anson Bertrand
of the College of Agricultural Sciences at
Texas Tech University is greatly appreciated.

Each of our Consortium delegates assisted
with the planning and arrangements. Each
served as a program head for a section of the
symposium.

There would have been no symposium
without the spirited cooperation of the speakers
and attendees. This enthusiasm was manifest
in the high-quality presentations and group
interactions which made the symposium.

Quick publication of these proceedings - -a
major planning goal - -depended on the coopera¬
tion of the authors in preparing their papers
in final form, ready for photo-offset repro¬
duction.

This symposium, then, is a reflection of
the spirit of dedication and cooperation which
has been a hallmark of the Eisenhower Con¬
sortium since its founding in 1972. No project
coordinator could ask more from people who
have given so much.

James D. Mertes, Texas Tech.
Symposium Coordinator

FOREWORD

THE SITUATION

A hundred years ago, settlers and tran¬
sients swept West, seeking homes and for¬
tunes. Their impacts on the environment
were unplanned, unregulated. They cut trees,
mined minerals, hunted wildlife, and their
livestock grazed the ranges. Parts of the
West are still recovering from that first
westward migration.

Now a new and different wave of "settlers
and transients" is surging into the central and
southern Rocky Mountains and adjacent High
Plains. They come as home seekers and
vacationers. They differ from their predeces¬
sors in that they have enough money to reinvest
part of it in pleasure —using the natural en¬
vironment for personal enjoyment. So many
people are making homes or vacationing in
this region that their activities endanger the
very open-space environment they came West
to enjoy. Nature needs some well -planned
help to cope with this second wave.

WHAT CAN BE DONE?

A key to dealing with open -space prob¬
lems created by concentrated use is know¬
ledge — of the ecologic consequences of use, of
the ability of nature to absorb the effects of
use, and of the degree to which demands for
different levels and kinds of use can be satis¬
fied.

Ten western research institutions have
joined forces to fill some of these critical
knowledge gaps. Nine universities and the
Rocky Mountain Forest and Range Experiment
Station (USDA Forest Service) have formed
the Eisenhower Consortium for Western
Environmental Forestry Research.

The Eisenhower Consortium pools a
broad spectrum of research talent and expertise
to find solutions where man -environment

problems are most urgent in the West: the
central and southern Rocky Mountain region
and associated High Plains. It selects prob¬
lems, establishes priorities, formulates re¬
search programs, solicits research proposals,
and channels Forest Service and other research
funds to member universities to solve identified
problems.

CONSORTIUM GOALS AND PLANS

The goals of this consortium are to: (1)
increase understanding of the interactions be¬
tween people and the environment; and (2)
develop methods to provide for the needs and
wants of increasing permanent and transient
populations while maintaining, and enhancing
where possible, the attractive features of the
environment.

The Consortium makes its findings avail¬
able to resource planners and managers — the
people who guide resource allocation and use,
and make on -the -ground decisions. These
planners and managers need more sound in¬
formation than they now have if they are to
make decisions that will perpetuate clean
water, beautiful surroundings, the harvest of
forest and range resources, peace and quiet,
space to be alone.

The intent of the Consortium is to provide
commissions, planning boards and agency ad¬
ministrators with facts to help them chart co¬
ordinated, environmentally sound open-space
planning and development programs for public
and private lands.

It is toward these goals that this sympo¬
sium on Man, Leisure, and Wildlands - -the
first to be sponsored by the Eisenhower Con-
sortium--is addressed.

H. William Welch, President
Eisenhower Consortium

THE TOUR

September 14-16

Page

TOUR NOTES . 1

TOUR PRESENTATIONS . 7

Land adjustment plan: Snake River Basin, Arapaho National Forest . 7

Larry L. Larson

The Beaver Creek story . . 14

Dave Mott, Mike Blair, Ernie Nunn

The Wildwood School . 15

Robert B. Lewis

The Aspen story . . . 17

Stacey Standley

County government's view of ski area development and its impacts . 20

Allan Btomquist

The developer's view of ski area development . 23

D. R. C. Brown

The state planner's view of ski area development . 25

Charles Foster

Envi ronmental resource analysis: Pitkin County, Colorado . 28

Perry Brown

The Vail story . 31

Terry Minger

THE SYMPOSIUM

September 17-19

GENERAL SESSION . 37

A regional perspective of problems and solutions . 37

H. William Welch

Opening Address: Development in disarray: Ten years after PLLRC

and "One third of the nation's land" . 39

Charles Conklin

SESSION I. THE NATIONAL OUTLOOK FOR LEISURE HOME AND RESORT DEVELOPMENT

THROUGH THE SEVENTIES . 45

Keynote Address: The future demand for recreational properties . 46

Richard L. Ragats

Assessment of the regional market for each category of development . 52

J. J. Collins

Page

Measuring the consumer demand for use and development of leisure

properties . 55

Maurice L. Kelley, Jr.

Planning and legal considerations affecting land development . 58

James D. Mertes and Frank F. Skillem

Who will be the future buyers and principal users of each

category of development? . 72

William Sims

Discussion . 75

SESSION II. SOCIO-ECONOMIC CONSEQUENCES OF DISPERSED AND CONCENTRATED

HOUSING DEVELOPMENT . 77

Keynote Address: The rural suburb: A socio-economic overview . 78

Edwin H. Clark, II

A. COMMUNITY AND REGIONAL COSTS . 86

Cost to public land agencies resulting from recreation

developments on adjacent private lands . 86

David D. Chase and Theodore A. Hoff

The mountain property owner: His values, goals and problems . 93

R. Burnell Held and Charles F. Robinson

Economic implications of second home developments in

selected areas of Colorado . 98

Richard G. Walsh, Michael F. Retzlaff, and Eliot 0. Waples

Environmental costs and socioeconomic benefits of leisure home

developments . 108

Peter G. Montague

B. COMMUNITY AND REGIONAL BENEFITS . 114

The benefits of vacation home developments to county

governments . 114

Gordon D. Lewis

Community and regional implications of large-scale resort

developments: Big Sky of Montana . 121

David G. Stuart

Colorado's winter resource management plan: The state's

responsibility for comprehensive planning . 127

James M. Ohi

C. SOCIAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL PLANNING . 134

Procedures for improving public involvement in land use

planning and decision-making . 134

John M. Ostheimer

Development of land use planning and transportation planning

systems for national forests . 143

Reuben N. Weisz and Ross Carder

Transportation system planning for wildland areas . 157

Charles L. Bur1 ford and Tom W. Jones, III

Page

Procedures for analyzing regional environmental problems

and opportunities . 164

Raymond J. Supalla

Discussion . 169

SESSION III. ENVIRONMENTAL CONSEQUENCES OF DISPERSED AND CONCENTRATED

DEVELOPMENT WITH EMPHASIS ON OPPORTUNITIES

FOR MITIGATION . 173

Keynote Address: Environmental consequences of dispersed and

concentrated development, with emphasis

on opportunities for mitigation . 174

Alfred L. Parker an.d Allen V. Kneese

A. WATER QUALITY IMPACTS . 183

Stream chemistry as a tool in evaluating ski area development . 183

James R. Goss

Impact of recreation use and development on water quality

in Arizona: An overview . 195

Stanley K. Briokler and Jack G. Utter

Costs and effectiveness of selected alternatives in second-

home waste disposal systems . 202

Kenneth B. Young and Mesbah U. Ahmed

Evapotranspi ration as an alternative for second home waste

disposal systems . 213

V. R. Has further, D. H. Foster, D. G. Lofgren, S. R. Jenkins

The effects of second home and related vacation development

use on water quality in Arizona . 221

Burton A. S eg all

B. AIR QUALITY IMPACTS . 227

Air pollution potential of selected areas in the Rocky Mountain

west . 227

William E. Marlatt, Joyce Berry, Laurence Krupnak

Air pollution potential in Arizona . 235

Neil S. Berman

Evaluation of impacts of various recreation uses on air quality in

northern Arizona: The scenic suburban

forests and their aesthetic values . 245

Thomas H. Beduell

The impact of concentrated recreational development on air quality . 259

Douglas G. Fox

Discussion . 274

SESSION IV. GROUP DISCUSSION OF IMPACTS OF DISPERSED AND CONCENTRATED

RECREATION DEVELOPMENT . 277

Group reports . 278

Symposium wrap-up and concluding remarks . 284

Loren Potter

1

I

1

Denver

1 Front Range Mountain Developments

Various subdivisions, primarily in the
foothills area, from west of Lakewood to
Floyd Hill east of Idaho Springs. A recent
offering at Genesee Mountain covers lots sell¬
ing from $24, 000 to $45, 000 each. Nearby is

"Arapahoe East," a small ski area that also
offers night skiing. Numerous condominiums
are available in and adjacent to Georgetown
further west.

Large-lot foothill
subdivisions west of
Denver.

1

2 Eisenhower Tunnel (Interstate 70)

East portal of the Eisenhower Tunnel,
which routes 1-70 beneath Loveland Pass.
Loveland Basin ski runs converge near
the entrance.

First Bore

1. Start of Construction: 12-4-67

2. Opened to Traffic: 3-8-73

3. Cost of Construction: $1 13, 000, 000
or $12, 500 per 1 . f .

4. Length: 1.7 miles

5. Design Capacity: 900 vehicles per
hour one way

6. Opening day traffic (25 hours):

17, 000 vehicles - -mostly sightseers

7. Peak traffic to date: 1380 vehicles/
hour--one way 8-74 19,483 vehicles/
day

8. Elevation of portals: 11, 015' east
and 11, 15 5' west or 1 . 64% grade

3 Keystone Ski Area

Year-round resort complex with golf,
swimming, tennis, etc., conference facilities,
hotel, condominiums, shops, restaurants, etc.
Opened in November, 1970, it is owned and
being developed by the Ralston Purina Company.
Currently it occupies 512 acres of private land
and utilizes 2, 280 acres of Arapaho National
Forest land (under special use permit) to
operate seven ski lifts with a capacity of 7, 200
skiers per hour. Use during the ' 7 3 - ' 7 4
season amounted to 173, 300 skier visits.

Second Bore

Six separate construction contracts
covering different phases are proposed. The
Second Bore will follow the alignment of a
10 ft. diameter pilot here to the south of the
completed tunnel. Approximately 100 feet of
undisturbed rock will remain between tunnels
Work will include 2 miles of approach roads
for the Second Bore.

1. Estimated start: 4-75 - Advertise

electrical and mechanical work;
5-75 - Advertise tunnel excavation
w/concrete lining; 9-7 5 - Actual
excavation expected to start.

2. Length: 1 . 7 miles

3. Estimated cost: $1 16,000,000

4. Estimated Completion Date: 1979

Pitkin County's comprehensive planning program
was described during the tour stop at Keystone.

2

4 Dillon Reservoir

Completed in 1964, it stores water that is
diverted via the 23 -mile -long Roberts Tunnel
to the eastern slope for use by the city and
county of Denver. The earth-fill dam, 231
feet high, impounds 258, 000 acre -feet of
water with a surface area of 3, 400 acres and
25 miles of shore line when full. Numerous
public recreation sites, including five camp¬
grounds, five picnic areas, five boat launching
ramps and a concessionaire -operated marina
are available at the area.

Marina and resort condominium development at
Dillon Reservoir. Several major ski areas are
within a 15-minute drive.

5 Copper Mountain Ski Area

Year-round resort complex with swimming,
tennis, riding, etc., conference facilities,
condominiums, shops, restaurants, etc.

Opened in November, 1972, it is owned and is
being developed by Copper Mountain, Inc.
Currently, it occupies 280 acres of private
land and utilizes 2280 acres of Arapaho Nation¬
al Forest land (under special use permit) to
operate seven ski lifts with a capacity of 8, 000
skiers per hour. Use during the '73 -'74
season amounted to 181, 900 skier visits.

6 Interstate 70

1-70 is now being built over Vail Pass and
through Gore Valley. Side-slope cuts are
shaped and revegetated (vertically lined area)
within 12 days after the earthwork has been
completed. This joint effort of the Forest
Service, Department of Transportation , and
Colorado Division of Highways minimizes soil
erosion and water quality deterioration. Gore
Creek flows just below the earthwork.

3

7 Vail Ski Area

Year-round internationally -known resort
with swimming, tennis, riding, golf, hiking,
etc., conference facilities, lodges, condomin¬
iums, shops, restaurants, etc. Opened in
December, 1966, it is owned and being devel¬
oped by Vail Associates, Inc. Currently, it
occupies 353 acres of private land, primarily
at the base area, and 6707 acres of White
River National Forest land (under special use
permit) to operate sixteen ski lifts with a capa¬
city of 15, 500 skiers per hour. Use during the
' 7 3 - ' 7 4 season amounted to 67 3, 200 skier
visits as opposed to 280, 484 skiers during the
'67 -'68 season. Summer attractions include
the nearby Gore Range-Eagles Nest primitive
area and Mount of the Holy Cross country.

The Colorado Division of Highways archaeologist
described a current excavation on top of Vail
Pass, on a site to be developed for a rest
area. His findings indicate Indians hunted
and butchered here some 6,000 years ago.

Gore Creek flows through Vail. The floodplain
is maintained as an attractive greenbelt.

8 Beaver Creek Ski Area

The skiing potential in this area south of
Avon has been discussed for the past fifteen
years and it was officially recognized in 1969
by the Forest Service's inventory of potential
ski areas on the White River National Forest.
The area was also later designated as the alp¬
ine events site for the '76 Winter Olympics for
the ill-fated bid by the City of Denver.

9 Glenwood Canyon

(Route for Interstate 70)

In November 197 3, a citizen's committee
appointed by the Governor requested that the
Colorado Division of Highways seek indepen¬
dent design concept studies for the routing of
Interstate 70 through Glenwood Canyon. As a
result, the CDOH contracted the three con¬
sulting firms renowned for their accomplish¬
ments in the fields of engineering, architec¬
ture, aesthetics, and environmental design.
Total cost was $270, 000, or $90, 000 per firm.

The design concepts for the routing of
Interstate 70 through Glenwood Canyon were
presented by the three firms at Denver and
Glenwood Springs in July 1974. A summary
of each concept follows:

Vollmer Associates

1. Estimated cost: $150, 000, 000,
excluding right-of-way acquisition
and relocation of utility lines.

Some interstates in New York have
cost as much as $26, 000, 000 per
mile.

2. Proposal places highway on the
north side of the Colorado River
throughout.

3. The 12. 6 mile section from com¬
pleted I 70 east of No Name Creek
to the Canyon exit at Siloam Springs
would be a combination of terraced
roadways and a double -decked
parkway /truckway structure.

Howard, Needles, Tammen, & Bergendoff

1. Estimated cost: $110, 000,000,

excluding right-of-way acquisition,
relocation of utility lines.

The mouth of Glenwood Canyon on the Colorado
River. Routing of 1-70 down the scenic canyon
is highly controversial.

2. Both traffic lanes approximate the
alignment of the present highway on
the north side of the Colorado River.
The only exception is where the
eastbound lanes cross to the south
side of the River at Bear Creek
(2500 feet east of Grizzly Creek)
and remain there for 1. 5 miles be¬
fore crossing back to the northside
at the present left-hand curve
approximately 600 feet east of the
Shoshone Plant.

3. Concept follows a more conventional
type design, with a combination of
terraced roadways and elevated
structures at critical locations,
plus twin tunnels (east of Hanging
Lake) 1400' long.

Gruen Associates

1. Estimated cost: $192,000,000,
excluding right-of-way acquisition
and relocation of utility lines.

2. The first 3.9 miles extending east
from the completed section near
No Name Interchange would follow
closely to the present alignment on
the north side of the Colorado River.
This section would be the more
conventional type design with a
combination of terraUed roadways
and elevated structures next to the
River.

3. Approximately 1700 feet west of the
Shoshone Plant, the eastbound
lanes cross to the south side of the
River to a point 500 feet east of the
Plant before crossing back to join
the westbound lanes.

4. At a point 2000 feet west of the
Shoshone Dam, both lanes cross
the River, pass under the rail¬
road, and enter twin tunnels for
1. 3 miles before exiting near the

south River bank. After crossing
over the railroad, the highway
would be adjacent to the River for
1 . 6 miles . It then crosses over
the railroad again and enters twin
tunnels for 0.4 miles, then emerges
on elevated structures for 1000
feet before entering a third set of
tunnels for 0. 1 mile. It then spans
a deep draw on high structures.
After crossing a plateau on grade,
the lanes skirt the Bair Ranch
some 800 feet to the south on a
viaduct of high trestles. About
3400 feet east of the Bair Ranch,
twin tunnels are entered for the
fourth time for approximately 0. 6
miles before over -passing the rail¬
road and crossing the River to join
the recreation road approximately
1500 feet east of the unique rock
crevices identified as the Book-
cliffs. Common alignment for both
lanes then continues near the exist¬

ing road for the remaining 0. 6 miles
to the Canyon exit at Siloam Springs.

Of the three concepts submitted, the Gruen
proposal was definitely favored by a majority
of those expressing opinions at the public meet¬
ings held. This was understandable because
of the pro -environmental attitude of many of
those in attendance. While more expensive
than the other concepts presented, it definitely
attempts to achieve a balance between environ¬
mental and transportation demands. It pro¬
vides an entirely separate scenic route for six
miles through the eastern half of the Canyon,
which is considered more unique in character
and more sensitive to the impact that a four
lane highway would place on it.

While perhaps strictly conjecture, all
indications are that a routing similar to the
Gruen proposal will eventually be accepted.
While more difficult and expensive to do,
public demand may insist that additional
alignment changes be made in the western
half of the Canyon.

10 Aspen, Maroon Bells

Tour participants enjoyed hot coffee during a
cool stop at the Maroon Bells recreation area
on the White River National Forest.

Internationally -known winter and summer
resort town adjacent to four major ski areas
(Aspen Mountain, Aspen Highlands, Butter¬
milk Mountain and Snowmass, which is
partially developed) with a total of 46 ski lifts
with a capacity of 32, 115 skiers per hour and
a total vertical drop of 12, 400 feet for the
four areas. The areas occupy 10, 376 acres
of White River National Forest land under
special use permit, plus 2, 737 acres of pri¬
vate land. The total use for the '73 -'74
season amounted to 1, 260, 200 skier visits as
opposed to 523, 959 visits during the ' 67 -' 68
season. All areas, except Aspen Highlands,
are owned and operated by the Aspen Skiing
Corporation. Cross country or touring skiing
is also available in the Ashcroft area. Hunter
Creek, and at Snowmass.

Summer attractions include the famed
Maroon Bells mountain peaks and Maroon
Lake, the nearby Maroon Bells -Snowmass
Wilderness, and the annual summer -long
series of music concerts.

Land Adjustment Plan: Snake River Basin, Arapaho National Forest'

Larry L. Larson, District Ranger
Dillon Ranger District

PURPOSES

The purpose of this plan is to classify
individual tracts of private land in the Snake
River Basin as to their suitability and availa¬
bility for retention in private ownership or
acquisition for National Forest purposes.

Also, as well as tracts of National Forest
lands suitable for development and which are
available for disposal through exchange pro¬
cedure. It indicates desirable adjustments in
land ownership to be taken to meet objectives
of the Basin.

OBJECTIVES

The overall National Forest goal is to
achieve a pattern of resource uses and land
ownership pattern that will best meet the
needs of people now and in the future. Specific
objectives are defined in the Snake River Basin
Unit Plan, of the Dillon District, Arapaho
National Forest, and in the Snake River Basin
Guideline s, of the Summit County Planning
Department. Specific objectives extracted
from these documents which can be furthered
by the adjustments in pattern of land owner¬
ship are :

1. Provide for orderly development
and/or use in the Snake River Basin
in a manner which will maintain the
present high quality environment with
regard to scenery, air and water
quality, year-long outdoor recreation,
wildlife and open space values.

2. Preserve the area's rural character.

3. Determine those areas of the basin
which, from a physical standpoint,
are best suited for development, and
guide development of these areas.

Draft of a functional land adjustment plan
developed as part of the Snake River Basin Use
Plan, presented at Keystone during the Eisen¬
hower Symposium Tour. Specific details of the
Plan are still subject to minor changes.

4. Accommodate growth and development
in the Snake River Basin in a manner
which will strengthen the economic
base in Summit County.

5. Encourage a pattern of development
which poses an economical and feas¬
ible pattern of public service on the
county as possible.

The basis and reasoning behind these objectives
and the resulting management direction and
coordinating requirements, is outlined and
evaluated in the Draft Environmental Impact
Statement for the Snake River Basin Land Use
Plan.

URBAN ENCLAVES

These enclaves include those private lands
suitable for development having approved sub¬
division zoning, and those National Forest lands
suitable for exchange to private owners for
development. Their purpose is to limit future
population densities wdthin the enclaves.

Three urban enclaves were identified in
the land use plan for the Snake River Basin.

They are: Ski Tip, Keystone, and Soda Creek.
Together they comprise 2, 494 acres, or 4%
of the total Basin. National Forest lands in¬
clude 7 02 acres or 28% of all lands within the
three enclaves. Urban enclaves usually con¬
form to legal subdivisions but may be irregular
in shape. They are influenced by private land
ownership patterns and are dependent upon the
suitability of the land to support planned de¬
velopment.

The urban enclaves are areas of existing
or anticipated significant urban development.
These are areas of high density human habita¬
tion where the majority of resulting socio¬
economic needs are met. They are an integral
part of the environment in that significant im¬
pacts to the surrounding natural resource areas
and local demands for resource allocation
originate here. There have been 5, 095 dwell¬
ing units approved to date by Summit County
in the Snake River Basin, with completed con¬
struction of approximately 10% of this total.

7

Nearly all of the approved units are within
these enclaves. These enclaves are within the
foreground view from existing and/or planned
urban facilities. Structures may be for resi¬
dential, commercial, industrial, transportation,
utilities, and public service uses. A mixture
of these structures is found within the existing
resort area and mountain subdivisions con¬
tained within the enclaves.

In the planning process, the three urban
enclaves were grouped into a Special Multiple
Use Management Zone termed the "Urban
Zone". This zone was established for the pur¬
pose of developing specific management direc¬
tion and coordinating requirements for these
enclaves which have a similar management
situation. The management direction and co¬
ordinating requirements served as a guide for
the development of this Land Adjustment Plan.

MANAGEMENT DIRECTION AND
COORDINATING REQUIREMENTS

Management direction and coordinating
requirements for the Urban Zone is not speci¬
fically shown in the Regional Guides. As a
Special Zone, management direction is estab¬
lished in accordance with laws, regulations,
policies, and the primary purpose for which
the zone is classified.

Management Direction

Manage ecosystems within the Urban Zone:

1. To retain natural scenic beauty of the
U.S. Highway 6 Scenic Corridor.

2. To maintain the critical deer and elk
migration route between Soda Creek
and Tenderfoot Mountain.

3. To maintain or enhance present
recreation fishing values.

4. To preserve the historic townsite of
Keystone and the Cold Spring cabin.

Coordinating Requirements

Land adjustments program will:

1. Retain or improve the integrity of

fishing, and the quality and recreation
use of streams by maintaining the
riparian vegetation and flood plain in
an undeveloped nature in National
Forest status and open to public use.

2. Consolidate land ownership to main¬
tain or increase the critical migration
corridor on National Forest land's be¬
tween the Keystone and Soda Creek
urban enclaves and to provide addi¬
tional forage for wildlife management
purposes, wherever possible.

3. Maintain the natural beauty of the
Scenic Corridor of U. S. Highway 6 by
retaining National Forest lands and
obtaining scenic easements to separate
development into urban enclaves.

4. Phase exchange actions to the develop¬
ment of sewage plant capacities, water
supplies, and social services; and
coordinate actions through local
government such as the Summit County
Planning Department, Regional Plan¬
ning Commission, and Board of County
Commis sioner s.

5. Emphasize land acquisition on those
tracts suited for recreation, needed
for management of wildlife and forage,
and which will help retain the rural
character of the planning unit by con¬
fining growth to urban enclaves. (See
land ownership adjustment map. )

6. Encourage urban growth to occur
downstream from the confluence of
the Snake River and its North Fork in
the land ownership adjustment program
to minimize effects on air quality as
well as other natural resources, and
socio-economic impacts.

PROCEDURE

Tracts are delineated by physical charac¬
teristics, current ownership status, and man¬
agement constraints. Numerical identification
for each tract is by urban enclave. Tracts
outside urban enclaves but adjacent to them are
included in that enclave's numerical sequence.
Isolated tracts are identified by alphabetical
sequence .

Classifications used are:

National Forest Lands

1. Reta in-tracts which are suitable for
National Forest purposes and which
are unavailable for exchange.

2. Disposal -tracts which are suitable and
available for exchange purposes.

8

„NoN0!

porc^

: loojjd-p-uaj.

r '

1/ . .

a"_ - y

2C

9

3. Disposal, limited-tracts which are
suited for exchange purposes but
available only in exchange for private
lands within the Snake River Basin.

Private Lands

1. Retain -tracts which are not suitable
for National Forest purposes even if
available.

2. Acquire -tracts which should be
acquired to meet essential National
Forest resource management objec¬
tives.

Priority 1 - Key tracts urgently
needed.

Priority 2 - Future key tracts or
tracts needed for
consolidation.

Priority 3 - Remaining desirable
tracts.

The "Land Ownership Adjustment Map"
and "Adjustments Summary" tabulation are
an integral part of this plan.

CLASSIFICATION

1. Patented mineral claims not individu¬
ally identified in this plan are classified as
"Re tain -Private". It is felt that due to the
mineral character of these claims, it would
not be in the public interest to exchange for
them. They could later be filed upon and
eventually become private land again by com¬
plying with existing mining laws and regula¬
tions. Control of land uses to meet the objec¬
tives for the Snake River Basin is within the
jurisdiction of Summit County authorities
under provisions of local regulations and
state statutes. Cooperation between local
authorities and the District Ranger will pro¬
vide the management necessary to regulate
mining activity on both private and federal
lands .

2. National Forest lands not individually
identified in this plan are classified as
"Retain - National Forest".

3. Isolated tracts outside Urban Zones

Tract Action and Reason or Purpose

A "Acquire - Priority Level 2" -
This group of mining claims lies
within the inventoried ski area
site of Independence-Bear Moun¬
tain. The current land use plan

provides for retaining the option
open to develop the area. It will
not be developed unless the current
plan is revised and NEPA provis¬
ions are completed.

B "Acquire - Priority Level 2" -
same as tract A plus limited
amounts of dispersed recreation
opportunities.

C "Acquire - Priority Level 1" -

this tract will provide for expan¬
sion of the existing Keystone Ski
Area into Jones Gulch.

D "Acquire - Priority Level 2" -
this scattered claim also lies
within the Independence -Bear
Mountain inventoried winter sports
site.

E "Acquire - Pirority Level 1" -
this tract is part of the larger
Muggins Gulch parcel. It is
needed to provide long term man¬
agement of the big game winter
range and calving area important
to the Soda Creek elk herd.

Ski Tip Enclave

Tract Action and Reason or Purpose

1 "Dispose - Limited" - This tract
is suitable for urban development.
Only lands within the urban enclaves
of Ski Tip, Keystone or Soda Creek
will be considered in exchange for
this tract. Portions of this tract
within the flood plain or which are
too steep for development are not
available for exchange in order to
maintain or enchance esthetic,
recreation and fishing values.

2 "Acquire - Priority Level 3" -
Consolidates ownership if tract 1
is not disposed of under availabil¬
ity constraint. It is located in the
flood plain with the needed poten¬
tial future recreational opportun¬
ities. Precludes areas being
suitable for National Forest pur¬
poses at an acceptable cost level.

4 "Dispose to Private" - Retain

flood plain lands within tract and
dispose of balance suitable for
development.

10

5

Retain -Private" - Same as
tract 3.

" Dispose -Limited" - Suitable for
urban development, but also suit¬
able for National Forest purposes,
in conjunction with existing Key¬
stone Resort. Final decision to
dispose is deferred at this time.
Changing public needs and associ¬
ated development of the mountain
and resort area are variable and
cannot be determined at this time.

Keystone Enclave

Tract Action and Reason or Purpose

1 "Dispose" - Suitable for urban
development and confines develop¬
ment to suitable lands north of
Keystone Road.

2 "Retain-Private" - Developed.

3 "Dispose to Private" - Eastern
two-thirds of tract suited for
urban development. Established
road right-of-way through tract
will be retained.

4 "Dispose" - Eastern and lower one
half of the tract are suitable for
development. Unsuitable portions
on steep sagebrush hillsides are
not available for exchange to main¬
tain the scenic integrity of U. S.
Highway 6 and eliminate possible
impacts on the water resource.

5 "Acquire - Priority Level 1" -
Portions needed to preserve scenic
integrity of U. S. Highway 6 and
other portions needed for fishing
opportunities on Snake River.

6 "Acquire - Priority Level 1" -
Portion needed because of fishing
attributes and as a north -south
corridor for big game travel
between Keystone and Soda Creek
Enclaves .

7 "Acquire - Priority Level 1" -
Portion needed because of fishing
attributes, the Keystone Historic
Townsite, and as a north-south
corridor for big game travel be¬
tween Keystone and Soda Creek
Enclaves.

8 "Acquire - Priority Level 1" -
Portion needed as a north-south
corridor for big game travel be¬
tween Keystone and Soda Creek
Enclaves.

9 "Dispose - Limited" - Suitable for
urban development. Transporta¬
tion and sewage system must be
extended for development. Avail¬
ability limited to exchanges for
lands in tracts 5, 6, 7, and 8.
Development would be removed
from scenic travel corridor by
this exchange and a critical migra¬
tion route and a historical town-
site would be preserved.

Soda Creek Enclave

Tract Action and Reason or Purpose

1 "Acquire - Priority Level 1" -
Needed to preserve critical big
game winter range and critical
migration route necessary to meet
basin management objectives. One
of original homestead dwellings in
Summit is included and will be
preserved and recommended for
historic designation.

2 "Dispose - Limited" - Suitable and
available on limited exchange basis
to consolidate development.

3 "Retain - Private" - Suitable for
development. Land prices paid
for property were high enough to
preclude acquisition of National
Forest purposes at reasonable
costs.

4-5 "Acquire - Priority Level 1" -
Needed to provide additional big
game winter range. Confines
development and reduces adverse
effects of the urban zone on wildlife.

6 "Dispose" - Suitable for develop¬
ment. Consolidates ownership
and provides an opportunity for
land exchange negotiations for
tract 4 and tract 5.

7 "Dispose - Limited" - Suitable for
development. Availability limited
to disposal to (tract 3) adjoining
land owners.

8 "Dispose" - Suitable for develop¬
ment, consolidates ownership and

11

provides opportunity for land ex¬
change for tracts 1 and 9.

9 "Acquire - Priority Level 3" -
Suitable for development. If
acquired consolidates developed
areas and offers a land exchange
opportunity to dispose of tracts 8
or 1 0.

10 "Dispose" - Suitable for develop¬
ment. Consolidates development
area and provides opportunity for
land exchange offer for tracts 1
and 9.

11 "Dispose" - Tract is suitable for
urban development. Consolidates
development and provides opportu¬
nity for land exchange for tract 1
and 9.

12 "Acquire - Priority Level 2" -
Suitable for development but also
needed to preserve the integrity of
the scenic travel corridor of U. S.

6 and protect big game winter and

a critical big game migration route
between Soda Creek and Keystone
Enclaves. It is possible that man¬
agement objectives can be met
through a scenic easement restrict¬
ing development to that existing on
the tract.

SNAKE RIVER BASIN (Acres)

National Forest Lands

Private

Lands

Retain

Disposal

Disposal - Limited

Retain

Acquire

Total

Ski Tip Urban
Enclave

105

98

230

5

438

Keystone Urban
Enclave

65

200

200

110

575

Soda Creek

Urban Enclave

234

0

1126

121

1481

All Urban Zone

404

298

1556

236

2494

Outside Urban

Zone

52389

2509

848

55746

Total - Snake

River Basin

52389

404

298

4065

1084

58240

ADJUSTMENTS SUMMARY (Acres)

Isolated Tracts

Private

Lands

Tract

Acquire

A

37

B

200

C

160

D

120

E

10

Total

527

12

Ski Tip Urban Enclave

Tract

National

Forest Lands

Private

Disposal

Disposal -Limited

Retain

1

80

2

3

70

4

105

5

160

6

18

Total Within Urban

Enclave: Snake

River Basin

105

98

230

Keystone Urban

Enclave

1

25

2

200

3

20

4

20

5

6

7 (Keystone Historical Site - Outside Urban Enclave)

8 (Outside Urban Enclave)

9 _ 200

Grand Total 65 200 200

Less Keystone Historical Site and Area Outside Urban Enclave

Total Within Urban
Enclave - Snake

River Basin 65 200 200

Soda Creek Urban Zone

1 (Outside Urban Enclave)

2 20

3

4 (Outside Urban Enclave)

5 (Outside Urban Enclave)

6 80

7 4

8 20

9 (Outside Urban Enclave)

10 20

11 90

12 (45 acres Outside Snake River Basin)

Grand Total 234 0

Less Area Outside Urban Enclave

Total Within Urban Enclave 234 0

Less Area Outside Snake River Basin

Total Within Urban
Enclave Snake River

Basin 234 0

1126

1126

1126

1126

13

Lands

Acquire

5

5

40

70

(15)

(35)

160

50

110

(171)

(60)

(30)

(10)

1 66
437
271
1 66
45

121

The Beaver Creek Story

Dave Mott, Vail Associates
Mike Blair, Eagle County Planner
Ernie Nunn, White River National Forest

The objectives of this presentation were
to discuss the basic land use planning tech¬
niques, familiarize the participants with
effects of development on Eagle County and
local communities, summarize the work
involved in preparing the final Environmental
Impact Statement, and give the current status
of the Beaver Creek Ski Area proposal.

The overview was to reflect concerns of
the local governments, ski area proponents,
and the Forest Service in relation to overall
planning, cost, and interagency relationships
in Beaver Creek planning.

Vail Associates, Inc., who owns 2, 200
acres of base area property at Beaver Creek
has proposed a year-round recreation develop¬
ment that involves approximately 3, 000 acres
of National Forest land. They applied for a
special use permit on March 1, 1974, based
on a plan to start construction in 1974 with an
initial development opening date in the fall of
197 6, and phased development to proceed over
the following 1 2 to 14 years. The estimated
quality skiing capacity was set to approxi¬

mately 7, 000 skiers per day.

However, the area became controversial
after the filing and review of the final environ¬
mental impact statement in August 1974, for
the 31, 000 acre Meadow Mountain Planning unit
that also covered the Beaver Creek segment.
Forest Supervisor Tom Evans recommended
designation of the segment as an official
winter sports site on January 15, 1975. Newly
elected Governor Lamm requested Regional
Forester William Lucas to delay the designa¬
tion for ten days. However, on January 24,
1975, the area was officially designated as a
winter sports site and the Governor was so
informed. Governor Lamm, on January 29,

197 5, then requested an administrative review
of that decision by filing an appeal, and the
Sierra Club Legal Defense Fund joined the
Governor as a co-appellant several days later.

The planning of Beaver Creek was prob¬
ably the most critiqued process and involved
the participation of more individuals and
groups than any other resource planning pro¬
ject that has ever occurred in Colorado.

-

The Wildwood School

The Wildwood School

Robert B. Lewis

Educational Research Group, Aspen, Colorado

Wildwood is a pre-school for children
aged 3 to 6 years, whose goal is to foster an
'environmental ethic' during a person's
earliest, most receptive years. Development
of an ethic, like that of a religion, starts
early. The 'consumer ethic' is instilled by
our culture from the day of birth. It is not
merely the product of conscious commercial¬
ization, such as advertising, but of most of
the manmade environment that represents
American life.

In contrast, Wildwood aims to replace
this 'consumer ethic' with an 'environmental
ethic' — an understanding of the ecological
balance on this planet and the mutual inter¬
dependence of man and nature. The program
focuses on children during their earliest
learning years, since even high school is
often too late to change attitudes formed
from birth. In Wildwood the children will
learn not merely through precept in a formal
teaching program but through the examples
set by the activities of adults and through the
total learning environment itself. They will
be encouraged to inquire and discover things
for themselves, to pursue their special
interests and talents, and to proceed at an
individual pace. Relations among all mem¬
bers of the school community will be relaxed
and open. Although Wildwood is in the moun¬
tain valley of Aspen, its concept and construc¬
tion are founded in simplicity, and it is in¬
tended as a prototype that could be adopted by
most school systems in any country.

Since what and how a child learns is
greatly influenced by the learning environ¬
ment, Wildwood is built to be as much a part
of the natural environment as possible. The
site for the school is a gently sloping hillside
within an aspen grove. Nearby are streams
and ponds, willow thickets and a spruce
forest. The building conforms to, rather
than dominates, this varied landscape. The
school is built into the hillside, around the
trees and ponds. The architecture is free-

flowing and organic, sculpted to the natural
features of a site chosen specifically for its
irregularities. Rather than fill or level these
features, the designers of Wildwood have made
every effort to preserve them.

Inside the building, free organic forms
continue. Nature is full of curves and so are
human creatures. Thus the free -form exter¬
ior of Wildwood, constructed with ferro¬
concrete, is echoed inside with polyurethane
foam of a soft, earth-like texture. The foam
doubles as an insulator and permits a wide
range of room environments, lofts, tunnels,
slides and cubby holes.

Most children love caves and Wildwood
offers some of that womb -like mystery and
security. Yet it is designed to activate the
senses, heighten perceptions and renew
awareness. Lighting comes through windows
overlooking the life of a pond. It comes also
through skylights, some of which look out
under a flowing stream that fills the room
with rippling light patterns. Other skylights
are recessed, looking out through short
earthen tunnels. Areas of the building not
reached by daylight are lit by cove lighting to
create a variety of moods and learning envir¬
onments consistent with the natural environ¬
ment the children are studying.

Most children love playing with plants and
animals, with sand and pinecones, leaves and
stones and water. As they play, they learn.
Equally natural, it seems, is the attempt of
young children to express and translate their
experiences through drawing, painting, sing¬
ing, dramatic play, music, clay sculpturing
and story-telling. Art is the medium through
which a child, not yet dependent on verbal
skills, most easily and naturally expresses his
ideas and emotions. Thus nature and art be¬
come the twin foci of the Wildwood program,
constantly influencing and reinforcing the
child's growing awareness and responses to
this environment.

15

Traditionally, schools expect input and
output to be in the same medium. If a child
is taught certain facts about frogs, for ex¬
ample, he is usually expected to show know¬
ledge of these facts by repeating them in
answer to test questions. At Wildwood, how¬
ever, the child is encouraged to express his
new learning through different media-
through painting, collage, sculpture, music
or simply through play. As he takes in new
information and mixes it with his own ex¬
perience, ideas, impressions and memories,
he integrates what he has learned with his
growing knowledge of reality and transforms
it into personal understanding. This essen¬
tially is what a creative person does— inter¬
prets, improves, recreates. Thus the child's
mind becomes the interface between the
natural world surrounding him and the broad
spectrum of art. The chipmunk, the cattail
or the cricket may not reappear in the same
form but they will be better integrated into
the child's total experience.

Special equipment and space arrange¬
ments within the school help encourage a vari¬
ety of creative activities. A sunken stage,
organically contoured to provide comfortable
floor seating as well as play space, offers an
area for dramatic play, story-telling and other
group activities. Specially designed art and
learning centers make materials like sand,
water, paint, clay, stones and beads readily
available to the child.

'Learning modules1 lining the large activity
areas provide little rooms, scaled to 5-year-
old size, where children can find privacy,
look at a book, watch a film loop, or observe
a fish in an aquarium. A dimmer -switch
allows the child to adjust the light to suit his
mood.

Unique to Wildwood are the Sensory Rooms,
three small rooms devoted to exercising and
sharpening individual senses. The rooms are
small enough to enable one child to work alone
without interference from over -eager teachers
or peer group pressure. The purpose of the
rooms is not to teach the child everything about
sensory phenomena but merely to help him
experience the range of their possibilities.

Alone in the Light Room, for example, the
child discovers that he can manipulate light
intensity. He can play with shadows, refrac¬
tion, reflection, color. A work table is

equipped with lenses, defraction gratings,
prisms, mirrors, blindfolds, eyepatches and
kaleidoscopes.

In the Sound Room, the child finds a
cassette player, amplifier and stereo speakers,
and a collection of tape cassettes, including
classical and popular music inspired by themes
of nature, as well as poetry recitation and
recordings of animal sounds and calls. Other
materials include a stethoscope, earmuffs
and an assortment of musical instruments
such as a ukelele, drums or bells.

In the Touch, Taste, and Smell Room,
the walls may be covered with cork, slate,
velveteen, bark and other tactile materials.

On the floor may be inflatable pillows and a
cozy bearskin rug. A worktable, parqueted
in different textured wood grains, provides
space to investigate a collection of cattails,
cactus plants, caterpillers and worms.

The blindfold is important equipment in
these rooms, for once sight is blocked, the
other senses become more acute. Blind¬
folded, the child may hear new sounds, handle
objects of different size, weight, texture,
temperature. He may smell with new aware¬
ness, fresh pine needles, wet soil, skunk
cabbage, or different fruits. Further taste
and smell experiments are implicit in the
cooking and nutrition program where the
child also learns about how we use water and
food, what heat does to vegetables and meat,
how grains are ground^ where milk comes
from, how butter, cheese and ice cream are
made.

A child whose senses are regularly exer¬
cised is better equipped to appreciate a water¬
fall, recognize the presence of animal life in
a natural setting or simply enjoy a fresh spring
day. He may also be better equipped to listen
to a symphony, appreciate a painting or under¬
stand a poem. Our senses are our tools for
experiencing the environment. Too often we
have dulled them through misuse or neglect.

How else could we endure the noxious smog
over our cities, the ugliness of many of our
housing developments, the cacophony of the
daily rush hour or the tastelessness of pre¬
packaged food? Wildwood hopes to educate
children to a keener awareness of their sur¬
roundings, to develop their full potential for
experiencing life, and to encourage greater
expectations for this world.

16

The Aspen Story

Stacy Standley, Mayor

4

What happens when you take a small ex¬
mining community of a couple of hundred
acres, and an equal number of souls, and
suddenly expect it to behave as the largest
ski resort in the world?

The recipe took nearly thirty years. It
started with the world's longest single chair
lift on the legendary Ajax Mountain in 1946,
and currently includes nearly forty lifts on
four mountains. The mixture was enhanced
with Ed's Beds, backroom retreats, a run¬
down hotel, and a watering hole. Through the
years the blend has expanded to include
12, 000 pillows and nearly sixty saloons. A
small village called West Village with 5, 500
pillows and a big mountain called Snowmass
were added to insure success.

Then, all hell broke loose. In I960,

150, 000 skier visits were recorded. By 1974,
more than 1. 25 million visits were recorded.
The city budget jumped from half a million
dollars in 19 64 to nearly four million dollars
in 1974. Retail sales jumped from less than
four million dollars in I960 to nearly fifty
million dollars in 1974.

"Growthmania" had taken over the quiet
little town. Real estate values were skyrock¬
eting by 22% per year. Tourist beds were
increasing by 19% per year. Employment
was going up by 14% annually.

Not all the figures were recording suc¬
cess and wealth, however. Per capita income
was only climbing by 3% per year, and the
cost of living quickly rose to the top five in
the country. Law enforcement costs were up
20% per year. Automobile traffic on the two-
lane road that connects Aspen with the out¬
side world was crowding the highway at a rate
of 17% increase per year.

The city and county administrators battled
to regain control of their community. Budget
decisions were being based on corrective re¬
action rather than forward-looking planning
and action. Water systems that had existed
since the turn of the century were giving up
under the new pressure.

Slowing the myriad problems that are
the result of accelerating growth was attacked

and corrective action taken. A sewer plant
was built, a new water treatment facility
constructed, the streets paved, and new
schools built. The economic disaster that
resulted from the closing of the mines years
before had been reversed. Aspen was once
again a living community.

With that newfound vitality came hard
new decisions about the years of success that
apparently lay ahead of the town.

The Aspen Economy. --Aspen's retail
sales have increased by fantastic jumps over
the past fifteen years. But looking only at the
yearly trends does not tell the story of the
true intricasies of the community's economy.

A simple illustration of the yearly cycle
through which the economy struggles demon¬
strates the seasonal variation. Three factors
characterize the fluctuation: employment,
effective population, and sales tax receipts.

Sales tax receipts are the most important
indicator to the local government since it is
on the basis of the town's business perform¬
ance that the budget is prepared. The winter
season of 140 days accounts for less than 40%
of the year, yet during that short time over
60% of the revenue is generated. The high
dependence upon winter tourism is over¬
whelming from a government budgeting point
of view.

The city budget is prepared in September.
Tire most important element is the assess¬
ment of the next year's sources of revenue.
That requires looking at the past year's per¬
formance, assessing the state of the economy,
and predicting the snowfall for the coming
season. The only point of certainty is histori¬
cal performance. All other elements of evalu¬
ation are akin to crystal balls and astrology.

Response to Growth Pressure. -- The
crushing pressure of wildfire growth finally
caught up with the citizens of the community.
They cried "enough" in the fall election of
197 2, when two non -growth commissioners
were elected by sweeping margins.

They set out to reverse the trends of the
recent past. Stringent new zoning laws were

17

passed. The government bureaucracy was
cleaned up and sensitized to the needs of the
citizens.

In the spring of that year the people of
Aspen reaffirmed their dissatisfaction with
uncontrolled growth by electing a non -growth
mayor, and three council people with similar
sympathies.

Initially, the same remedial down zoning
activity that characterized the commissioners'
first months consumed the mayor and council.

Once the causal problems were being
effectively dealt with, the city and county
governments turned towards addressing the
degradation of the living environment and
tourist experience.

The course of action has been to pursue
quality, not quantity, in directing the change
that has and will continue in Aspen and the
Roaring Fork Valley.

With the onslaught of the tourist growth
in the late sixties, Aspen was caught short
handed. Public facilities were not adequate to
cope with the surge of new development.
Therefore, the projects of the city and county
were directed towards supplying and cleaning
up the water, upgrading the electric depart¬
ment, and attempting to direct the growth via
a masterplan.

Getting a better hold on the authority to
govern and generate revenues seemed a nec¬
essary direction for the government to pursue,
if they were to successfully reverse the steam¬
roller effect of growthmania. The citizens
voted to become a home rule city under the
provisions of the state constitution.

With this new-found power came the
opportunity to address the future intelligently a
and resourcefully. A city planner was added
to the staff. His job was to identify the ele¬
ments that made the community attractive to
citizens and tourists - -clean air, an uncluttered
skyline, stately old Victorian buildings, parks,
and pedestrian orientation.

Once identified and recognized as being
of intrinsic value, it became necessary to
protect and enhance these qualities.

Once again the citizens aggressively re¬
sponded to a problem, and a 1% sales tax
was approved. This tax was earmarked for
open space acquisition and preservation. The

first use of the fund was to purchase the 212-
acre golf course, and lodge. The purchase
price was 3. 5 million dollars. A lot of money
to insure that the entrance to the town would
remain uncluttered and pastoral? The citizens
and visitors do not think so.

Recently the city purchased much of the
land across the road from the golf course,
again with the intent of preserving the expan¬
sive beauty that is Aspen. Other land pur¬
chases followed: Ruby Park in downtown
Aspen, the old railroad yards behind the court
house, and river front property adjacent to
the sewer plant.

With the increase in growth, one of the
valuable elements of the Aspen experience was
being compromised: clean air. The villain
was not difficult to identify; the rest of the
country has been living with the problem of
the automobile for years.

The answer was obvious. Mass transit
has been tried in cities since their inception.
The idea may sound absurd in a village of
5, 000 inhabitants, but their ranks are swelled
annually by threefold for five winter months,
and three summer months.

The idea was not absurd and today Aspen
has a free bus sytem funded by the tourist and
local alike through another penny of sales tax
approved by the voters in 1972. To work
mass transit must be convenient and fun.

Funky old 1920 vintage busses, built to mod¬
em specifications, roam the streets complete
with stereo sound, helping the tourist enjoy
his vacation without dependence upon his car.
Aspen's air is another step closer to being
kept clean.

The next step in dealing with the car may
be development of a light rail transit between
Aspen and Snowmass. This project is under
investigation presently, and has received
favorable comment from the Urban Mass
Transit Authority, whose participation would
be required if the system were to become a
reality.

For the summer esident and visitor alike,
the transportion fund is being used to develop
a comprehensive trail system, for both recre¬
ation and transportation. The trails are a
mix of paved bicycle ways and unpaved hiking
and horse paths.

18

The most visible application of the fund
is in the downtown commercial core where
streets are being closed to vehicles and mailed
for pedestrians. The malls, nearly two years
old, have been enthusiastically received by
the tourist and locals in general.

The Problems of Aspen. - -The public
facilities and esthetic projects that have been
undertaken by the city reflect only part of
Aspen's reaction to success. There are
serious and far -reaching social ills brought
about by too much of a good thing.

Pitkin County has the highest crime rate
in the state. Drug abuse is a major concern
of the town. The youth of Aspen have been
financially supported by emotionally abandon¬
ed. Employee housing is almost non-existent.

Law enforcement is a major budget item
in the city. For 1975, the police budget is
10% of the total budget or $37 5, 000. In ten
years the police force has grown from a five
man operation to 27. Aspen is not a danger¬
ous community, but it is a community with
high levels of transiency and some big city
woes.

The police have a difficult job. They must
be servants to the citizens, and, at the same
time, insure order is maintained. Tourists
come to Aspen for fun. They want to do things
they don't dare do at home --carry a drink
from bar to bar, park on the wrong side of
the street, chin themselves on a protruding
business sign, and let their kids drink. They

really believe they are in an adult Disneyland
with no holds barred.

Police are low keyed, friendly, and as
unobtrusive as possible. The police chief
has no direct law enforcement background,
patrol people ride in orange Audi's. A lone¬
some drunk will get a ride home rather than
a hassle.

Teen centers have been tried with limited
success to try to deal with the problems of
youth. The city has run centers in city build¬
ings and private groups have used city facili¬
ties. Recently a youth drug center was estab¬
lished using a house provided by the city. The
Touchstone Mental Health Clinic received a
grant to develop the program to deal with this
major problem.

Employee housing is an area in which the
city has not yet taken sin aggressive, positive
stand. When that time comes, and it must
soon, the costs are going to be overwhelming.
Aspen has an employee base of in excess of
5, 000, most of whom commute many miles up
and down the valley from trailer parks to their
jobs. This will be the most difficult task fac¬
ing the government. It may be one that cannot
be solved satisfactorily.

Even in the face of rapid change and
seemingly unsolvable problems. Aspen has
endured, matured, and flourished with a fer¬
vor that has made her the premier ski resort
of North America.

19

County Government’s View of Ski Area Development and Its Impacts

Allan Blomquist
Pitkin County Manager

On the traditional American scene, the
typical small-town mayor is seldom an expert.

But Aspen's mayor, the previous speaker, is a
ski-area expert. All six of his council mem¬
bers are equally bright and dedicated.

My three bosses, the Board of County Com¬
missioners, are comprised of two top notch
lawyers and one very understanding environ¬
mentalist.

Thus I am secure in saying that the
political leadership in Aspen and Pitkin
County is not typical — it's exceptional.

The movement they've started is truly a
reform movement — now in its third year. After
some two to three years of the input of re¬
search, planning, rhetoric, debate and concensus
making, the city and county are both well into
the output stage of their individual action
programs .

I'm sorry your symposium program doesn't
include a full day on how to stimulate and
strengthen to levels of excellence the local
governmental machinery in the wildlands — before
development happens.

The political leadership has considered
the garbage and kept most of it out. It's not
"garbage-in, garbage-out" here. What we have
instead is an electorate and political leader¬
ship willing to ask the cardinal question like:

Not saying an Ian McHarg plan is great!

But asking, do we want or need it, no

matter how good the analysis and planning?

For the last three years, the answer here,
locally, has usually been a simple and straight¬
forward "no." And the elected men and women
with the courage to vote no on a variety of
development proposals have been getting re¬
elected with an average of 60% of the vote in
the last three elections.

I looked over your program — and it has a
Chamber of Commerce tone reminiscent of the
Eisenhower days of boosterism and pro-growth.

It asks how to do it — not whether it should be
done at all.

Can you imagine all those guys out of a job
if instead of asking for environmental, social
and economic impact studies, the local authori¬
ties just said no.... we don't want any develop¬
ment... no matter how good. Get lost! Why not
say it early instead of late. Just think what
that money and talent could do if instead it
went where it's wanted and needed — like helping
clean-up the messes already created in the name
of mountain development.

We've got one here... and they've got one
at Vail. Forget the malls, bars and boutiques
at Vail. Drop over to Minturn or Redcliff for
lunch or supper. That's where Vail workers live.
Last night you should have gone to Lazy Glen,
Basalt, Carbondale, Koa or El Jebel. That's
where the Aspen workforce lives.

When the impacts are measured in economic
and social terms, an easy way to get a sense
of what it's all about is to come to a place
like Aspen and Vail.... and ask "What's it all
about?" But, don't ask the college kids or the
PR-types . . . . ask the natives who live and work
there. . .ask the voters. . .like we do.

If on your Vail visit you promise to check
the shanties at Minturn and Redcliff (have your
buses go via Battle Mountain), I'll tell you
some tales from fabulous Aspen and wonderful
Pitkin County — things your research last night
probably missed.

Pitkin County provides 25% of all skier
days in Colorado. Ninety percent of our skiers
are from out-of-state. Sixty percent of our
sales-tax take occurs during the four-month ski
season from 200,000 skiers. We get forty per¬
cent of the sales-tax take in eight months from
1,000,000 summer-type tourists. A skier spends
seven days. A summer visitor passes through,
stopping for a day or two.

You are summer passing-through tourists.

Our net on most of you is minimal .. .but we're
glad you're here. It helps some of the seasonal
irrationalities associated with our basic in¬
dustry. The best times are spring and fall —
it's peaceful then — but no one makes his living
then either.

Within the last three years our body

20

politic has done the following:

1 . Slowed Growth

We were growing at a 15% to 20% rate in the
early 70's. The electorate said stop it. And
we have slowed it substantially. No Hilton.

Two Ian McHarg plans are dead. Downzoned from
200,000 possible population to less than 50,000.
Eight law suits claiming damages of $32,000,000.
Owners who thought they could build 1,000 condos
woke up able to build one house on each 10 acres.
Tough business.

2 . Trails and Malls

Last year 250,000 in trails and the same
this year — a whole half-million in trails to
make using an auto un-necessary for short trips.
The city mall program has the same goal. A
million may be spent next year to improve and
expand the city's mall system.

3. Transit

Stopped the state from 4-laning the highway,
and now have a 10 million dollar streetcar ap¬
plication in the final stages before U.M.T.A.--
it connects Snowmass with Aspen. In 1976 the
city and county will spend some $300,000 on
free, year-round buses... for the first time,
more than the Ski Corp. spends on its 4-month
free ski bus program.

4 . Buildings

A $1,000,000 airport terminal opens this
fall and a $5,000,000 new hospital opens next
fall. Our courthouse renovations will soon
reach the $200,000 level.

5 . Human Services

We've doubled our police and sheriff depart¬
ments in those three years. We've added a full¬
time human resources coordinator, full-time
county agent and full-time housing officer.

We've doubled the planning department. We've
helped finance public health nursing for the
first time this year and will give public mon¬
ies to mental health programs for the first time
next year. Between the city and county, we now
have two full-time juvenile officers and a major
Prevention of Mountain Burglaries Program under¬
way.

I've just gone through several million dol¬
lars. That sounds like New York or Chicago —
we even have what sounds like an 0E0 program.

When you put lots of men, women and children
at leisure in the wildlands that's what happens!

What bothers me is that no one wants to
admit it! It's better pushed under the rug.

It dirties the bonanza image of skiing, tourism
and man at leisure in the wildlands. It's not
nature and peaceful — its wild.

The current county budget totals $4.5 mil¬
lion. Yesterday, I got my first report on the
county budget requests for next year . The re¬
quests are $1.5 million in excess of projected
revenues. I've got 30-days to do the first
round of slashing — then the commissioners will
join me for the second round. Finally, it'll
come into balance — as the law says it must.

But this is the third year we've had to do
that. Shortly we're going to do better on our
revenue picture. In money terms, our goal is
to get 50% of our sales tax in summer and 50%
in winter. In conceptual terms, that goal is
stated in terms of converting from a pass¬
through tourism phenomena, yielding 40% of the
sales-tax take, to a summer destination resort,
yielding 50% — one that is as auto-free as is
humanly possible. We've even gone so far as
to start studying the possibility of closing
Independence Pass to help achieve that goal.

All this adds up in one of our nations
oldest and most successful ski and tourism cen¬
ters in one of America's more spectacular and
delicate wildland areas as saying that sea¬
sonal "use" can and often is a dangerous and
difficult thing because of its off-season
"impacts. "

Let me close by listing and discussing
five of the questions or issues raised by the
off-season impacts of skiing.

1 . Federal Impact

Should the definition include U.S.F.S.
permits for ski area and U.S. tax break for
second homes and the year-round effect thereof
of land prices on agriculture and employee
housing?

(A) Should there be payments in lieu of
taxes?

(B) Should federal grants be denied for
urban/poverty criteria?

(C) Shoulu there be integrated grants,
etc., tuned in to the specific need —
not some distant federal criteria?

(D) National recreation access study

(E) Current federal aid criteria are out¬
right discriminatory against ski areas
like Pitkin County!

2 . Impact Analysis

Developments in most wild area counties
find local government lacking in seasonal im¬
pact analysis and development control experi¬
ence. Should the state or someone make an
expert strike force available — early enough
to be useful?

(A) State do it or state help county do it?

(B) Role of private enterprise — exemplary
stance taken by Aspen Skiing Corp. in
Washington state.

21

(C) Role of U.S.F.S., R.C. & D. , S.C.S.
ocher federal agencies commonly lo¬
cated in wild area counties?

(D) Fact — all three levels must be in it
together — early !

3. Peaking

National holidays and such things as week¬
end discounts by the airlines contribute to
weekend and holiday peaks at the wild area
vacation destination. Our new $1,000,000 air¬
port terminal is an example — if our passengers
didn't all fly in on Saturday afternoons it
could be one-fourth the size. As it is, it's
bigger than the one in Colorado Springs.

(A) Seasonal peaking is another problem —
our two airlines are overloaded for
four months and almost empty for eight.

(B) Holiday peaking is best illustrated
by Christmas.

(C) The public costs of peaking include
airports, roads, sheriff, hospital,
rescue, etc. --they must be sized for
the peak and maintained intact in the
off-peak! The cumulative effect is
costly — in the private sector as well.
Restaurant prices have to cover the
off-season slack.

(D) Those costs mandate an expensive
search for off-peak and off-season
fillers. If the search is sensible —
fine. If it is panicked and desper¬
ate, a place might be willing to "take
anything."

4 . Can Success Kill?

The last three elections went the way they
did because so many voters were convinced suc¬
cess was killing Aspen! I thought Wakiki was
dead ten years ago and new high rises are still
going up! And for me it is dead, even if it
is not for others.

(A) Local success should be defined
locally — though more often than not
it is defined by investors elsewhere.

(B) Should the number of men, women and

children at leisure in a specific

wild area be determined:

1) By the local people,

2) By some calculation or carrying
capacity

3) By investors, or

4) By the state/federal governments?

(C) What about the Petaluma decision?

5 . Who Pays?

Only 200,000 skiers pay sixty cents of each
sales tax dollar we receive, while a massive
1,000,000 summer tourists pay only the remain¬
ing forty cents. On a per capita contribution
basis, you can see why we like skiers. Our
summer visitor typically camps, hikes or spends
one night and leaves. Many just pass through
and stop for lunch, often from the ice chest in
the back of the station wagon.

Yet two weeks ago the helicopter bill to find
and haul out a dead mountain climber exceeded
$3,000. The bill was sent to the family — we
hope they pay — or we'll have to. If we make
that payment — it'll come from ski season re¬
ceipts .

We put all taxes paid directly by the Aspen
Skiing Corporation and the U.S.F.S. payment in
lieu of taxes into our contingency fund.

Does the hiker, camper, boater and other
non-taxed sportsmen from outside a county have
any responsibility to help pay directly from
some or all of the local public costs he causes?
If he doesn't pay — who should?

In conclusion — I read your program — and wish
I could join you in Vail.

I've rambled around — trying to find a few
points that might provide some useful background
and a few thought provoking questions to bring
to the conference where I'm sure the answers
will out number the questions.

Suffice it to say — in Pitkin County the
cardinal question today is whether — not how.

And if we continue our slow-growth stance — I
fully expect we'll soon move from the current
emphasis on slowing it to a more positive ef¬
fort involving how to both keep it slow and
still keep it from becoming just another resort
for the rich only. But that's another impact —
it's time for lunch.

Thank you.

22

<A

V

The Developer’s View of Ski Area Development

D. R. C. Brown, President
Aspen Skiing Corporation, Aspen, Colorado

The topic of this consortium is "Man,
Leisure and Wild Lands" and I suspect that
Tom Bell invited me to be here today because
the company I represent is dependent upon
man with leisure for its economic existence
and it operates on the fringes of wild lands, in
this instance the White River National Forest.
The four ski areas in Aspen cover approxi¬
mately 8, 000 acres. There are over two
million acres in the White River National
Forest. On a busy day, 18, 000 skiers use
these 8, 000 acres and I would hazard a guess
that there has never been a day when there
were 18, 000 people on the remaining
1, 992, 000 acres of the national forest. One
could assume from this that a ski area offers
a recreational or leisure experience to the
maximum number of people on a minimum
amount of land and that it has little direct
impact on the wild lands.

There is, however, a considerable in¬
direct impact and I would like to take you back
forty years and describe Aspen in the 1930' s.
Four hundred people living in town, the Hotel
Jerome offering the only tourist accommoda¬
tion, one grocery store, one drug store, and
one hardware store comprised downtown
Aspen. The biggest payroll in the community
was the Midnight Mine with eight men. The
road to Maroon Lake was rough and dusty and
saw possibly two or three cars a day during
the tourist season. Conundrum Hot Springs
averaged less than ten visitors a summer and
I have spent a week at Snowmass Lake with¬
out seeing another person. This remained
pretty much the state of affairs until after the
war when the first two chair lifts were built
on Aspen Mountain. They had a combined up¬
hill capacity of 400 skiers per hour which was
adequate for the demand for the first two or
three years, but more and more people came
to town, built houses, started lodges and
restaurants, and other service businesses and
the two lifts had to be supplemented by a third
lift and then later a fourth and fifth lift. By
the mid-1950's, the town and the demand for
skiing had grown to where Aspen Highlands
was constructed, a little later Buttermilk

and then Snowmass.

The road to Maroon Lake was paved and
the campground there so overcrowded that
there is now talk of closing it. Conundrum
Hot Springs campsite is in equally bad shape.
One can find no grass for his horses at Snow¬
mass and somedays it's hard even to find a
place to pitch a tent there.

A lot of the new residents of Aspen were
people with considerable leisure time. They
varied from the retired industrialist who built
a half million dollar home on Red Mountain to
the college dropout living in a teepee on the
wild lands. In addition to these residents,
there was a big influx of summer tourists
brought here in part by the cultural amenities
and in part by promotional programs of the
various businesses in town who found they
needed more than four months of good business
during the ski season to survive.

The resident of Aspen in the '30's had
been too busy trying to eke out a living to
worry about his leisure activities, but our
new residents of the '60's and '70' s are most
concerned with this aspect of life. They want
all the good things associated with the life of
leisure, paved bike paths, inexpensive tennis
and golf, clean streams to fish in, and mod¬
erately priced skiing, and they want the tourist
to pay for it. The county's expenditures for
these amenities are geared to a growth econo¬
my, but public sentiment to a large extent
favors a no-growth posture. In effect, the
local citizenry is trying to have its cake and
eat it too.

The situation in Aspen resembles on a
small scale the situation in the entire state of
Colorado. Colorado's population has doubled
in the past twenty years and most of the people
were attracted here by the mountains, the
clean air, the skiing, the hunting and fishing
and hiking opportunities which abounded in the
state. But as more people come here, they
tend to destroy the very things that they came
here for. The most recent arrival in the state

23

is usually the most vociferous proponent of a
no -growth policy.

The state government has reacted by
enacting some fairly stringent land use laws
and by using the environmental impact state¬
ment as a weapon to deter growth. I have no
quarrel with the original intent of an environ¬
mental impact statement which was to force a
developer to catalogue, consider, and make
public all the possible effects of his develop¬
ment upon the environment, but the environ¬
mental impact statement has been subverted
by certain pressure groups and by state
agencies for a purpose far beyond its original
intent.

Beaver Creek is a case in point. You
gentlemen and ladies are enroute to Vail and
no doubt will hear a good deal about Beaver
Creek from Vail Associates. Briefly, Beaver
Creek is a proposed development near Vail
upon which Vail Associates has to date spent
over half a million dollars for an environ¬
mental impact statement. The project has
received Forest Service approval, but at the
state level, various agencies criticized the
statement as being totally inadequate and the
governor has prevailed upon the Forest Ser¬
vice in Washington to place a year's moratori¬
um on any new ski development in the state.

As an example of the nit-picking tactics used

by a state agency, the state historical society
objected to the environmental impact state¬
ment on the basis that there had been no inven¬
tory of Indian artifacts on the private land in¬
volved there.

What it all boils down to is that the devel¬
opment of a new ski area in this state is be¬
coming so involved in red tape and so expen¬
sive that it has no appeal to a potential invest¬
or. Very few ski areas are profitable ven¬
tures now and when a would-be developer has
to spend something between a half a million
and a million dollars on preliminaries before
he even knows whether he can obtain permis¬
sion to proceed, there is little or no incentive
to undertake the development especially when
in addition he is faced with regulation of the
prices he may charge by the Forest Service.

If Beaver Creek gets off the ground, I firmly
believe that it will be the last major ski
development by private capital ever under¬
taken in Colorado. If the demand for skiing
facilities continues to increase, either there
will have to be a change in the existing political
climate or it will have to be met elsewhere.

Returning to the original topic, leisure
and how we use it is the heart of the problem.
Too many people with too much leisure are
not compatible with wild land environment.

24

The State Planner’s View of Ski Area Development

Charles Foster, Land Use Planning Consultant
Colorado Department of Local Affairs

Our topic for discussion is Problems of
Second -Home Development and Related Land
Use Planning. I am not attempting to speak
for the State of Colorado on this subject, but
will be drawing heavily on past experience as
a planning consultant in the Rocky Mountain
Region and as County Planning Director in
Summit County, Colorado.

Three traditional areas where problems
occur as a result of development in a land use
system are:

1. Physical constraints

2. Social systems

3. Economic impacts.

In addition, land use problems arising
from the system itself need to be considered.
These include:

1. Political systems

2. Past commitments

3. Lack of governmental cooperation

Physically most mountain land does not
lend itself to development. Ownership is
mixed and fragmented. Parcels that were
well suited for mine or mill sites or home -
steads do not have the same attributes for
residential development. Poor soils, extreme
slopes, bad aspect, rockslides, avalanches,
various geologic hazards, wildfire, and flood
danger are so common as to become normal.
Altitude seems to intensify most of these prob¬
lems but is often overlooked. Access can be
critical, and considering it an engineering
challenge can complicate rather than mitigate
the problem.

Decision makers should understand that
when you add up all of these factors on a pro¬
posed site, the bottom line may tell you:

DO NOT DEVELOP. They must learn that an
approval to develop is not the automatic re¬
ward for preparing all of the required studies,
regardless of what they tell us. The studies

are to provide adequate information to make a
decision which can be either yes or no.

Socially the "natives" or existing popula¬
tion have little frame of reference for the
changes that are going to occur as a result of
major development. It is extremely difficult
for any of us to visualize what X thousand
new people or Y thousand new buildings will
mean to a community.

There appears to be wishful thinking that
the new development will simply create a
healthy increase in business activity without
altering the existing power structure. As we
have witnessed in Pitkin County (Aspen) and
Summit County ( Breckenridge ), the new major¬
ity will probably generate massive social,
economic, and political change.

A large recreational development requires
large numbers of service people, relatively
cheap labor, seasonal employment and housing
for a broad range of incomes. There is a
rapid rate of turnover in the population as old
residents move, or are forced to leave, and
new residents arrive.

The amount of general turmoil and disrup¬
tion in the social system will depend upon the
population base at the start of development,
the rate and period over which development
occurs, the magnitude of the project and its
location in relation to existing population
centers. It will also be very much influenced
by the local political system and what steps
were taken to predict, time, phase, guide and
control the activity.

Economically there has been an assump¬
tion that growth, or broadening the tax base,
would lead to general prosperity. We talked
in terms of benefits and did not consider costs.

I see very little change in that attitude in the
mountain region. Even though we now have

25

many bad examples, I can't see that we have
learned very much from them.

Developers are optimists. They are
always going to sell 100% of the project in 1 0
years. What happens if only 10% is sold in 10
years? Or if the project is bankrupt in 2
years? We have to look at the alternatives,
the best and the worst, and then make decis¬
ions.

In mountain counties service costs are
high. Obviously the more scattered the
development the more it costs for road main¬
tenance and snow plowing, busing school
children, police and fire protection, and even
trash hauling.

We cannot oversimplify the problem.
Development is not all good or all bad. The
ski area may be good for a county and the
sprawl around it bad. We have to be able to
make those determinations and say welcome
to the positive and no to the negative.

Local political systems that function ade¬
quately under normal conditions are often not
prepared to cope with the problems and needs,
or the potentials and pressures, of a major
development. By the time someone decides
that something needs to be done to direct or
control the activity, it is probably too late to
prevent the worst abuses. Because land use
planning appears to be a relatively simple
subject- -we use land, therefore we know about
land use - -local officials often assume that they
can handle planning problems on the basis of
their own past experience. It is difficult to
convince those officials that there is a need
for professional experience.

While a sewer system must be designed
by a professional engineer, land use planning
functions may be turned over to an already
overworked building inspector or sanitarian.

I do not argue with the idea that land use decis¬
ions should be made by the local officials. I
am only suggesting that the quality of those
decisions could be improved if they are based
upon facts generated by a planning process
conducted by planning professionals.

I think it is necessary here to point out
the obvious, giving an employee (or a consul¬
tant) the title of planner does not create an
instant expert. We need people with a combi¬

nation of education and experience in land use
planning. The universities could play an im¬
portant role here. There are many good em¬
ployees who are acquiring experience through
their jobs and would welcome the opportunity
for education, but cannot travel to the univer¬
sity. What programs can the schools develop
to bring planning education out to local govern¬
ments ?

Past commitments can be a major obstacle
to land use programs. Commitments can in¬
clude zoning, verbal agreements, moral or
philosophical commitments, and precedents.
Whatever the manner in which they were
made, commitments are very difficult to
change.

In Summit County between August, 1972,
and August, 1975, no large rezonings for resi¬
dential use were approved. This had virtually
no effect on residential development (about

3, 000 building permits were issued during this
period) because prior to 1972 this county of

4, 000 residents had been zoned to accommo¬
date a population of more than 100, 000.

Summit is more the rule than the exception.
There are beaver ponds and floodplains zoned
for condominiums in too many of our counties.

Verbal, moral, or philosophical commit¬
ments are precedents can often be mitigated
by changing the decision making process. If
facts are required and then used, many of
these commitments will be impossible to ful¬
fill. Using good administrative and legal
practice would go a long way to solving many
of our problems.

There is a general lack of cooperation
among local, state, and federal governments.
Local government is afraid that big brother
will take over and dictate policy. State and
federal governments are not convinced that
the locals either can or will handle their prob¬
lems. A cooperative effort is needed that
clearly defines each party's roles and res¬
ponsibilities. Mutually agreeable policies,
procedures and regulations can then be devel¬
oped. To make this idea work, state and
federal governments cannot simply pay lip
service to the idea but must establish their
credibility by their actions.

I know that this is not a new suggestion.
JWhat I want to emphasize is that good inten-

26

tions have not and will not solve the problem.
We need a real commitment to good cooperative
planning from the state and federal levels to
make it work. A first step would be to re¬
quite cooperative planning on any project
where there are public (state or federal) funds
or lands or permits required. These would
not be authorized until a cooperative planning
process had taken place that considered the
impacts that would result from the public
action. This would not replace an E. I. S. but
should bring both the E. I. S. and the local
government into the planning process.

In summary, we can go a long way toward
solving problems of second-home development
and related land use planning by the following
actions :

1. Develop education programs that will
help local decision makers understand
the problems, needs and opportunities.

2. Develop planning programs that will
require decisions based upon facts.

3. Develop cooperative planning processes
where local, state, and federal efforts
reinforce each other in their mutual
goal of good land use practices.

27

Environmental Resource Analysis: Pitkin County, Colorado

■V 'V' \

Perry J. Brown

Associate Professor of Regional Resource Planning
College of Forestry and Natural Resources, Colo. State Univ.

One component of comprehensive land use
planning is an environmental resource infor¬
mation base. Environmental data are useful
for evaluating the capability of the natural
environment to produce land use opportunities
and for identifying environmental hazards and
unique resources of concern in public policy.
For comprehensive land use planning, environ¬
mental resource information is combined with
social and economic information in the produc¬
tion of a land use plan. Therefore, what is
discussed below is not the development of a
land use plan, but rather a basic element of
comprehensive planning: an environmentally
based land use analysis.

In 197 2, staff at Colorado State Univer¬
sity who were developing a program in region¬
al resource planning began discussions with
governmental and citizen leaders in Pitkin
County and Aspen regarding comprehensive
land use planning. Much of the discussion
centered around environmental planning and
an analysis of environmental resources. After
these discussions and several with environ¬
mental planning consultants, it was decided by
the Board of County Commissioners to enter
into an agreement with CSU to conduct an
environmental resource analysis of the private
lands within the county. It was determined that
the least information had been pulled together
for private lands and thus they were to be the
focus of inventory and analysis.

The setting in which the study was under¬
taken is one of environmental grandeur and
rapid social, economic, and land use change.
Pitkin County is a tapestry of natural qualities.
The county's rich and varied natural beauty
combines with its historic heritage to produce
a character and identity that is unique. The
frontier silver -boom atmosphere of the 1880's
and the life style of western ranching are set

in a landscape of beautiful peaks, forests, and
valleys of the Colorado Rockies. This spec¬
tacular combination of natural and cultural
qualities which developed a unique man -land
relationship is now the catalyst for rapid
growth. The demand for mountain recreation
and the search for a natural refuge away from
the crowded urban centers is rapidly changing
the character of Pitkin County.

To help the county learn how to control
its changing character, an environmental
resource analysis was undertaken to meet
three major objectives. The first was to
develop land use recommendations based on
an analysis of environmental resource factors.
The second was to provide the county and its
citizens with an understandable interpretation
of the natural resource factors used to develop
the land use recommendations. The third was
to provide a dynamic planning tool whose
methodology was clear, and one which was
adaptable to new information or technology.

In meeting these objectives five specific pro¬
ducts are identifiable from the study. Several
other educational and planning benefits were
also realized, but they are of a less tangible
nature. The five specific products were (1)
a set of single factor resource maps, (2) a
composite land suitability map based upon the
capabilities expressed in the single factor
maps and a set of county goals, (3) a land use
decision matrix which enables quick identifica¬
tion of land use constraints and constraint
mitigating measures for several potential land
uses, (4) a technical report which describes
the study methodology and helps in interpreta¬
tion of the various maps, and (5) continuing
involvement with the county to aid in inter¬
preting environmental resource information
for comprehensive land use planning purposes.
Each of these items is discussed a little later
in this paper.

28

THE STUDY

Procedure

A team of five graduate students was
assembled to conduct the study in Pitkin
County. Their basic task was to assemble all
of the already collected environmental resource
information available in many governmental
offices and meld this information into a
coherent data base. In some cases this in¬
volved going beyond the existing information
and collecting primary data in the field to fill
some gaps. Field checking of the secondary
data was also required.

Once the information was assembled it
was mapped at a scale of 2 inches equals 1
mile to produce the single factor maps. These
maps were then composited based upon a set
of given county goals to produce a land suita¬
bility map. From these maps and other back¬
ground information, the other study projects
were produced.

Two comments about the utilization of the
graduate students are appropriate here. First,
they were dispatched to the county and actually
lived and worked with the people of the area.
This enabled them to develop a sensitivity to
the social and political composition of the
citizens and to develop ideas and recommenda¬
tions of concern to the county. Second, the
graduate students were given considerable
opportunity to develop the project in response
to their own ideas and the changing county
situation. Within some broad limits they
completely administered the project within
the county. They developed the contacts to
obtain the necessary information, initiated
involvement with local public groups, made
presentations at public hearings and meetings,
and learned to receive both the praise and
abuse associated with public activity.

Resource Maps

The single factor resource maps were
prepared as the primary display mechanisms
for the resource data. They also enable con¬
sideration of individual resource elements,
and, as new data become available, they enable
the modification of one map without the neces¬
sity of recompositing which would be necessary
for multi. -resource maps.

Single factor maps were prepared for
geologic hazards, soils, water and hydrology,
flood plains, vegetation, wildfire hazard, fish

and wildlife, visual vulnerability, and snow
avalanche hazards. These resources were
selected because of their relationship to
public health and safety or because they repre¬
sent amenities of considerable public interest
in the county (e.g., wildlife).

Land Suitability Map

A land suitability map is made from rele¬
vant resource factors indicating land capability
and social preferences. The suitability map
prepared for Pitkin County relied on a compo¬
siting of the single factor maps to produce a
map which reflected the county goals of in¬
suring protection of health and safety, main¬
taining open space, maintaining existing and
potential agricultural land in agricultural
classification, maintaining wildlife populations,
and controlling the growth and distribution of
developmen t.

The resulting suitability map identifies
four land classifications. First, are those
lands classed as protected. These are lands
which have values or hazards which should not
be compromised (given county goals). Such
areas as rockfall areas and critical elk winter
range are classified as protected. The second
classification is non-occupancy lands. These
are areas deemed suitable for dispersed and
non -permanent use and not suitable for perma¬
nent habitation. Steepness of slope was a pri¬
mary criterion in designation of these lands.
Geologic and soils instability and potential
for wildfire spread were also considered.
Classified third were productive lands. These
were primarily lands which had good agricul¬
tural potential. Finally, occupancy lands were
identified. These are the lands best suited
for structural development and long-term
occupancy.

Land Suitability Matrix

The land suitability matrix is a planning
tool designed to be used in conjunction with
the portfolio of single factor resource maps.
Basically, this decision matrix associates land
use options with resource factors. The matrix
indicates the compatibility of each land use
category with the different resource factors by
indicating whether the factor prohibits, re -
stricts, or does not constrain (allows) the
land use activity. Most factors restrict, but
do not prohibit activities. Therefore, associ¬
ated with the matrix is a listing of ways to

29

overcome the restrictions. These mitigating
measures are often engineering and design
recommendations .

The decision matrix is valuable because
it is easy to use and enables the planner to
make quick decisions. From the resource
maps the planner can identify limitations on
any parcel of land. Then, by consulting the
matrix, the planner can identify the activities
which are prohibited or restricted, and if
restricted, how to overcome the restrictions.
With just a little bit of effort the planner can
easily respond to a developer's questions and
requests by consulting the land suitability
matrix.

Technical Report

The fourth product from the study is the
technical report which backs -up the other
products. Contained in the report is the
rationale and organization for the study,
sources and methods for data collection, in¬
formation which could not readily be mapped
such as wildlife lists, and an interpretation and
explanation of the maps and other data. The
technical report is the source book for infor¬
mation on any resource factor.

Continuing Involvement

While the degree of continuing involvement
achieved between CSU and the county has been
less than desired, communication channels
have been kept open during implementation of
the study results. Most of the continuing in¬

volvement has been in interpreting mapped
data and in recommending ways that the in¬
formation might be utilized in the planning
process.

EVALUATION

The environmental resources analysis for
Pitkin County was a successful project from
several perspectives. First, it contributed
substantially to the education of five graduate
students in CSU1 s Regional Resource Planning
Program. Second, it was instrumental in
strengthening the development of this program.
Third, it is being utilized by the county in its
land use planning efforts. This use by the
county has been very rewarding. The county
has been using the study results in preparing
land use ordinances and reviewing subdivision
and other development requests. It has used
the information in other ways also; all con¬
tributing to greater comprehensive land use
planning for the county.

This project combined several aspects of
research, development, and application.

While it contained more application focus than
many projects, it seems to have contained
many aspects of value to the University.

Both the direct education of students it pro¬
vided and the development of classroom ex¬
amples and case studies were significant pro¬
ject outputs. At times it was difficult working
in the highly political environment of land use
planning but our general experience has been
very rewarding.

30

The Vail Story

Terry Minger, City Manager
Vail, Colorado

If there had been a Vail just 11 years ago,
citizens gazing down from the Eagle's Nest
vantage point would have set their sights on a
tranquil valley. Perhaps the grazing sheep
would have provided the only perceptible
movement.

The history that has squeezed itself into
this small valley during the past 10 years has
been romanticized by ski and travel writers
ever since the sheep headed for less inflated
pasture s .

The ski boom is not the first period of
prosperity witnessed by oldtimers in the area,
however. In the past, mining and then the
railroads brought successive spurts of new
activity into the community, then sputtered
out either when resources or the public
demand became depleted.

Modern historians have often drawn a
colorful parallel between the mining and skiing
eras in Colorado history. Both brought over¬
night prosperity and speculation. Some have
carried the analogy full circle and prophesized
a gloomy end to the ski boom. But, in Vail
at least, recent efforts at community develop¬
ment point to a growing trend toward long¬
term commitments.

Vail pioneers saw a single vision in their
early excavations - -a first-class ski resort.
There were some noisy summers of construc¬
tion, several energetic winter seasons spent
courting converts and gaining loyal friends,
and suddenly the vision was real. Vailites
could redirect some of their momentum to¬
ward building a small community within the
larger resort.

In 1966 Vailites instituted municipal
government. They elected a mayor, hired a
town manager, and incorporated a Town.

They took on the responsibility of building a
chapel. They hired a full-time physician and
started planning for a permanent medical
facility. They turned their attention to schools
and public recreation facilities --a golf course,
tennis courts, ice arena, and summer day camp.

The formation of a centralized marketing
agency allowed the community to think of it¬
self in terms of a year-round resort and to
encourage convention business.

Increasing numbers of new residents are
non-skiers, drawn to the attractiveness of the
area as a place to work, to live and to partici¬
pate in a unique lifestyle.

Even with recent annexations of new land
to the Town of Vail, a large portion of the
Vail -employed population has spilled into
outlying areas. Between I960 and 1970 the
population of Eagle County increased by over
60 per cent. A recent housing study showed
the highest concentration of county population
in the Gore Creek and Upper Eagle Valley and
that more than half of that region's population
resided outside the incorporated towns of Vail,
Red Cliff and Minturn. What has obviously
developed is an untamed suburb stretching to
the base of Vail Pass on the east and to and
beyond Beaver Creek, the formerly proposed
site of the 1976 Olympics on the west.

Lacking all but minimal county controls,
the fate of these areas is at the mercy of a
developer's conscience. In past months
county commissioners have imposed a tempo¬
rary moratorium on additional connections to
the upper valley's sanitation system until
overloading problems can be resolved.

Formerly a rural community solely
occupied with lumbering, ranching and the
dwindling operation of a zinc mine, the county
government has accepted a role as arbiter of
a growth policy for the sprawling edges of its
newest town, Vail, and youngest industry,
tourism.

The Town of Vail long ago extinguished
any lingering delusions that its architectural
controls or other restrictive ordinances
might influence similar but self-imposed
regulations outside the city limits. In spite
of some innovative planning and problem
solving, Vail has itself faced continuous civic
problems and has as yet been unable to rest

31

on the laurels of "model" city status.

The need for parking, for an effective
mass transit system, for improved utilities
systems, for environmental protection and a
plethora of other common concerns have nur¬
tured an awareness of interdependence among
the various factions in the county, Vail and
its neighboring communities. It is from this
perspective that the local community is formu¬
lating and implementing a new and viable
growth ethic.

NATURE OF THE ECONOMY

The Town of Vail and the Upper Eagle
Valley economy is almost wholly dependent
on tourism and recreation. See Appendices
A, B, and C for an analysis of property and
sales tax growth over the past five years. The
tourism and recreation industry is dominated
by skiing and winter sports in that only the
winter season utilizes the full capacity of the
public and private facilities in the Town of
Vail and Upper Eagle Valley. This industry
and the related summer construction generate
substantial rest-of-the-year economic activity
approaching 75% of the winter activity in em¬
ployment.

The growth of skiing, however, appears
to be the driving force behind the town and
county' s growth. During the past five years a
number of relationships have stabilized which
suggest that the number of skier days regis¬
tered during the winter season are a fairly
valid indicator of change, a predictor of em¬
ployment, retail sales and total personal in¬
come during the following year.

In summary, skiing is the primary vari¬
able affecting the whole Town of Vail/Upper
Eagle Valley economy. Change in skiing
apparently drives changes in retail sales and
in employment (certainly in the part based on
recreation employment). Skiing is also the
motivator for building more visitor accomo¬
dations, and its growth creates more demand
for locally employed residents, although that
demand may not be met. Also, skiing may be
constrained by accomodations capacity. If
there are too few accomodations, ski capacity
cannot be fully utilized. If there are too many
accomodations, skiing capacity will be over¬
loaded and quality will be degraded.

Particularly if condominiums are being
marketed as speculative investments, that
activity may also become a primary (and very
volatile) variable affecting the local economy.

At present, peak accomodations and peak
skiing capacity appear to be roughly in
balance. Town of Vail skiing capacity is esti¬
mated at 11, 500 per day. About 15, 000 beds
are estimated to be available in visitor
accomodations .

The Town of Vail has been experiencing
an economic boom since 1966, the year that
condominium construction and marketing
began to dominate much of the community's
development. During that period, Vail has
become a 'boom' town. ('Boom1 is defined
arbitrarily as growth at an annual rate of ten
per cent per year or more. Our experience
indicates that a five to seven per cent growth
rate is the maximum a small community can
comfortably absorb. ) From 1968 to 1973, the
following indicators of growth rate have been
above the ten per cent threshold which defines
a 'boom' situation:

Skier visits 15-18% annual growth rate

Employment (est. ) 15-20% annual growth rate
Population (est. ) 20% annual growth rate

Retail sales 25% annual growth rate

Total local govern¬

ment spending
TOV city budget
County budget
Vehicle registration
Real estate values

QUALITY OF LIFE

15-20% annual growth rate
20% annual growth rate
15% annual growth rate
20% annual growth rate
20% annual growth rate

Eagle County and the Gore Valley have
offered a uniquely high quality of life in the
past. This was characterized by easy access

RATE OF CHANGE

The most accurate and important descrip¬
tion of the TOV-UEV is its rate of change.

This factor, more than its social composition
or its internal relationships, presents the
community with its opportunities and its prob¬
lems .

32

to a magnificently scenic and unspoiled physi¬
cal environment- -from the grandeur of the
mountains to the variety of plants and wildlife.
This has been supplemented by a cosmopolitan
cross-section of people, and unusual but
readily accessible amenities of recreation,
cultural events, restaurants, boutiques, etc.

This is now perceived by many to be
threatened by boom growth and the correlates
of boom growth: crowding, dense vehicle
traffic, smog, visual pollution, mediocre
development and design, increases in munici¬
pal and county spending, distorted social struc¬
ture and ultimately the loss of the small
resort-town intimacy.

COST OF LIVING

The cost of living in Vail is now one of
the highest of any town in Colorado and the
U. S. Housing costs are the biggest single
contributor to this high index, and the short
supply of family -type housing suggests this
cost will continue to rise if the community
grows and attracts families. The resort
activity bids up food and transportation prices,
too, and requirements for public services and
facilities raise local residents' taxes further.
We have been successful in shifting some of
the local tax burden to the guest and visitor
through the use of the 3% local sales tax, a
lift tax and a developers' recreation tax, thus
enabling the municipality to remain responsive
during the accelerated growth period.

It should be noted that at a 15 per cent an¬
nual growth rate, a quantity doubles in less
than five years; at a 20 per cent annual growth
rate, it doubles in less than four years. For
instance, at current growth rates, the number
of people in Vail would double in a little over
four years, or 12, 500 people by 1978.

As with most boom communities, this
sort of growth presents local government with
more problems in growth management than
opportunities for growth exploitation. Common
categories of boom town problems are:

--effects on adjacent communities and
lifestyles outside new -re sort town;

--degraded quality of environment and
life;

--threatened viability of local government;

--inability of county to provide services
in adjacent areas;

--school crowding and overall lower
educational quality;

--loss of a sense of community and
purpose;

--inflated costs of land, consumer goods
and housing.

MIGRATION AND COMMUTING

A noticeable out-migration of Vail child-
rearing families has taken place in recent
years, presumably caused by housing costs
and overcrowding of schools and educational
facilities. According to the records of Eagle
County School District Re50J, at least 90
families supported by employment in Vail
now live in the Red Cliff, Minturn, Avon,
Edwards, and Eagle areas who commute to
Vail.

SOCIAL CHANGE

An age shift in the County began shortly
after the development of the Vail ski resort.
According to the I9 60 Census, . 14% of the
Eagle County population was between 20 and 29
years of age; ten years later the same age
group made up 32% of the population. This
increasingly youthful group is often crowded,
campus -style, into inadequate housing. Well-
educated young people are attracted by the
resort's recreation opportunities and glamour;
after one or two years they find themselves
under -employed both by level of compensation
and by opportunity to be productive, creative,
or successful by societal and peer group cri¬
teria. Some leave rapidly, others painfully.
Early indicators suggest that Vail and Eagle
County may be moving toward an increasingly
specialized community for the young and the
affluent. This presents a major community
issue for development policy. Is this desired
or healthy?

SUCCESS AND THREATS

The success of the Vail Community as a
resort, recreation area and a place to live
substantially depends on the same factors,
i. e., the physical environment, recreation
and cultural amenities, educational opportu¬
nities, and cost of living which determine the

33

quality of life. Crowded slopes, polluted air
and water, and inflationary costs, lack of
cultural amenities, are direct threats to Vail.

Much more subjective and harder to
measure is the possible trend toward a
threshold where the rate and quality of growth
(particularly in the adjacent unincorporated
areas) would move the community from its
status as a quality resort- -one of the finest
in the world --to being another mass produc¬
tion ski area and 'instant' new town. Greater
peak use of accomodations and facilities might
increase overall productivity, but might de¬
grade the quality of the recreation experi¬
enced and therefore the quality of living in
Vail.

REDUCED PRIVACY AND WILDERNESS
EXPERIENCE

Summer recreation, and the wilderness
experience in particular, are potentially
threatened by degradation of the environment
and the opportunity for privacy and meditation.
The rationing of access to camping, back¬
packing, snowmobiling and cross -country
skiing, which may be necessary in the White
River National Forest, will not offer present
equivalent privacy and wilderness experience
to the user. The crowding problem could be
just as destructive and acute in Vail's shop¬
ping areas, summer recreation facilities,
such as golf, tennis and fishing.

WILDLIFE

The inventory of wildlife presently exist¬
ing in the Upper Eagle Valley includes signifi¬
cant elk herd population, mule deer, and
many species of birds, with the red -tailed
hawk as the dominant raptor and the blue
grouse as the most common upland bird. The
impacts of development, construction activity,
domestic dogs, and people have generally
resulted in big game movement to upper
regions of summer and winter range, loss of
some natural habitat, and the redistribution
of birds where feeding and nesting grounds
are disturbed.

Some mitigating design constraints which
have been successfully employed to reduce
the people, noise, and development impact
are:

--minimize blasting during new trail
construction;

--restriction of human activities (i. e. ,
snowmobiles) from winter game range;

--town and county lease laws for dogs;

--restriction of human activities from
potential elk calving areas during June;

--elimination of predator control prac¬
tices;

--use of mass transit system for Gore
Valley, minimizing vehicular traffic
and wildlife vehicle contact.

AESTHE TICS

A trend currently observed in Eagle
County is that growth in tourism, skiing and
intensive recreation land use has made ranch¬
ing and farming less attractive. Livestock
require some tranquility, necessitating closed
gates, intact fences, and privacy. If irri¬
gated pastures and grazing livestock are a part
of Eagle County's recreation resources (and
I believe they are), they appear to be declin¬
ing. This is particularly a problem since the
valley floors, visible from the roads, make up
much of the privately owned, developable
land in the resort areas of the county. Visual
pollution from chopped-up hillsides or clut¬
tered valleys eventually detracts from the
quality of the recreation experience which
supports Vail and Eagle County.

GREATEST SINGLE THREAT

The greatest single threat to productivity,
however, appears to be the possibility that
dozens of separate capital investment deci¬
sions in the private sector, without county
regulation and overall planning, will cumula¬
tively overload the recreation and physical
carrying capacities of Eagle County.

For example, this past month, I reviewed
a single subdivision for the Avon area, seven
miles west of Vail, consisting of 1800 acres
and containing 4200 dwelling units. That
translates to a potential population of 1 6, 000
people. That figure represents an entire
new town in one subdivision development.

The Town of Vail recently conducted a
detailed land-use survey which predicts some
80, 000 people living in the Town and Upper

34

Eagle Valley within the next ten years. If
our survey is correct, the eastern portion of
Eagle County could easily become the largest
metropolitan area on the western slope !

DIVERSIFICATION

Diversification of the town and county
economy into other sources of income, be¬
sides recreation (particularly winter recrea¬
tion), is highly desirable given the intense
specialization of Vail and Eagle County, which
are almost totally dependent on recreation
and related construction activities. As a
result, the town is currently trying to develop
a 'second theme' in an attempt to be a more
viable and stable community in the future.

VIABILITY OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT

The creation of a town in 1966 provided
for early citizen involvement and participation
in the affairs and decisions of local govern¬
ment. This public participation was respon¬
sible for the rapid transformation of Vail
from country club to company town to adoles¬
cent community.

The strong orientation toward self-
government, culminating in the adoption of a
home -rule charter, has enabled Vail to con¬
front its rather difficult and unique problems
in a creative way. It has also on occasion
sparked sensitive confrontations and debates
over divergent development philosophies, and
growth and town development policies. For
the most part, however, there has existed a
single purpose and high degree of cooperation
between the town government and the primary
developer. It will be interesting to see if this
spirit of a common purpose between town and
developer continues after the development
cycle is completed.

Local government in Vail is now financi¬

ally sound due, in large part, to the availa¬
bility of the local -option sales tax. However,
subject to the qualification that our economy
is based on a one industry community, and if
local government assumes more responsibility
for preserving the quality of life, government
costs may go much higher.

The total cost to all taxpayers of local
government facilities and services is rising
with growth in the community. A substantial
part of these costs are borne by non-residents,
through ad-valorem taxes, and we estimate
that 75% of the local sales tax is paid by non¬
resident visitors.

The present level of services supplied by
local government seems to be well covered by
the existing tax -base and revenue sources.
Although this tax-base depends substantially
on maintaining the existing level of specialized
economic activity, it does not seem particu¬
larly vulnerable to a decline in growth rates.

It is, however, extremely vulnerable to a
decline in the total quantity of visitors and
amount of spendable income each has, given
the importance of sales tax revenues to the
town. The general obligation bonds of local
governments appear to be well covered by the
present property and sales tax base.

PLANNING AND URBAN DESIGN

For the past few years, the Town of Vail
has attempted consciously to develop a series
of criteria and objectives consistent with the
desires of the community, which will be used
as the basic ingredients for the community's
urban development. This process is perhaps
the most critical, yet elusive, task to be per¬
formed in order to determine the community's
desires. Although the process and the product
are somewhat unique in a recreational new
town, they will have applicability to any
resort town.

35

36

GENERAL SESSION

A Regional Perspective of Problems and Solutions1

H. William Welch^/

There are no problems in undisturbed nature; there are only
solutions , precisely because the equilibrium state is an adaptive
state. But in a given area, there is usually more than one pos¬
sible equilibrium state, and there is no evidence that the natural
solution is necessarily the best or the most interesting solution.
In fact, it is likely. . .that the symbiotic interplay between
man and nature can generate ecosystems more diversified and more
interesting than those occurring in the state of wilderness .

Rene J. Dubos

In a real sense problems do not exist. They are abstractions
from real problems. The situations from which they are abstracted
are messes. A mess is a system of interacting problems. Planning

should be concerned with messes.

This symposium is concerned with a selec¬
tion of problems and solutions. The respon¬
sibility for the selection rests with the
sponsoring organization, the Eisenhower Con¬
sortium for Western Environmental Forestry
Research. I will not take time to characterize
the context within which this selection has
been made. It should be evident from review
of the program that although a variety of
points of view and disciplinary backgrounds
is represented there is a pattern and a com¬
mon thread running throughout the planned
discussion. Commitment to the presentation of
this particular symposium program was made
several months ago on the foundation of a
series of commitments made over a period of
three years in the shaping and execution of
the consortium research program. I will not
describe this process except to say that the
efforts of the consortium executive committee
and appointed committees for long range plan¬
ning research, and symposium planning were
reviewed and acted upon at meetings of the
consortium delegates held twice annually.

_/ Paper presented at the symposium on
Man, Leisure and Wildlands: A Complex Inter¬
action, Vail, Colorado, Sept. 14-19, 1975.

2

_/ President, Eisenhower Consortium and
Associate Dean, College of Engineering Sciences,
Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona.

Not problems.

Russell Ackoff

I particularly wish to acknowledge and
express appreciation for the efforts of a much
larger group within each of the nine member
universities and the U. S. Forest Service which
provided substance for this review in the form
of recommended research projects and the sixty-
five principal investigators involved in the
resulting program. The symposium program in¬
cludes reports by the seventeen of these prin¬
cipal investigators. In the final analysis,
it is these individual efforts which will form
the basis for judgement of the value of consor¬
tium activity.

I wish to emphasize that the symposium
objective is to collect and consolidate the
views of participants in a critical examination
of the current status and a review of future
goals of consortium efforts. It is, therefore,
crucial that participants actually "participate"
throughout the symposium and particularly im¬
portant that views are articulated and ideas
exchanged with constructive candor and with a
perspective of the total program in the final
session designed for that purpose. It is the
responsibility of delegates of the member uni¬
versities of the Eisenhower Consortium as ses¬
sion chairmen and group leaders in the final
session to encourage and sustain an atmosphere
of participation and response.

This emphasis on "participation" is essen¬
tial to the development of a regional perspective
of problems and solutions. The realities of
the situation which support this statement are

37

related to the scale of the "symbiotic inter¬
play between man and nature" referred to in the
opening quotation from Dubos. When we look at
the regional situation we are dealing with a
large scale interaction between human activity
and the ecosystem. If I give an example of
small scale as the interaction of oil shale
development with the ecosystem, the implication
of large scale may become apparent. Briefly
large scale interaction has the following four
characteristics :

(a) Aggregation of ecological effects of
a multiplicity of human activities interacting
with the ecosystem,

(b) Cumulative impacts over extended
periods of time which encompass all phases of
the interaction,

(c) Propagation of effects through space,
time, and the economy and society,

(d) Multiple controlling institutions for
geographical subregions, basic natural resources
such as land, water and minerals, technological
developments which affect resource needs and
extraction methods, community growth patterns,
exploitation of recreational activities and
scenic amenities, etc.

As individuals and as individual organi¬
zations, we are, in fact, dealing with abstrac¬
tions from the real situation of the Rocky
Mountain and associated high plains region.

As participants in "symposium" and "consortium"
activities, we must recognize that we are chal¬
lenged with the "system of interacting problems"
which Ackoff chooses to call "messes." A
genuine regional perspective of problems and
solutions must include a perception of at least
three realities of the situation inherent to
all of the abstractions which we identify as
problems .

The first of these is what Garret Hardin
called the "Tragedy of the Commons." The
terminology derives from the concept of herds¬
men sharing a common grazing area. The tragedy
is that each herdsman as a rational being
seeks to maximize his gain by adding one more
animal to his herd. The result of overgrazing
reduces the benefit of the commons to all. In
applying this principle to the world food prob¬
lem, Hardin has commented that our problem is
not a "shortage of food" but a "longage of
people . "

In our region, the tragedy of the commons
is complicated by the problem of multiple use.
Grazing is, in fact, one of the traditional
uses. The increase in complexity of the situ¬
ation is literally not quantifiable when recre¬
ation, community development, industrial siting
mining operations, etc. , are added to agri¬
cultural uses.

This leads to the second reality which
technically is referred to as the "Arrow
Paradox" after Kenneth Arrow, Nobel prize win¬
ning economist. Arrow demonstrates that defi¬
nition of aggregate social utility is not in
general derivable from a plurality of utility
functions based on individual preferences.
"Aggregate social utility" implies some type
of social consensus. The achievement of "opti¬
mum" social consensus by a process which en¬
hances the welfare of some individuals without
adversely affecting others is sometimes called
Pareto optimization. It is perhaps revealing
that Pareto was also credited by Mussolini with
the invention of Facism — an obvious solution
to the Arrow paradox.

The third reality is that of the "One Alley
Scholars." I have taken this terminology from
the writings of Chuang Tse who lived in the
Third Century BC. In his words:

. . . like a person whose senses function
properly each in its own field , or again like
the artisans of different trades who are good
each in his own line and are often needed.
However, without adequate comprehension of
the whole, these are hut one-alley scholars.

I like this term because it conveys the desired
image when one considers the network of streets
in a city in their relationship to commerce.

No commerce can exist unless the network is
used--unless participants "participate" by
moving from one alley to another. We need the
specialization of the "one alley scholar," the
depth of disciplines to cope with the details
of large scale regional problems. But without
the establishment and use of the network of a
participative "community of scholars" compre¬
hension of large scale interaction is impossible.

I am not suggesting that we are delinquent
in not having a solution to a problem which was
concisely stated over 2,000 years in the past.

If we take C. P. Snow literally, we can be en¬
couraged that we have progressed to the Two
Cultures level. What I would like to suggest
is that we are deliquent if we do not recognize
the existence of these realities in a situation
of large scale interaction with regional scope
and global involvement. Furthermore, it is a
fact not a suggestion that whether there be one,
two or innumerable cultures, there will be one
future and we will make it happen by what we do
in the present. The immediate task at hand is
to insure that the interaction of those present
and the exchange of ideas which takes place
during this symposium are fruitful in refine¬
ment of our goals, in the definition of problems
and the formulation of solutions which will
shape the future of our region.

38

Development in Disarray: Ten Years After PLLRC and

“One-Third of the Nation’s Land”1

> ? 2/

Charles Conklin—

Introduction

Ten years ago this summer, the Public
Land Law Review Commission was organized,
in July 1965. Five years ago, in June 1970,
the Commission submitted its report entitled
"One Third of the Nation's Land" ^ to the
President and Congress. Six months later,
the Commission went out of existence in
accordance with the law that created it. Today,
another five years later, there is little legis¬
lative action to provide any recognition that
the Commission ever existed. Although bills
were introduced in 1970 and 1971 by the Chair¬
men of the House and Senate Committees on
Interior and Insular Affairs (both of whom had
served on the Commission) and a few other
bills have been introduced in the ensuing years,
no new statutes implementing the recommenda¬
tions of the Commission have been enacted.

Planning: The Basic Motivation for Estab¬
lishment of the Commission

By 1964, when the bill that would estab¬
lish the Public Land Law Review Commission
was introduced, it had become clear to many
Members of Congress that what was being
followed in attempting to cope with public
lands problems was a piecemeal, rather than
an overall, integrated approach. Usually the
Congress, having virtually abdicated much of
the responsibility imposed upon the legislative
branch for establishing public policy, simply
waited for the executive branch to submit its
recommendations, and then acted upon these
suggestions one by one, with little or no over¬
all plan.

—Opening Address presented at the sym¬
posium on Man, Leisure, and Wildlands; A
Complex Interaction, Vail, Colorado, Sept.
14-19, 1975.

2/

—Staff Director, House Committee on
Interior and Insular Affairs, Washington, D. C.

3/

-One Third of the Nation's Land: A Report
to the President and to the Congress. The Pub¬
lic Land Law Review Commission, June 1970.

The weaknesses of such haphazard
methods were revealed as each new decision
had to be made. The result has been a hodge¬
podge of laws, regulations, and practices
relating to the public lands. Wayne Aspinall
of Colorado, then Chairman of the House
Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs,
began to push for establishment of an overall
policy to replace the piecemeal approach, and
his efforts eventually resulted in the legisla¬
tion on comprehensive land use planning that
Congress began considering in 1971 and con¬
tinuing --generally without success - -until this
day.

Aside from what Representative Aspinall
thought was compelling logic for having the
Congress enunciate overall public lands policy,
there were several matters that had come to
a head that seemed to require that something
be done.

For one thing, there was a growing dissat¬
isfaction with the Mining Law of 187 2. This
century-old statute, though it played a signifi¬
cant role both in the settlement of the West
and in providing the needs of an expanding
industrial economy, was clearly not in accord¬
ance with many current concepts. But the
Congress could not intelligently consider the
complex matter of "locatable" and "leaseable"
minerals without a foundation study. It was
much easier to say, "Repeal the 1872 Mining
Law" than to determine what ought to take its
place. Clearly, mineral exploration and pro¬
duction should not cease altogether.

Another situation demanding careful study
was the controversy between the legislative
and executive branches of government over
withdrawals. Here was a chief area where
Congress had abdicated its authority. The
executive, with apparent legislative approval,
had stepped in to provide protection where it
was needed from the operation of such laws
as the 1872 Mining Law. But no overall policy
had been established to guide the executive,
who continued to delegate such authority as
existed--by the President to the Secretary of
the Interior, to the Assistant Secretary, to
the Director of the Bureau of Land

39

Management, and to lesser functionaries
operating in the public land states.

A withdrawal, of course, has the effect
of suspending the operation of the public land
laws for a specific purpose. For example,
land may be withdrawn from all forms of
mining when it is designated as a national
park or monument. But the device has become
a public land management tool and is used
much more widely by the executive than the
example I gave.

There was also, by I960, a push for
legislation to provide for the setting aside of
large acreages of the public lands as part of
a wilderness preservation system. It seemed
to the Interior Committee that such a large
dedication of land for one dominant use should
first of all be under the control of the policy¬
making branch of the government, that is, the
Congress. It also seemed to the Committee
that if this additional piecemeal step was to
be taken, some overall study ought to be made
leading to establishment of a policy to guide
future dedications of the public lands for all
purposes. After all, most statutes on the
books still provide for widespread disposal
of the lands - -that is, their transfer into pri¬
vate ownership. Just as the century-old
Mining Law seemed out of date, so did this
practice of haphazard disposal and piecemeal
"permanent" dedication of land.

Accordingly, in 1962, Mr. Aspinall
addressed a letter to President John F.
Kennedy and invited him to use his good
offices to facilitate action on conservation
measures affecting public lands. The Presi¬
dent acknowledged the need for a broad review
of the public land laws and left it to the
Congress to determine how Congressional
surveillance over executive agency action
should be affected. The President took cog¬
nizance of the constitutional imposition of
responsibility on Congress for the disposal of
all government property.

The piecemeal approach continued to be
followed, however, as submission of legisla¬
tion was made to Congress in 1963 and 1964.
The Wilderness Act emerged from such sub¬
missions. And the Department of the Interior
continued to press for an organic act for the
Bureau of Land Management patterned after
the I960 Act that governed the Forest Service
operations on the public land under its juris¬
diction. From this submission finally

emerged three separate pieces of legislation - -
the Act establishing the Public Land Law
Review Commission, that providing temporary
classification authority for the Bureau of Land
Management, and another giving temporary
sale authority to BLM. Land thus could be
classified either for disposal or retention
and, if designated for disposal, sale could
take place by a means other than the existing
public land laws, such as the homestead laws
and Desert Land Act.

These were "temporary" acts, all predi¬
cated upon a five-year period at the end of
which the Public Land Law Review Commis¬
sion would go out of existence. Presumably
when its recommendations were made, new
permanent laws would be enacted to take care
of such sales as were to be made in such
system of classification of land use planning
as might be recommended by the Commission.
But a piecemeal classification resulted under
the temporary law. By a million acres at a
time, in some instances, land was classified
for "retention" rather than "disposal", but no
further detailed land use plans were developed,
the land usually being designated merely for
"multiple -use management".

But after 19 64, at the same time as the
piecemeal approach was followed by the
Administration, a careful review of all laws
and practices by the Public Land Law Review
Commission could proceed.

As I have said, in June 1970, the Commis¬
sion submitted its report to the President and
the Congress. The task that had been assigned
to the Commission was a monumental one. It
was carried out, insofar as the Commission
was able, with efficiency and economy --and
with thoroughness. Eighty separate volumes
of study were completed to back up the recom¬
mendations contained in the report, which was
the 300 -page document entitled One Third of
the Nation1 s Land.

Planning: What the Commission Said

Perhaps the most significant chapter in
the F*ublic Land Law Review Commission
report is that on planning future public land
use. If the problems identified there by the
Commission can in turn be recognized by the
Congress and dealt with by the public land
management agencies, the many other sub¬
stantive recommendations of the report will
tend to fall into place as they are taken up one

40

(NEPA). But efforts to enact an overall com¬
prehensive land use planning act, even in a
drastically modified form (which we had this
year) have been unsuccessful.

I think the major reason for this failure
to enact such a law is this: land is defined in
the dictionary as ''the surface of the earth and
all its natural resources." The dictionary also
says that land is "ground owned publicly or
privately." These two concepts of land conflict
when one starts to talk about land use planning.

Although most people today in considering
land under the first definition regard it as a
heritage to be conserved for all generations,
most people today also seem to want to accept
the second definition. Land is regarded as
"a commodity belonging to us. " That is Aldo
Leopold's phrase. We are free to buy and sell
it and change its character as we choose.
Obviously, where this concept of land as private
property is adopted by virtually everyone in
our metropolitan areas, urban sprawl develops
to such an extent that the other definition the
surface of the earth and all its resources' --
seems all but forgotten.

As long as we regard a man's home as his
castle, land is subject to abuse. Aldo Leopold
also said, "When we see land as a community
to which we belong, we may begin to use it
with love and respect. " Although more than
legislation is going to be required to bring
about acceptance of the community concept of
land, it has been the hope of those sponsoring
the Federal bills on land use planning to en¬
courage such a concept at the local and state
levels of government.

by one in the future.

The Commission said that planning in its
broadest terms is "preparation for informed
decision-making by the Executive Branch. "

The Commission found that Congress had not
established a clear set of goals for the man¬
agement and use of the public lands. It also
has failed, in many cases, to provide a posi¬
tive mandate to engage in land use planning.
Coordination is lacking among Federal agencies
and between them and state and local units of
government. The roles of Congress and of the
executive branch arenot now clear.

Congress, the Commission said, should
reassert its constitutional responsibility and
enact statutory guidelines requiring land use
planning. The multiple -use principle as prac¬
ticed, with its connotations of dominant use,
should receive formal statutory recognition.
"Comprehensive land use planning should be
encouraged", the Commission concluded.

"State and local governments should be given
an effective role in Federal agency land use
planning. Federal land use plans should be
developed in consultation with these govern¬
ments, circulated to them for comments, and
should conform to state or local zoning to the
maximum extent feasible. . . (Regional commis¬
sions should be) initiated when possible within
the context of existing state and local political
boundaries. "

The Commission also found state and local
planning efforts to be uneven, but generally
being poorly developed in those states with
large acreages of public lands within their
borders. The Commission recommended that
Congress provide additional financial assist¬
ance to these States "to facilitate better and
more comprehensive land use planning".

Planning: What Congress Has (and Has Not)
Done

For five years now. Congress has
wrestled with the problems identified by the
Public Land Law Review Commission and even
more forcefully brought to its attention by the
growth and energy situations of the early
1970's. The Congress has continued with a
piecemeal approach, however, with the broad
overview recommended by the Commission
lacking. We have HUD planning programs,
stepped up highway construction, clean air
and clean water laws, coastal zone manage¬
ment, and a national environmental policy act

Public response is at first strongly in
support of conserving "the surface of the earth
and all its natural resources." As the debate
goes on, however, this concept of land tends
to fade from view and emphasis is placed on
land as a commodity and people begin to worry
about having it "taken without compensation"
if they are not to be left with unbridled authority
to develop it in any way they please.

In the final analysis, all the Public Land
Law Review Commission could do was make
recommendations. It had no authority beyond
that and the next steps were up to the Congress,
where implementing legislation was required,
and to the executive branch, to the extent policy
could be implemented without further legisla¬
tion. As the Commission, according to law.

41

"ceased to exist", its job completed by the
end of the year in 1970, the 92nd Congress
made preparations to convene in January 1971.

There was in the spring of that year
readied for introduction in the House of Rep¬
resentatives a bill whose purpose was to take
the first step toward legislative implementa¬
tion of the report of the Public Land Law Re -
view Commission. Since the Congress ob¬
viously could not be expected to enact one
omnibus bill to cover all the Commission's
recommendations, this bill contained overall
policy pronouncements and some further im¬
plementing language which would establish a
land use planning procedure for the one third
of the lands that are federally owned. It was
expected that other bills would be enacted to
carry out further, "second-phase" implemen¬
tation.

But the Administration, instead of lending
its support to the important policy-making
function of Congress that President Kennedy
so clearly had recognized, again sponsored
legislation that would provide an organic act
for the Bureau of Land Management- -and little
more. Under its proposal, wide discretion to
acquire and dispose of land would be given to
the executive branch and few policy guidelines
were indicated. As John Carver, former
Under Secretary of the Interior ar^d Federal
Power Commissioner, has said:—

"Perhaps I am overly nostalgic about
the level of executive -legislative coop¬
eration achieved during my tenure in
Interior, when this great work began.

It seems to me. . . that at both ends of
Pennsylvania Avenue. . .there was
respect for facts, willingness to make
hard choices and a sense of responsi¬
bility for public land stewardship of a
very high order. In a way not experi¬
enced since, we have infused the idea
that users, too, could be conserva¬
tionists. . . My cynicism is a product
of my disappointment that the final
report of the Commission cannot be
taken by a Congress and executive
branch as highly motivated as in 1963
and 1964 when the Commission was
created. "

emarks of John Carver before the Public
Land Law Forum, Syracuse, New York, De¬
cember 14, 1970.

On the Ground: An Inconsistent But Generally
Weak Planning Effort

Although I was not able to accompany you,

I believe your pre -symposium tour of the last
two days reveals what has taken place in one
rapidly developing state, which at the same
time is a storehouse of natural resources, par¬
ticularly in connection with the demand for
leisure homes and resorts. Efforts in other
states, Florida, Vermont, Hawaii, California,
and other Rocky Mountain areas, have fallen
short of success. It is my belief that there
remains a strong need for Federal guidance,
not only with respect to the one third of the
United States that is held by the Federal gov¬
ernment for all of us, but also with respect to
the remaining two thirds of the land, because
I honestly believe that the Leopold concept of
land as a community has to find a reflection
some way in our laws and our practices.
Federal programs still vary widely. The 1872
Mining Act is still on the books. The piece¬
meal approach to additions to the wilderness
system is still a prevalent method of dedication
of public lands for a permanent purpose. And,
in the face of increased demand for energy and
particularly for use of the public lands as a
recreation resource, there has been a failure
to look beyond the immediate needs in the way
that I think we still should.

I suspect, from hearing your president's
opening remarks, that those of you at this
symposium are enlightened, but it remains
difficult for enlightenment always to prevail
when faced with economic realities. I think
when Mayor Dodson of Vail left the symposium
to "handle a mess", he indicated that he'd come
in contact with the reality that perhaps didn't
reflect the community concept of land among
everything. In addition to Vail there are places
like Reston, Virginia, where there was to be a
new town with its own industry and everything,
as nearly perfect as could be. But when the
original developer needed financing, a subsidi¬
ary oil company took over and now, although
some fine things remain, with the emphasis on
making money out of land taking over, the en¬
lightenment that you and I share today often
comes out second.

DISCUSSION

R. B. Held, CSU: Where do we stand on
an organic act for BLM?

42

Conklin : The House Subcommittee on
Public Lands is hopeful of completing its
development of an act by the end of next month.
But since the legislation now contains many
things in it that are not pleasing to the Depart¬
ment of the Interior, and the Forest Service
as well, the Administration may oppose its
enactment. I would hate to see a veto because
I think the act is needed and I suspect the
differences could be compromised in other
ways .

Peggy Spaw, Ariz. State Land Dept. :

Would you speak briefly to the leasing aspects
within the BLM organic act? Is there any new
policy on leasing or disposal?

Conklin: There is a revised system of
classifying land for disposal under certain
narrow criteria which has been recommended
by the Administration. I would suspect that
very little disposal would take place under that
Act, and of course very little takes place now.
And yet there remain in existence many laws
relating to disposal of the lands or their re¬
sources, and until that statutory direction is
changed, seemingly the BLM is directed by
statute to divest itself of land at the same time
this is not clearly the policy reflected by
today's thinking. The fir st phrase of the Taylor
Grazing Act under which it operates says in
effect, "Pending disposal of the public lands,
they shall be leased for cattle to graze on, "
but although there is every intention of con¬
tinuing as one of the multiple uses on some
of these lands the grazing of livestock, there
is also, I'm convinced, every intention of re¬
taining the lands. The new proposed legisla¬
tion starts to tackle that situation but it makes
no overall review of the withdrawal policy
which many of the Committee feel is necessary.
If you' re going to substitute some sort of
modern management technique of planning
what the land is to be used for, and allocating
it for that purpose, these many withdrawals
that have been made as I have indicated, with
little or no overall policy in mind, should be
reviewed. Apparently both the Interior De¬
partment and the Forest Service as well as
many environmentalists are resisting an
overall review of withdrawals because they
fear that in the course of a review parcels of
land that have been withdrawn might again be
opened to mining. In the case of the Depart¬
ment, some bureaucrats have exercised un¬
bridled authority to withdraw when they feel
like it and they don't really want any more

Federal direction from the Congress if they
can have it the way it is. The situation re¬
sembles a bank account that you don't have to
deposit anything in; you just take out when¬
ever you want to !

D. Badger, OSU: In view of the opposition
by many different groups, farm groups, devel¬
opers, etc., on national land use legislation
for both public and private lands, why does
Congress continue to insist on national legis¬
lation covering both? Why not take at least
one step, and maybe you could get national
land use legislation on the public lands first?

Conklin: That is a good suggestion, and I
think if we could do it we should. But all of
you here live in the West, and if you've seen
an ownership map of your state, you can see
why it is difficult to have effective land use
planning for only one kind of owner. Colorado
has over 3 6% of its land managed by either the
U. S. Forest Service or the Department of the
Interior. Arizona has nearly 45%, and Utah
has some 66%. Because of the checkerboard
pattern of intermingled land, you really cannot
make a very sensible land use planning effort
without the inclusion of all land and the coop¬
eration of all the land managers, including
private owners and the state and local govern¬
ments .

I don't think Congress would resist trying
to do it for one class of ownership and not for
the other, but the bills have been together and
they've been separated and they still don't go
in the face of such an organized campaign as
we had this year against the Federal land use
planning bill, which dealt generally with the
non-Federal lands. Although what was pro¬
posed was a grant program similar to other
types of Federal aid, people became so con¬
vinced that this would be a Federal zoning pro¬
gram and take away land without compensation
we got strange reactions, as the following
examples from letters we have received indi¬
cate :

"The Federal Land Use Control Bill
was defeated last year. Why in the
world is it back again with built-in
bribes, as H. R. 3510?"

"There are so many bureaucrats with
nothing to do but 'plan' ways to get
control of the hard-earned property
of others ! Turn those ha r rasping
bureaucrats away from the public
trough. Give them a taste of the self-

43

sufficiency of laissez faire capitalism,
in contrast to being leeches on the
production of others."

"It is time to repeal NEPA. Get rid
of the Noise Control Act, Water
Pollution Act, Clean Air Amendments
Act, Coastal Zone Management Act,
Flood Disaster Protection Act, and
all other measures designed to take
away my right to do as I_see fit with
my land. "

"This fact should be well known to you
that all dictatorships control the land
and the people own none ! Russia, Red
China, in Hitler's day and Mussolini's."

Final Question; Is there any difference be¬
tween House and Senate handling of the land
use bill?

Yes, Although we started from approxi¬
mately the same place, the Senate bill now is
probably a stronger bill than we thought might
be acceptable to the House. It also has energy
siting provisions in it. Some members of the
House Committee believe in such provisions
too, and would like to have had them in our
bill, but the jurisdictional lines among com¬
mittees in the House are such that our Com¬
mittee does not have the same responsibilities
that the Senate Interior Committee does. I
understand that the Senate Committee may
consider its bill next month with the site loca¬
tion detail in it, the idea being first of all that
siting provisions are needed, and secondly,
that since the Administration favors such pro¬
visions, including them may make the bill
veto -proof (the Administration will do almost
anything in the name of ene rgy - -exc ept sign a
strip mining bill!).

SESSION I

THE NATIONAL OUTLOOK FOR LEISURE HOME AND
RESORT DEVELOPMENT THROUGH THE SEVENTIES

Chairman: Robert E. Dils, Dean
College of Forestry and Natural Resources
Colorado State University

Coordinator: David B. Thorud, Director
School of Renewable Natural Resources
University of Arizona

Session I focuses on the national outlook for the future sales,
development, and use of leisure properties, with directed focus
on the Consortium region. Speakers are realtors, market analysts,
planners, and an airline executive whose company specializes in
the development and promotion of package tours to concentrated
recreational resort developments in the Rocky Mountain region.
Speakers explore the existing market for leisure properties — who
are the buyers and users, and what are the future implications
of more competition for land use in a fragile environment.

45

Future Demand for Recreational Properties1

Richard L. Ragatzjg/

Abstract. The purpose of this paper is to project
future demand for various types of privately owned recrea¬
tional properties by regional location in the United States.
While long-range demand may appear optimistic, several
important social and economic parameters may limit full
realization of the following projections.

INTRODUCTION

During the past few years in this country, as
throughout most of the Western Hemisphere , a
widespread and complex market has developed
for privately owned recreational properties.
Included in this market are vacant recreational
lots, single-family, detached leisure homes
and resort condominium units. Motivations for
the purchase of such properties vary as greatly
as the variety of projects offered. For in¬
stance, one family may purchase a $1,995
vacant recreational lot in New Mexico simply
for long-term speculation, while another
family may purchase a $150,000 resort condo¬
minium unit at Lake Tahoe for intensive use
and as a tax shelter.

The future market for these recreational pro¬
perties is equally complex and subject to
major shifts in demand according to economic
conditions and societal changes. A severe
deficiency exists in an adequate data base
for describing even the current situation.
Definitional problems, insufficient nationwide
census information, and so forth, work together
to prevent a clear portrayal of the market.
These limitations become more exaggerated when
attempting to project future demand.

Numerical projections are certainly subject to
question. Since recreational property is not
a basic necessity such as food, clothing, and
primary lodging, it is open to major changes
in demand. Obviously, demand increases during
periods of economic expansion. The energy
crisis will certainly affect the market, but
it is impossible to determine to what degree
as of this writing. Thus, all numerical
projections made in 1975 will be subject to
many future unforeseen influencing parameters.
Readers are cautioned to remember the above
limitations while applying these projections.

This is especially true in light of the present
economic problems facing the United States.

The following projections are taken from part
of a study conducted during 1973 and 1974 and
funded by the Council on Environmental Quality,
HUD, and the Appalachian Regional Commission.
The overall study was conducted by the American
Society of Planning Officials, in cooperation
with the Conservation Foundation, the Urban
Land Institute, and Richard L. Ragatz Assoc¬
iates, Inc.

METHODOLOGY

The number of households projected for the
four census regions in 1975, 1980, and 1985,
were taken from data presented by the U.S.
Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census,
in Demographic Projections for the United
States , published by the U.S. Government Print¬
ing Office in 1973. It should be noted that
limitations exist even in this initial step.
While the margin of error for projecting house¬
holds (at least through 1985) is considerably
less than for projecting total population,
limitations still occur. Such variables as
societal changes in divorce and marriage rates,
regional shifts in population distribution,
economic recessions, and so forth, influence
the rate of household formations.

If Paper presented by Dr. William Clark ,
Assistant Professor , Department of Urban Plan¬
ning, University of Oregon at the symposium on
Man, Leisure and Wildlands: A Complex Inter¬
action, Vail, Colorado, Sept. 14-19, 1975.

2/ President, Richard L. Ragatz Associates,
Inc. Consultants in Vacation Housing and
Recreational Communities, Eugene, Oregon.

46

Propensity for future ownership of recreational
properties was obtained primarily from an un¬
published nationwide survey conducted for
Richard L. Ragatz Associates, Inc. as part of
a study for CEQ and HUD by the Opinion Research
Corporation of Princeton, New Jersey between
September 8 and October 10, 1973. The survey
was conducted on a personal-interview basis
in the homes of respondents. It involved a
weighted sample of 7,190 households throughout
the United States. Questions concentrated on
status of present ownership and future plans
to purchase recreational properties by date
and type of property.

These numerical projections were then recon¬
sidered in light of several other nationwide
projections of future demand for recreational
properties. Projections considered included
those made in an unpublished study concerning
future housing demand for the National Asso¬
ciation of Home Builders in 1973; a study made
by a private research firm in 1971; and an
unpublished study of 9,231 Bell Telephone
users, conducted by AT&T in New York in 1965.
These projections are less detailed in regard
to type of property or future date and were
used simply as benchmarks to ascertain whether
projections derived in the study by the Opinion
Research Corporation were reasonable.

The four sets of projections were then inte¬
grated, with emphasis placed on the more
recent and better designed Opinion Research
Corporation survey. Integration involved
some degree of subjective interpretation based
upon knowledge and insights gained from the
research involved in preparing the overall
report for CEQ and HUD. Though discrepancies
between the various sets of projections were
surprisingly small, final projections are
somewhat more conservative than the others.

It was felt that persons tend to be overly
optimistic about their future plans for pur¬
chasing recreational properties. In many
instances, such plans are never realized and
the discretionary income is allocated to other
household items. Finally, numerical projec¬
tions are reinterpreted in a subjective dis¬
cussion concerning the effect that changing
economic, ecological, and cultural parameters
could have on the markets.

NUMERICAL PROJECTIONS

Table 1 presents future demands in the United
States for various types of recreational pro¬
perties for 1975, 1980, and 1985. Estimated
figures are also presented for the situation
in 1973. Projections are provided for all
recreational properties (as an aggregate) ;
vacant recreational lots purchased only for

for speculation or investment purposes; vacant
recreational lots purchased for the purpose of
building a future leisure home; recreational
lots occupied by a single-family, detached
leisure home; and resort condominium units.
Absolute and relative figures are included in
the table. Table 2 presents absolute projec¬
tions for the same types of recreational pro¬
perties on a regional basis.

In 1973, it is estimated that about 5,700,000
households (or about 8.5 percent of the total)
in the United States owned one of the four
primary types of recreational property. Most
of these properties (over 3 million) represen¬
ted a recreational lot occupied by a single¬
family, detached leisure home. The type with
the lowest frequency was the resort condomin¬
ium (numbering roughly 200,000).

It is projected that by 1985, the number of
recreational properties will increase to al¬
most 12 million, which means that about 14
percent of all households will own such pro¬
perty. Most significant increases will occur
between 1980 and 1985 as the post-World War II
baby boom reaches the time in the family life
cycle when propensity for purchase of recrea¬
tional property is greatest.

In terms of the type of recreational properties
to be demanded, it appears that the least
increase will be realized in the demand for
vacant recreational lots , especially those
purchased primarily for speculation or invest¬
ment purposes. Most significant increases in
demand will be for recreational shelter, both
single-family, detached leisure homes and
resort condominiums. In absolute terms, the
greatest increase will occur in the detached
units (from 3 million to almost 7 million) .

In relative terms, the greatest increase will
occur for resort condominium units; increasing
more than three-fold from .3 percent to 1.0
percent of the households.

In review of recent events in the market for
recreational properties, it would appear that
the projections for resort condominiums may
still be severely understated, especially in
relation to the other types of properties.

It also appears, as will be noted in this paper,
that all the projections probably are overly
optimistic in light of recent occurances in
this country.

On a regional basis, as shown in Table 2, a
wider dispersion of ownership will occur,
partly due to changing regional propensities
for purchase of recreational properties. For
instance, in 1973 it is estimated that 24.6
percent and 25.5 percent of all recreational
properties in the United States were owned by

47

households in the Northeast and North Central
regions. By 1985, it is estimated that these
percentages will be 21.5 percent and 23.0 per¬
cent, respectively. On the other hand, figures
in the South and West will change from 29.9
percent and 20.0 percent in 1973 to 32.0 per¬
cent and 23.5 percent in 1985, respectively.

It is anticipated that relatively little in¬
crease in demand will occur in the Northeast
for recreational lots purchased only for
speculation or investment purposes (an addi¬
tional 74,000 lots). At the same time, the
most significant growth for this commodity
will occur in the West (an additional 320,000
lots) . Such conditions reflect availability
of land, saturation of the market, and a
variety of other reasons. Similar regional
trends are projected to occur for recreational
lots purchased for future building of a lei¬
sure home, although the variations are less
severe. For the latter type of recreational
property, most significant increases in ab¬
solute terms are anticipated in the South and
the least amount of increases in the Northeast.

For single-family, detached leisure homes, the
greatest absolute growth will occur in the
South and West, since it is projected that
both these regions will realize about one
million more new units by 1985. Such increases
will be between 700,000 and 800,000 in the
Northwest and North Central regions.

The anticipated regional growth patterns for
resort condominium units will be even more
exaggerated, with very significant increases
to occur in the South and West. Such patterns
again reflect market saturation, availability
of land, lack of prior consumer opportunity,
and other factors.

INFLUENCING PARAMETERS

It is difficult to arrive at any concrete
conclusions about future demand for recrea¬
tional properties. A series of numerical
projections have been made for 1975, 1980,
and 1985 by family income and age of house¬
hold head. However, these projections are
based upon opinions derived from feelings
expressed by potential consumers in 1973.

They are based upon responses from persons in
the demand sector without the aid of insight
offered by persons actually supplying the
markets. The projections are also made in
isolation from a whole set of subtle, chang¬
ing, cultural and societal values in the
country.

It appears the realization of short-term de¬
mand will be definitely affected by a series

of issues which may or may not be in evidence
several years from now. Such current crises
facing the recreational land and leisure hous¬
ing industries as a bad public image, unavail¬
ability of financing for the developer and
consumer, and exorbitant costs of building
supplies, labor, etc., may continue to exist
in the future. However, these items all appear
rather inconsequential when assuming a long-
range perspective of the markets. For instance,
financing rates and availability have, tradi¬
tionally, changed drastically within short
periods of time; the negative image could be
reversed if and when the industry begins to
monitor its members; the costs of building
supplies and labor have always fluctuated
according to the economic climate of the
country.

However, when stepping back and considering
long-range future markets for recreationadr
properties, a somewhat more complicated pic¬
ture is portrayed, because the influencing
parameters become more hazy and confusing
and, simultaneously, more critically influen¬
tial .

Many long-range indicators portray an optim¬
istic future for increased demand. For
instance, it is anticipated that leisure time
will increase and, most significantly, will
be available in larger aggregations such as
three-day weekends , extended weeks , or even
months. Retirement will be possible earlier,
and older people will live longer. They will
also have more monetary resources available
to them, be healthier, and more acquainted
with recreational and travel experiences from
past participation.

The post-World War II baby boom will be reach¬
ing the age in the 1980's when propensity for
purchase of recreational properties is highest.
Interest in nature, ecology, the natural
environment, and participation in so-called
"healthy and youthful" outdoor recreational
activities will continue to improve as the
Interstate Highway System is completed. Thus,
most predictions for so-called opportunity
and facilitating factors portray a situation
where more and more families will be able to
purchase recreational properties.

For instance, the uncertainties of the inter¬
national situation complicate projections for
future personal income in the United States.

If the more underdeveloped nations of the
world begin to demand a more equitable dis¬
tribution of wealth and resources, either
through political or economic coercion, nega¬
tive effects will most certainly be realized
on the GPN of this country. This in turn
could affect employment rates and median family

48

income. Also, an increasingly larger segment
of the population in the United States may
perceive the work ethic in a different light
in the future and be less motivated toward
higher incomes and associated availability of
goods and services. Fewer persons might actu¬
ally have the anticipated discretionary income
to buy a second home for seasonal -recreational
purposes — at least in the manner in which most
leisure homes are being produced today.

The immediate concern with ecology and preser¬
vation of a quality environment does not appear
to be a passing fad, but rather one that will
continue to increase in the future. Increas¬
ing numbers of communities and states will con¬
sider no-growth or limited-growth policies.
Local decision-makers will become more sophis¬
ticated in dealing with the land development
process and will use criteria to determine
what type of new land development will prove
most beneficial to their community in the
future. No longer will the only criterion be
the possibility of increased contribution of
immediate return to the property tax base,
but rather more subtle criteria will be used
such as costs and benefits related to social,
environmental, and long-term economic impacts.

Quality land close in to population centers
will become less available and much more
expensive. More of this land will be main¬
tained in the public domain or placed under
much stricter and more rational public con¬
trol. Land in marginal productivity might
have to be used for support of agriculture
and other primary industry in order to satisfy
world demands for a more equitable distribu¬
tion of wealth and resources.

The energy crisis appears to be real and again,
not just a temporary concern. As previously
noted, it most certainly will affect the future
market for recreational properties. In the
foreseeable future, it seems likely that
certain segments of society including legis¬
lators and the public at large will question
the morality and rationality of allowing some
persons to own and develop property simply
for seasonal-recreational purposes. The ques¬
tion will most certainly be raised as to why
a select group of people should be able to
afford two relatively expensive homes when a
much larger segment of society has never been
able to realize the government's 25-year-old
goal of a "safe and decent" living environ¬
ment.

The current income tax practices which in
some instances make owning a condominium or
rental leisure home a very profitable venture
are related to the inequitable distribution
of wealth in this country. It would appear

that public pressure will influnce additional
restrictions to be made by SEC and IRS in
regard to these allowed tax benefits and
write-offs.

A whole series of additional changes could
occur in the cultural context of our society
which might affect the future markets for
recreational properties. It seems a growing
segment of the population is less motivated
by status attainment and fee simple ownership
of real property. Currently restricted to
the youth, there are indications that such
changes are slowly penetrating other age-
groups. At the same time, other more subtle
factors appear to be gaining in popularity.
Included are such difficult to define items
as sense of community, togetherness, sharing,
family, concern with nature. These factors
do not necessarily imply changes in demand
for recreational properties, but perhaps a
change in the type of property which is of
interest to the potential consumer.

Related to these comments is the fact that
our society seems to be ever-increasing in
its demand for variety, flexibility, and de¬
sire for new experiences. More attractions
are becoming available for the utilization
of leisure time, and the public seems to be
responding in terms of buying these new con¬
cepts and commodities. Travel clubs, camping
clubs, and new concepts in land ownership all
appear to be increasing in popularity. The
opportunity to experience a variety of rec¬
reational activities is attractive to greater
numbers of people. The offering of such
opportunities at relatively inexpensive costs
has definite implications for the recreational
land industry as we know it today. It would
appear that the singular alternative of the
fee-simple, single-family, detached house on
a half-acre lot in a location with one limited
set of recreational activities will encounter
more and more consumer competition in the
future from other forms of recreational
pursuits.

In summary, the combination of past trends
and the converging of time, money, and
attitude imply a growing market. However,
certain unpredictable, long-range factors,
such as redistribution of wealth and a
heightened energy crisis , may dampen the
possibilities for an ever-expanding, high-
volume, high-profit market.

49

Table 1

DEMAND FOR RECREATIONAL PROPERTIES
IN THE UNITED STATES V

Type of Property

1973

1975

1980

1985

Number of . Households

67,430,000

70,080,000

77,000,000

84,000,000

Households Owning Recreational Property

5,732,000

7,008,000

8,855,000

11,760,000

Percent of Total Households

8.5

10.0

11.5

14.0

Households Owning Vacant Recreational

877,000

1,051,000

1,155,000

1,680,000

Lot for Speculation/Investment

Percent of Total Households

1.3

1.5

1.5

2.0

Households Owning Vacant Recreational

1,416,000

1,752,000

2,310,000

2,520,000

Lot for Future Building

Percent of Total Households

2.1

2.5

3.0

3.0

Households Owning Single-Family, Detached

3,237,000

3,855,000

5,005,000

6,720,000

Leisure Home

Percent of Total Households

4.8

5. 5

6.5

8.0

Households Owning Resort Condominium Unit

202,000

350,000

385,000

840,000

Percent of Total Households

1/Estimates for 1973 and projected for 1975,

. 3

1980, and 1985.

. 5

. 5

1.0

50

DEMAND FOR RECREATIONAL PROPERTIES
WITHIN THE UNITED STATES

o

o

o

a

O

m

o

o

in

O

o

o

m

m

o

o

o

o

o

O

o

o

in

m

o

o

o

m

m

o

1 — 1

ID

CO

o

O

i — i

CO

CN

co

O

CD

o

CO

o

o

CN

o

CO

cn

CO

o

H

iD

CN

o

o

CN

CN

co

CN

o

CN

CN

CO

CN

o

rH

CN

CO

CO

o

i — i

CN

CO

CN

o

CN

CN

CN

CN

o

CN

CN

CO

CN

CD

LD

' —

CO

<n

O

O

O

o

o

O

o

O

o

o

O

O

o

o

o

o

o

o

O

o

o

o

o

o

o

O

o

o

O

O

i — 1

o

O

CD

o

o

CD

CD

O

o

o

o

O

o

o

o

o

O

o

O

o

o

o

o

o

o

O

o

o

O

O

o

O

o

o

o

O

O

O

o

o

o

o

o

o

o

o

O

o

o

o

o

o

o

o

o

o

o

o

o

O

o

O

o

o

o

CO

m

p-

m

o

co

p-

o

o

o

r-

CO

o

in

o

CO

o

CN

o

o

m

o

m

o

O

o

O

CD

o

o

CN

i — i

p-*

CD

p"

CO

iD

1 — 1

CD

CN

in

iD

p-

CN

o

00

CTt

CN

p'

CN

p-

p*

LD

O

o

o

in

m

r-

p-

P'

CN

CO

m

m

ID

m

CO

iD

in

in

iD

cn

m

p~

• — i

(N

CN

1 — 1

CO

P*

CN

CO

r-

CN

CN

CO

CN

i — 1

(N

H

H

iD

r— 1

CN

CN

i— i

co

rH

in

O

m

o

o

CD

CD

p*

i — 1

O

in

o

o

m

O

o

o

o

O

O

CN

CO

-sT

CD

O

o

in

in

o

o

r— 1

vD

CN

o

o

1 — 1

CN

o

m

o

o

p-

00

O

00

CO

CO

o

CO

O

O

i — i

iD

H

H

o

CN

CN

co

CN

o

CN

CN

CO

CN

CD

CN

CN

CN

CN

O

CN

co

CN

o

CN

CN

CO

CN

O

CN

CN

CO

CN

CD

■ — -

03

O

CO

o

cn

O

O

o

O

o

O

O

o

o

O

o

o

o

o

O

X

o

o

O

O

o

O

o

O

o

O

o

o

O

O

O

< — 1

O

O

O

O

o

o

O

CD

o

O

o

o

o

o

O

o

o

O

o

o

O

o

O

o

o

o

CD

O

O

O

O

O

O

O

o

o

O

o

o

O

o

o

o

o

o

03

o

o

O

o

o

o

o

O

o

o

o

o

O

O

O

P

o

O

o

O

o

o

in

in

m

m

cn

in

in

ID

m

P

p-

cr>

o

o

CN

o

O

CO

in

CN

H

O

CN

in

o

O

o

o

o

o

o

i — i

CO

m

CO

p'

i — i

CN

m

cn

co

ID

iD

CN

00

o

CO

o

CN

CO

co

ID

in

o

in

cD

(n

o

CN

00

-P

CN

CN

CO

co

H

•H

P-

iD

CO

H

CN

in

o

o

H

• — 1

CO

a

03

ID

o

in

ID

CO

H

CN

CN

CN

co

cu

2

CN

r — i

H

m

i— 1

CN

CN

1— 1

p-

3

cn

03

4H

0

>

Cn

£

C,

in

o

o

m

o

<n

cn

p-

in

o

H

LO

o

m

O

O

•H

o

<x>

CO

co

o

CO

co

cn

o

o

in

o

o

m

o

\

TJ

m

CO

p-

H

CO

o

CO

p'

O'!

o

a

1 — 1

CO

p-

CO

o

H

o

ro

CN

CO

o

ID

in

CO

cn

o

CO

1 — 1

CO

o

co

CN

CN

CO

H

o

CN

CN

CN

CN

o

0

CN

CN

CN

CN

CD

•H

CN

CN

CO

CN

o

(N

CN

CN

1 — 1

o

CN

CN

CO

1 — 1

o

cn

P

■ — -

P

CQ

U0

03

03

TJ

p-»

i — l

03

F?

a

cn

o

O

O

O

o

O

o

o

o

o

P

o

O

O

O

O

P

o

o

O

o

o

0

O

o

O

o

o

o

o

o

o

o

03

1 — 1

o

o

O

o

o

O

o

o

o

o

O

o

O

o

o

O

P

o

o

O

o

o

2

O

o

O

o

o

o

o

o

o

o

o

o

o

o

o

O

o

o

o

o

03

o

o

o

o

o

-P

o

o

O

o

o

O

o

O

o

o

o

o

o

o

o

*

LU

P

03

o

o

o

o

o

o

CN

r*

cn

o

00

CD

m

1 — 1

cn

iD

1 — 1

IP

o

CO

iD

CO

CN

P

in

CO

m

CN

m

(N

in

cn

'T

o

CO

p*

ID

p-

CO

00

p-

rH

o

CN

co

cn

in

in

H

iD

m

P

• — i

CO

CO

in

CO

O'!

o

D

m

cn

O

co

iD

o

cD

o

in

o

P

CN

CN

CN

CN

o

P

CO

m

cn

o

CT>

i — i

p'

co

H

CO

H

0

0

•H

vD

CTi

i — i

CN

o

i — i

(N

rH

p*

4H

i — i

44

i — i

03

H

CO

«.

i — i

i — 1

CN

i — 1

p-

2

in

cn

cn

cn

p-

cn

-p

-P

TJ

P

cn

03

0

n

03

•H

H

•H

2

PI

2

c

-P

o

D

P

CO

in

CO

cn

o

P

CD

in

<n

O

o

1 — 1

p'

CO

ID

o

i — 1

o

CN

ID

CN

o

03

P-

H

iD

iD

o

o

m

m

o

o

0

oj

03

03

P

g

•

*

•

•

4H

CO

p-

o

p*

o

a ^

in

cn

CD

CD

C

CN

p-

03

>H

o

C

H

in

CN

i — i

o

03

ID

m

00

cn

o

o

CN

CO

o

CN

CN

CO

H 1

CD

0

CN

CN

CN

CN

O

o

CN

CN

CN

CN

CD

0

CN

CN

CO

CN

CD

U

CN

CN

CN

H

o

•H

CN

CO

CO

1 — 1

o

TJ

— -

— ’

— '

—

i — 1

p

—

— -

— ■

' — ’

i — 1

•H

— ■

— 1

■ — "

" — ■

t — 1

•H

— "

— ’

— ’

—

i — 1

■ — ’

— 1

■ — "

1 — 1

i — i

G

1 — ’

— 1

■ —

■ — ■

03

—

C4

' — •

-P

— 1

-P

' —

»>

— '

•H

P

CO

03

o3

>i

R

O

r*

r— 1

a)

03

r— 1

0

a;

<n

o

o

o

o

o

cd

o

o

o

o

o

p

o

o

o

o

o

P

o

O

o

o

o

•H

O

o

o

O

o

TJ

o

o

o

o

o

TO

i — i

o

o

o

o

CP

c

CD

o

o

o

o

C)

o

o

o

o

o

C)

o

o

o

CD

o

g

CD

CD

CD

CD

o

C

o

o

o

o

o

0

o

o

o

o

o

0

O

o

o

o

o

03

o

o

o

o

o

03

o

o

o

O

o

o3

'T

CO

CT»

o

0

CN

CO

00

CN

o

p

•H

&

Ph

(P

u

Qi

m

rH

in

cn

o

-P

O

CN

CN

CO

CN

cr>

o

O' 1

<T>

CO

p-

H

O

iD

1

'T

CO

D

CN

CO

in

CD

CN

p*

m

CN

p*

CO

03

r— 1

CD

rH

CO

-p

cn

CO

p-

P

cn

in

ID

O

H

03

D

H

(N

CO

CO

p

iD

cD

CN

o

TJ

o

CO

o

CD

p*

• — i

P-

c

• — i

CN

CN

• — 1

CO

c

CN

CO

CO

H

00

CO

cn

CD

CN

p

CN

(5

*.

•*

•»

•>

P

•»

•>

*»

co

03

•*

cn

0

03

D

00

o

CN

p-

C)

rH

• — i

■ — i

r— 1

m

U

O

H

c

CO

cn

W

• — i

CN

i— 1

cD

cu

03

03

03

co

TJ

tt

>

>

in

x

P-

i- 1

cn

0

cn

cn

cn

cn

cn

H

2

c

G

c

a

C

03

•H

•H

•H

•H

•H

P

U)

c

c

C

C

T

0

P

i — i

cn

3

r—\

cn

5

rH

cn

3

H

cn

3

H

cn

cn

4H

0

03

03

o

03

03

0

03

d3

o

03

03

o

03

03

o

03

Q3

DC

P

-P

P

-p

p

-p

P

p

P

p

P

P

TJ

P

oJ

cn

-P

03

cn

■p

03

cn

P

03

cn

P

03

cn

P

03

03

4-1

P

c

p

TJ

-P

$5

-p

TJ

-p

c

■P

TJ

P

C

P

TJ

P

C

p

TJ

p

c

P

P

0

CO

<u

if)

H

cn

<u

in

i — i

cn

(13

cn

i — i

cn

(13

cn

H

cn

03

cn

H

cn

03

cn

03

oi

u

o

03

(J

o

03

u

o

03

u

0

03

o

o

03

u

e

P

0)

TJ

£

<u

TJ

2

(13

T)

45

03

TJ

2

03

TJ

2

03

TJ

*rj

0

03

£

2

2

<D

a)

2

45

2

0)

a)

2

2

2

03

03

2

2

2

03

03

2

2

2

03

03

2

45

2

03

P

•H

Q

P

-p

P

P

-P

cn

P

P

P

P

-p

cn

-P

-P

■P

-P

-P

cn

P

P

P

P

P

cn

P

P

P

P

P

cn

p

P

P

P

P

cn

Cn

g

p

p

P

cn

•H

P

p

P

P

cn

•H

3

P

P

P

cn

•H

P

P

P

P

cn

•H

P

P

P

P

cn

•H

P

p

P

P

cn

•H

u

0)

P

0

0

0

03

c

o

0

0

o

0)

c

0

0

0

0

d)

c

0

0

O

0

03

c

0

0

0

0

03

P

0

0

n

0

03

c

\,

X

2

2

2

in

s

D

2

2

2

cn

s

D

2

2

cn

2

u

2

2

2

cn

s

D

X

2

2

cn

2

D

2

2

2

cn

3

D

H 1

51

Assessment of the Regional Market for
Each Category of Development1

2 /

J. J. Collins —

The topic that I have built my talk around
is more specifically directed toward what we
perceive to be the trends in marketing real
estate in this area. Dr. Clark's paper laid
the groundwork for much of what I have to say.

What I'd like to do is give you an overview
of what has happened in this business in the
last 10 to 15 years. First, we must ask our¬
selves a question: Is there a demand, in fact,
for the continued use of this recreational ex¬
perience that Dr. Clark mentioned? I think
the answer is fairly simple, but its implica¬
tions can be rather far-reaching. The answer
is definitely, yes. As an example in our 1973-
74 and 1974-75 ski seasons, we saw increases
in this demand in the vicinity of 20%. The
implication that's interesting is that, during
this 2-year period, the economy was in its
worse condition since the end of World War II.
Prices of petroleum products, primarily
gasoline and aviation fuel upon which we are
completely dependent here, were either soar¬
ing or the product was completely unavailable.
Yet, we saw a tremendous increase in people
coming from all over the country to Vail,
Colorado. Why?

If the basic American wage earner, salary
earner, or professional man, is struggling to
make a living for 50 or 51 weeks out of the
year, and he's got the most rudimentary
means of enjoying himself for a 1- or 2-week
vacation, then he' s evidently going to do it,
and the American credit system, fortunately
or unfortunately, allows him to. The ads that

— Paper presented at the symposium on
Man, Leisure, and Wildlands: A Complex
Interaction, Vail, Colorado, Sept. 14-19,
1975.

2/

— Real Estate Sales Manager, Vail
Associates, Vail, Colorado 81657.

recommend you think of your Credit Card as
money perhaps sustain much of this increase.
But, the important thing to realize is the
demand is there now, the demand is going to
increase, and people will do their utmost to
enjoy themselves for at least 1 or 2 weeks, if
they can afford it, out of the year.

Another reason why is the increased
pressures in the urban environment- -pollution,
high crime rates, high rents, increased regu¬
lation, and so on and so forth. People want to
get away from that to revitalize themselves.
Thoreau's saying has been popularized in
recent editions of large posters: "In wildness
is the preservation of the earth". Wildness,
be it here in Vail, Colorado or in the Wind
Rivers Wilderness Area, seems to be the
impetus that brings him here; he has to get
away for at least a while; he has to do some¬
thing other than live in that urban environ¬
ment.

The challenge for people in the business
of marketing the real estate product is: How
do you preserve this experience, and yet offer
it to the consumer without destroying it? This
is the nut that we have to crack. You dis¬
cussed Beaver Creek with one of our associ¬
ates, Dave Mott, yesterday: Beaver Creek
is a classic example of what to do. I have to
get into the trends now that affect that chal¬
lenge, and I am assuming again that the de¬
mand is there and that it will continue to grow.

There are two basic factors, in my opin¬
ion, that have greatly affected the development
and marketing of the recreational experience.
I'm going to lump them into two huge categories,
so please bear with me. One of them has to
do with the affordability of the experience --
the financial considerations. The other has to
do with the preservation of the experience--
the environmental considerations. Whereas
10 or 15 years ago the two might have been

52

viewed by the common man in the business
(or not in the business) as always completely
separate unto themselves, I think today those
two are by no means separate. If anything,
they are almost completely dependent one
upon the other. You cannot consider the
development of a piece of property such as
Vail, or a small subdivision, or what have
you, without considering the environmental
implications .

FINANCIAL CONSIDERATIONS

From I960 to about 1972, somewhere in
that area, we had what is considered to be the
boom period in real estate development--not
only in resorts, but throughout the economy.

The government was pushing for construction
of 26, 000, 000 new units in that 12 -year per¬
iod. It was characterized by what we called
"easy money". The banks, the S&L's, and
thrift institutions were loaded with deposits,
and consequently the mortgage market was
very strong. Interest rates were low. In¬
comes were good. Real incomes, not just the
amount of dollars, but the buying power of
those dollars, increased in some income brack¬
ets, mainly in the $10, 000 to $15, 000, and
the $1 5, 000 to $25, 000, five -fold in that 12-
year period. That was the bread and butter
market to the three million lot buyers that
Dr. Clark mentioned in his paper, and to the
condominium buyer and to the single -family
detached-home buyer. Real expansion of
spendable income was literally staggering.

Then leisure time came along, the 4 -day
week, the demand for more recreation time.
This availability of income and increased
leisure time spawned the development of
recreational amenities and resorts, in all
parts of the country and all parts of the world.
People were able to take advantage of them,
and the developers were in a very profitable
bus ine s s .

Then came 1973. The positive aspects of
the economy had reached their peak, and with¬
in a period of 6 months an awesome change
took place. The easy money not only became
tight, it disappeared altogether. It didn't
dwindle, it justplain vanished. The great
increase in real spendable income disappeared,
and consequently the market dried up. Prices,
inflation, and taxes went higher. As a result
there were thousands of unsold units on
Florida's "Gold Coast", and thousands of

unsold units in the Rocky Mountain area here.
There was no money to buy them in the insti¬
tutions; there were no buyers in the market.

We had come to the classic "crunch". Money
was gone.

What has that experience taught people in
my business? It has taught us several things,
but I'd like to narrow it down to one example.
Essentially, the financial problems we ran
into forced us to design a product that was
marketable continuously, a market that per¬
haps is not going to have, or definitely is not
going to have, the amount of money it did in
the last 5 to 10 years. The market then was
designated to supply single -family detached -
housing on a half -acre lot, whole-unit condo¬
miniums, recreational second-home sites for
speculation or construction. That market has
been severely restricted, and though it will
recover to a certain extent, the important
thing is that new products have come out of
that experience.

One of these trends, which we're just
beginning to see here in Vail, is the concept
of time sharing or as Vail Associates terms
it, "Interval Ownership". The concept goes
back to the Club Hotel Corporation develop¬
ments in the south of France, the southern
French ski resorts, and to the Riveria. The
SEC has restricted the market regarding the
securities nature of offering real estate. The
IRS has constantly whittled away the tax
shelter advantages of buying resort or second-
home real estate. Then finally we had infla¬
tion and recession put in jeopardy the amount
of discretionary income a potential buyer can
spend. It's a classic example, both of dis¬
cretionary income that a potential buyer can
spend, and of the seller adapting himself to
what the buyer can afford.

Fifteen years ago a high-rise building was
divided by spatial parameters into condomi¬
niums. We actually got a map that showed the
definitions and linear footage in the building.
What has been done in Interval Ownership is
take that spatial orientation in the condomi¬
nium, and put it into a time frame. We split
the year into 52 weeks, remove two weeks at
the low periods of each season for mainte¬
nance, overhaul and upkeep, and then offer
the other 48 weeks primarily as single weeks
or groupings of three weeks, for instance the
Christmas period, and five weeks in some of

53

the low-season periods. We price them
accordingly, and put them on the market.

That $65, 000 condominium can now be pur¬
chased for anywhere from $800 for a summer
week to $3, 800 -$4, 500 for a winter week
during the ski season.

The marketplace is demanding lower -
priced units with the same amount of conven¬
iences, and this seems to be one of the means
that will satisfy the demand.

ENVIRONMENTAL CONSIDERATIONS

During that same time period, the last
10 to 15 years, I don't think many people in
the business knew the words "environment",
or "ecology", or "ecosystem". Now, they
are not only household words, they are a
cause that's been picked up and carried, hope¬
fully not too late, to the position in our areas
of concern where it ought to be. This has
had a definite influence on trends in the real
estate business.

We now have a different set of planning
parameters. The practice used to be to ob¬
tain a piece of land, lay down your grid work,
carve up your streets, worry about water and
sewer systems, trash removal, proper paving
and so on, stick lot number signs on the lots,
put up a mobile home, and start selling. To¬
day, however, the process is similar to what
my company has taken on with the development
of the Beaver Creek ski area.

I think you will find that most people in
the business are very capable and very con¬
cerned about picking up that--let's call it a
"burden" - -simply because it is essential to
our survival. And there's good reason for it.

It solves part of that challenge I mentioned
earlier. How do we preserve what we're
offering, and market it effectively without
destroying it? Proper planning must be legis¬
lated, and those developers who are capable
of picking up the challenge will be the success¬
ful ones. Planning Authority, for instance,
has done a magnificant job of legislating
pollution abatement in a difficult situation.
Hopefully, we won't have to get into that situ¬
ation if the proper planning constraints are
placed upon developers now. I think there's
a much greater concern, on the part of good
developers, for protection of the environment
gets into such things as density controls:

Where are the people going to come from?
Where are they going to be housed? How are
they going to be moved about the area? What
population will the area sustain on any given
day? How much work will have to be done to
prepare the area for this influx? Because
this environmental factor that has been placed
upon the developer involves money, we have
those two separate entities of 1 5 years ago
coming together very closely: the environ¬
mental and the financial considerations.

Of all the trends in the business today,

I think this greater awareness of the relation¬
ship between financial considerations and
environmental considerations it the greatest
single factor in the resort real estate market¬
ing business.

The one thing I was looking for was a
windup to this presentation, and I found it in
the letterhead of the Eisenhower Consortium:
It' s the saying that "nature to be commanded
must be obeyed".

54

I

Measuring the Consumer Demand for Use and
Development of Leisure Properties1

2 /

Maurice L. Kelley, Jr.—

Since I'm an advertising and marketing
man in the airline industry, it will probably
not surprise you to learn that my premise is
that the use and development of leisure prop¬
erties will depend to a large degree on the con¬
tinued vitality of the air transportation indus¬
try. Distance and time are perhaps less im¬
portant in the development of an area like this
one, but driving vacations to Hawaii, for
example, are minimal at best.

So rather than give you a highly statisti¬
cal talk on consumer demand and usage figures,
I thought, as the only active member of the
airline fraternity on the program, that I
would sketch the overall industry outlook from
my vantage point--with specific attention to
marketing to leisure and resort areas.

First of all, the airlines are not in par¬
ticularly good shape to invest a lot of money
or time in new market development of any
kind at the moment. In most cases, airlines
are competing for existing business.

Consumer demand for air travel has not
been particularly strong this year. For the
first seven months of the year, airline indus -
try traffic as measured by revenue passenger
miles was down about 0. 6%. Economic un¬
certainty, inflation, unemployment and other
factors that you're all aware of have resulted
in a softening market--especially for leisure
travel. (An exception is Colorado where our
ski business increased over 60 % in 197 5)
Further, it was the lower priced programs
which suffered most. People seem more
interested in value (in terms of total package
offered) than ever.

Based on the economic recovery, which
we sincerely hope will happen finally, the
industry is predicting a flat 1975 with a return

—Paper presented at the symposium on
Man, Leisure, and Wildlands: A Complex
Interaction, Vail, Colo. , Sept. 14-19, 1975.

2/

—Vice President, Passenger Market
Development, Continental Airlines, Los
Angeles, California.

to modest growth predicted for 1976.

The profit picture is even less bright.

The U. S. airline industry lost $164. 2
million in the first quarter of 197 5 compared
with a $4. 8 million profit in the first quarter
of 1974.

This improved in the second quarter, but
we can't even hazard a guess at the total in¬
dustry profit picture for the year 1975 because
we don't know now what added costs we will
have to incur over the next months.

In terms of costs:

The increased cost of doing business is
certainly no newer to you than it is to Conti¬
nental and the airline industry. We're looking
at a 10%-12% increase in operating costs this
year and next without figuring in cost of fuel.
Fuel cost is the most serious problem of all.
It's real and it is terrifying for us and should
be for you, the traveling public.

Let me give you some idea of what fuel
costs really mean to the airline industry:

- Fuel costs are already $2 million more
a day today than they were last year.

At Continental, a 1 £ a gallon increase
equates to a $3 million annualized ex¬
pense.

- An added $1 /barrel tax on oil will cost
the industry an added $100 million/year.

- And if domestic crude is decontrolled,
the Air Transport Association estimates
another $500 million in costs for 1 year,
$1. 6 billion over the next 31 months. If
the industry is to absorb this huge in¬
crease in cost without a fare increase,
it is estimated that we will have to re¬
duce 20% of our capacity, ground 350-
450 airplanes, and furlough 45, 000-

50, 000 employees. This drastic action,
in turn, would obviously impact resort
areas, hotels and other elements of the
leisure market.

Setting the big questionmark of fuel costs
aside, I think we would be rather optimistic
about the growth of air travel in 1976.

55

• Data Resources, Chase Econometrie s,
the IDC, UCLA and G. E. Mapcast
forecast a real GNP growth for 1976 of
about 6%.

- Since there is a very close correla¬
tion between air travel and GNP, the
airline industry is also looking for a
growth of about 6% in 1976 vs 1975.

- And we are looking for this growth
with only modest increase in capacity
- about +3% due chiefly to equipment
replacements.

• With growth in GNP should come growth
in DPI in 197 6 and that should be good
for leisure travel. People today are
changing their lifestyles and vacation
travel is growing as a percent of aver¬
age family expenditure. New liberal¬
ized charter regulations may encourage
additional leisure travel to vacation
destinations, although the outlook is con¬
fused at the moment.

With a vital airline industry and resump¬
tion of air travel demand, we can look toward
an increase of market development activities
by the carriers which, as I mentioned, can
have a major impact on the growth of resort
areas and leisure properties. For example,

I think most people would agree that United
Airlines has played a major role in the devel¬
opment of Hawaii as a leading vacation destina¬
tion. Likewise, Captain Eddie Rickenbacker
and his Eastern Airlines helped turn Miami
Beach from a summer resort into a year-
round playground. Continental has developed
and promoted winter and summer vacation
programs to Colorado, travel to California
and Hawaii, and is involved in a major desti¬
nation building project with the Islands of
Micronesia.

We provide films, brochures, displays,
advertising and promotion support, including
sales calls.

Additionally, several of the carriers have
invested in hotel properties at some of their
key destinations to help insure adequate and
suitable ground accommodations. I refer
here to United's Western International Hotels,
TWA' s association with Hilton International,
Pan American's Intercontinental chain and
our own Continental hotels in the Pacific.

Beyond the active marketing support of
the carriers it is essential that a broad array

of specific destination and product information
be made available to other channels of distri¬
bution for resort areas. Specifically, travel
agents in this country are now accounting for
close to one out of every two airline revenue
dollars. They influence destination, carrier,
hotel, length of stay, and a host of other im¬
portant aspects of vacation planning. At the
moment, travel agents have a better working
relationship with hotels rather than condo¬
minium associations or managers. There is
not yet a simple comprehensive information
system on non-hotel, leisure properties for
travel agents. We all know that people sell
what is easiest and I don't think we will see
real growth in the condominium rental area
until knowledge and communications and
trust in product quality are improved in the
travel agent community. Continental has
worked with the Colorado properties to im¬
prove knowledge, understanding, and ease of
sale. We gained experience last ski season
and we have made further improvements for
this year's program. We will continue to do
so since we are convinced that condominiums
have a place in the marketing mix.

Yet another important factor in the out¬
look for specific leisure properties and resort
development is the image, if you will, of the
various destinations. Whether it is cars or
condominiums, the American public is in¬
fluenced by image. Each resort destination
has to determine what it wants to stand for in
the public's mind. Hopefully, this will repre¬
sent a unique positioning which is consistent
with the tar get market' s expectations and,
importantly, consistent with the actual market
characteristics which will be experienced by
the vacationer. Clearly, the Rocky Mountain
area enjoys an excellent image as the outstand
ing skiing area in the United States. Addition¬
ally, the beauty of the Colorado outdoors and
the variety of experiences available make it
an attractive year-round destination which is
yet to be fully developed or exploited. Ob¬
viously, a negative product or location image
can be a serious problem for a resort destina¬
tion. You may recall some of the wanton
shootings of tourists on one of the Caribbean
Islands a few years ago. I can assure you that
resort properties and building sites were avail
able at a reduced price for a long time. Like¬
wise, hostility of the local inhabitants toward
tourists can spread through press reports and
the tourist grapevine. The Bahama Islands

56

were faced with this problem prior to their
independence. The Parisians have it now and
it, plus rising ground costs, have hurt demand
for vacations in France.

Miami Beach tourist interests are en¬
gaged in a major upgrading of this area, es¬
pecially in hotels, beach, and service, to
help continue its growth through the 70' s. A
destination can become passe if it doesn't
maintain its facilities and control its develop¬
ment. Likewise, "people pollution", crowds
and noise can be problems.

Conversely, Hawaii's reputation for the
"Aloha spirit" plays as much or more impor¬
tant a role as the sun, sand, and surf in
Hawaii's continued growth and strength as a
leading vacation destination.

Then there is the problem, or opportunity,
on how to increase the awareness of a resort
or leisure properties' image and characteris¬
tics among its target audience. If people
don't know you, you don't sell much. Obvious¬
ly, research plays a major role in market
positioning and so does promotion and publicity.
I think everyone would agree that President
Ford's affinity for this area has had a salutary
affect on awareness and consumer impression.
Mr. Nixon did the same thing for Key Biscayne.

Since we don't all have the luxury of a
President's publicity program, some of us
have to increase awareness the hard way. At
Continental we have elected to improve con¬
sumer awareness of the unique hustle and
spirit and pride of the Continental people.

About a year and a half ago the Benton and
Bowles Advertising Agency came up with h
slogan "We Really Move Our Tail For You"
which built nicely upon the airline's slogan

for seven years --"The Proud Bird With The
Golden Tail".

Significant improvements in consumer
awareness of Continental and its destinations
have been reflected in research surveys and,
not so incidently, in our business. I men¬
tioned earlier that the airline industry has de¬
clined 0. 6% in the first eight months of this
year. During this same period, Continental
has grown 7. 4% vs a year ago in revenue
passenger miles, and our market share is the
healthiest in recent years.

The last element which is essential to
continued orderly growth in resort properties
is the time and dedication of concerned
individuals such as those attending this sym¬
posium. This perhaps is the most critical
element, for if we don't take the time to
address the problems and develop solutions,
to develop directions, strategies and plans,
our outlook will be dim indeed.

I would like to close with the following
verse taken from a volume titled "Prayers of
Life" - on the subject of time:

"Good by. Sir, excuse me, I haven't time.

I'll come back, I can't wait, I haven't
time .

I must end this letter, I haven't time.

I would love to help you but I haven't
time.

I can't accept, having no time.

I can't think, I can't read, I'm swamped,

I haven' t time.

I would like to pray, but I haven't time. "

I salute you for taking the time to discuss
critical problems of environment and growth,
and I thank you for your kind attention.

57

Planning and Legal Considerations Affecting Land Development*

^ !

By James D. Mertes**
and

Frank F. Skillern***

Environmental land resource planning and
management is a very popular subject with an
increasing number of people. The nature of
this interest varies depending upon one's sta¬
tion in life and interest in the various aspects
of land development and management. Certainly,
since the passage of NEPAl in 1969, the increased
activity in the area of land use planning has had
many far reaching implications for persons in¬
volved in selling and developing land for urban
and non-urban purposes.

Working in tandem with the ecological land
resource analysts and planners have been the
lawyers. Their mission has been to draft and
defend land use guidance systems which serve to
implement comprehensive land use plans. A
principal objective of this activity has been
to guide land use decisions so as to avoid mis¬
takes which in the past have resulted in a
considerable loss of environmental resources
and aesthetic values, public endangerment from
flooding, landslide, or subsidence, and exces¬
sive public costs for expensive corrective
action. 2 Out of all of this has come a real¬
ization on the part of many that reliance on a
virtually unconstrained land market is not a
firm guarantee that land will be used properly,
that maximum development opportunities will be
discovered, that the greatest number of land
use conflicts resulting in undesirable ecological
and social externalities will be avoided, and
that highly valued resources will be preserved
for future generations to enjoy. 3

This paper represents the efforts of a
planner and lawyer to examine and highlight some
current activities in the area of land use plan¬
ning and management and to discuss how these
activities relate to the operation of the land
market as it pertains to the various categories
of leisure properties. It must be stressed that
this paper represents only an overview of a very
complex and constantly changing area of public
and private policy activity. Because of the
likelihood of change, current events are dis¬
cussed and related insofar as is practicable
to the future market for leisure properties
development .

The objective of land use planning ulti¬
mately is to arrive at some determinations as to
how land within a prescribed planning area will
eventually be developed. Who decides, and more

Footnotes are listed at the end of this paper.

important, how these determinations are made,
stir considerable discussion among citizens, land
developers, and public officials. Once the
determinations are fairly well locked into place
by conventional land use controls, the land mar¬
ket, which some argue does not need the benefit
of comprehensive planning, responds accordingly.^

This process often works at odds with the
market and the goals and aspirations of land-
owners, particularly when its determinations are
not in concert with what the individual views as
the highest and best economic use of his land.
Work with several time-consuming zoning cases
has revealed many obstacles to successful imple¬
mentation of a comprehensive land use planning
program. On the other hand, it has also shown
how thorough planning, with environmental man¬
agement objectives, can serve as a powerful
complementary force in the land market to create
numerous development opportunities . ^

Pre-NEPA land use planning, or "old plan¬
ning," grew out of the fields of engineering and
city planning. ^ The master plan as conceived in
this context was a rigid physical development
plan for the precise layout of a city or region.
It contained independent studies of streets,
utilities, schools, parks, and the like. It had
as an end product colored maps showing various
land use designations and locations for specific
public improvements. All of this was accom¬
plished through our well known Euclidian zone
districts1 and conventional subdivision regula¬
tions.® Little if any of this physically
oriented planning took into account ecological
variables, form indicators, or environmental
systems analysis. The concept of highest and
best use of land was often equated with economic
rent considerations for the most part. Land use
ordinances were prohibitive rather than encour¬
aging and directing. Development performance
guidelines were hardly discussed. Monotony
prevailed over diversity.

The passage of the National Environmental
Policy Act of 1969 ushere'd in the beginning of a
new era in comprehensive land resource analysis
and planning. Earlier concepts of ecological
determinism9 and quality corridor analysis10
found application as part of the process of
responding to Section 102-C of the Act which
requires a comprehensive environmental assess¬
ment on all federally financed development

58

projects .

f

The post-NEPA years also gave use to a
rebirth of some earlier ideas of land as a
complex ecological resource rather than purely
a market commodity . H Ecological systems anal¬
ysis and the multiple overlay mapping inventory
systems became very popular. -*-2 Intense interest
focused on resources such as soils, water, and
vegetation, on forms, and more important, on
processes and performance. Old friends like the
Soil Survey were rediscovered. Mapping com¬
posites identified areas well-suited for devel¬
opment, as well as areas which were perishable,
fragile, or where development would present a
potential public harm. Design synthesis allowed
identification of specific resource constraints
as well as opportunities. Flood plains, geologic
hazard areas, prime agricultural lands, scenic
areas, aquifer recharge areas, shorelands, wet¬
lands, rookeries, landslide areas, alpine
meadows, and mountain watersheds were identified
and described. Ecological processes were valued
and complex relationships explained. Analysis
of soil, slope, geologic, and hydrologic data
led to the development of land capability com¬
posites. Environmental management policies
could be promulgated for each capability of
ecological performance unit. A final determi¬
nation, that of land suitability, explained
what portion of an area would ideally accom¬
modate specific types of development with the
least local or regional environmental impact. H

For each land suitability class, resource
standards - the appropriate development perfor¬
mance criteria - could be promulgated. Resource
constraints based on these standards were pro¬
mulgated as regulations restricting certain
kinds of land uses and development from high
hazard or vulnerable areas. Where developments
could meet certain performance criteria, they
would be allowed in critical areas such as flood
plains. 4 Environmentally based land resource
plans often exposed desirable development areas
where the economic value of the land could be
enhanced considerably without costly modification
or installation of rectifying devices such as
artificial drainage systems. Thus a landowner
could assess his proposed development in terms
of its probable impact and match this with the
land suitability analysis of his property. Cer¬
tain modifications could be prescribed to make
the development compatible with the land, the
amendments often resulting in considerable cost
savings to the developer and the community.

In addition to identifying lands suitable
for high density development, the process also
identified lands which contain unique resources
or critical environmental processes. These
characteristics suggest special protection in
the form of severe limitations on the nature or
density of development. Critical areas

management, open space acquisition, farm land
preservation, flood plain management, coastal
zone management, and low density zoning are some
of the planners ' responses for the management
or protection of lands falling into the critical,
perishable, vulnerable, or public-harm-resulting-
from-dis turban ce category.^

In short, the ecological deterministic
approach to comprehensive land resource analysis
leads to a land use map which is based on sound
scientific data resulting from interdisciplinary
study and design synthesis. Land use categories
are not arbitrarily determined as was often the
case in old physically oriented master plans.
Because it is objectively drawn, the plan is
legally defensible. It may be region shaping.

Also the plan can save public funds and enhance
public, as well as private, well-being. Being
founded on objective data it is less subject to
piecemeal attack and recurring, ad hoc amendment.
From all of this comes some interesting and often
frustrating readjustment within a local or
regional land market. At Lake Tahoe, for example,
a comprehensive land resource analysis led
eventually to the development of a
regional land suitability map. 16 The
zoning which followed prescribed land use dis¬
tricts and densities based on the environmentally
determined land suitability classification. Some
lands were up zoned, many were down zoned. Wind¬
falls were few, wipeouts many. The ultimate
objective of the plan is to protect the environ¬
mental integrity of the region by respecting its
intrinsic character. Hopefully, at least in the
eyes of the Tahoe Regional Planning Commission,
this will insure that through a process of pru¬
dent public and private land management the
values of Tahoe which attract people to the
area will not become the plague which ultimately
destroys it.

The problem is a recurring one that is
repeated throughout our entire Consortium
region — unique resources that are attractive
for development are also highly perishable
and vulnerable to irreparable deterioration. '

The same kinds of planning activities previously
described are being undertaken throughout the
region at the state, regional, and local level.
Critical areas are being designated, more
stringent performance standards for development
are being promulgated, and more acres are being
set aside for public ownership and management .
Growth management programs that are based on
resource limits and availability of financial
resources are finding their way into compre¬
hensive plans and land use management programs. 19
Environmental assessments reveal long range
implications flowing from some proposed devel¬
opments that suggest these developments are not
in the public's best interest.

In addition to the emergence of more

59

comprehensive environmental planning methodol¬
ogies and impact assessment techniques, the
ease of developing remote land areas for lei¬
sure purposes has been hampered somewhat by
the rising costs of energy. It would seem
that the end of the era of cheap electrical
energy and fuel for motor vehicle transpor¬
tation is fast approaching if it has not
already arrived. The facts concerning an acute
national energy problem are obvious. Very real
regional energy shortages exist, and fuel prices
are skyrocketing. Certain federal and state
environmental policies are adding several layers
of additional costs to the price of producing
and distributing energy. Should this continue,
the desire for second property ownership may
remain high, but the feasibility and practicality
of it may be more closely scrutinized by a larger
number of potential property investors.

Fuel or energy availability, price, and
type are factors of major interest to land use
planners. The factors weigh heavily in trans¬
portation planning, clustering and density
decisions, siting of energy production facil¬
ities and energy transmission lines. Environ¬
mental planning and architecture applied to
land development can be utilized to effectively
conserve energy thereby reducing unnecessary
consumption. 20

Presently, precise data is lacking on
the immediate implications of future energy
policies on the sales and development of
leisure properties. Some observations on
future trends, that seem reasonable, are as
follows :

1. The market for large, remote rural
tracts will continue to evaporate
unless cheaper forms of private
conveyance, energy, and on-site
electrical energy are developed.

2. Emphasis will be on large cluster
developments where advanced archi¬
tectural technology can be utilized
for maximum energy conservation.

3. More emphasis will shift to group
conveyance such as air, bus, and
rail travel to bring people from
urban areas to more remote clusters
of leisure developments .

4. In some areas there will be consid¬
erable conflict arising out of the
need to extract energy reserves.

Many would indeed be horrified at

a plan to excavate and reshape a
sizable portion of scenic Colorado
in search of oil shale and other
energy sources. Some westerners
are taking the same attitude towards

their scenic mountain areas as east¬
erners are taking towards their
undeveloped coastlines.

What does all of this mean in terms of the
future availability and location of land for
leisure development throughout the region? The
answer is by no means simple. In most of the
highly attractive mountain areas, the supply
of private land for purchase and development is
already very limited. The largest land holder,
the federal government, appears to be under
heavy pressure from environmentalists and urban
recreationists to pursue more protection-oriented
policies with respect to land exchanges, special
use permits, and recreational facility develop¬
ment .

In the mountain states and elsewhere, there
is a growing awareness on the part of a wide
range of citizens of the economics as well as
environmental problems associated with poorly
planned land development . In our State of
Texas where interest in land use planning is
much less than in other areas, people are
beginning to question the wisdom of totally
uncontrolled land speculation and development
adjacent to public recreational resources and
within regional scenic attractions. At Lake
Amis tad, on the Rio Grande River, for example,
the county prevailed upon the Legislature for
limited zoning powers to help guide land use
along the shore of the lake. 2 It is similar
to situations found here in Colorado: the area
is attracting large numbers of users and uses
that ultimately could lead to a serious
despoilation of the water resource and adjacent
scenic and cultural resources. The latter, of
course, are the principal attractions and
sources of recreational enjoyment.

Out of all this has come the development of
land use suitability determinations that often
mean fewer acres of prime development land or
much higher costs and stringent constraints on
the development of other lands. The land use
management programs emerging are varied, complex,
and not susceptible to easy modifications. Thus
the legal questions, in terms of the impact on
the traditional property rights, the compen¬
sation for value diminution, and the notions of
public welfare equity, are becoming immensely
important issues.

Our observations, drawn from the study
areas where this kind of land use planning and
management has been underway, are these:

1. Speculative futures with respect to
the highest and best economic use
concept of land development potential
do not always correlate with the
appropriate land suitability. J

60

2. Adoption of environmental land use
plans and subsequent land use manage¬
ment programs often results in land
development density reductions for
many parcels of property. This was
the case recently at Lake Tahoe. The
Tahoe Regional Planning Agency on
August 29, 1975, initiated implementa¬
tion of land use regulations of its
much discussed regional environmental
land resource plan. The plan proposes
to limit development within the
California portion of the environ¬
mentally sensitive basin. Adoption

of the plan means that many properties
will be downzoned to densities
suggested by the land suitability
analysis. This is highly endorsed
by environmentalists. Property
owners on the other hand are deeply
concerned over the monetary diminu¬
tion that would likely result from
the downzoning. A solution appears
to be precise documentation of the
exact nature of the wipeout in terms
of individual landowners as well as
the regional economic base. Clearly
such action creates land locational
advantage and economic enhancement to
those property owners whose land is
allocated higher development densi¬
ties .

The affected land owners, need¬
less to say, will go to court claiming
the planning and land use regulations,
which are aimed at protecting a fragile
public trust resource and prevent the
occurrence of hazardous conditions,
create a taking of their property for
which just compensation should be paid.
Paid by whom? Where will this extra
money come from? Interesting, but
not easily answered questions.

3. Density reductions in some areas create
for property owners whose land happens
to be in the right suitability group

a handsome windfall in appreciable
value of which they were unaware. The
land supply available for certain
kinds of resort developments has been
artifically reduced, and thus its value
driven much higher in a very manipulated
land market. Should these fortunate
recipients of this new wealth have
their increased benefit recaptured to
help compensate their unfortunate
neighbors who are blessed with ecolog¬
ically sensitive land that is very
valuable to the regional ecosystem and
the production stream of environmental
and aesthetic values, but now of
little interest to the local realtor

who once had plans to locate a mammoth
resort condominium there?

The focal point of this issue centers
around a seemingly insatiable demand to enjoy
the benefits of recreation in scenic areas
while still maintaining the quality of the
area so that it continues to be attractive and
rewarding. This situation is best stated by
Mr. Justice Sullivan of the California Supreme
Court in a case dealing with the administration
of regional planning and land use management
within the area covered by the Tahoe Regional
Planning Compact. Mr. Justice Sullivan observed:

. . . There is good reason to fear
that the region's natural wealth
contains the virus of its ultimate
impoverishment. A staggering in¬
crease in population, a greater
mobility of people, an affluent
society and an incessant urge to
invest, to develop, to acquire and
merely to spend. . . . all have
combined to impose a severe threat
to the Tahoe region. . . .Today,
and for the foreseeable future, the
ecology of Lake Tahoe stands in
grave danger before a mounting
wave of population and development.^

Many similar Tahoes are within this region.

The answer is obviously not one or the other,
but a balance of both development and attrac¬
tive environment. This balance cannot come
about within the market alone. Certain
considerations and constraints which extend
beyond the reach or influence of any one
decisionmaker can only be brought to bear
by a representative body having a broad
region-wide scope of interests and authori¬
ties. The market balance will be changed
with resultant locational advantages
enhanced as well as diminished. Hopefully
more development opportunities with greater
options for diversity and market innovative¬
ness will emerge. Properly conducted com¬
prehensive environmental planning should
generate these kinds of results.

The land use management strategies devel¬
oped in the past few years to implement land
use plans and protect environmental resources
are complex and far reaching in terms of their
legal implications. Many reach to the core of
our fundamental institution of private property
and the proper role of government as a sover¬
eign or a trustee of certain common property
resources. Others place government in the
role of arbiter between the public interest
and the private interest in land as well as
the determiner of the quality of life
resulting from land use. A survey of some
of these land use guidance systems will

61

illustrate methods used to implement environ¬
mental planning and the legal issues inherent
in them.

Historically land use planning has not
been conducted on the basis of ecological
land capability. Rather it is typically
negative in nature, limiting particular uses
to particular areas. Often these determina¬
tions turn principally on economic and practi¬
cal, rather than on environmentally-related
considerations. As the nature of land use plan¬
ning has changed from merely a locational issue
to a determination of what land is best suited
for a particular activity, several problems
have emerged. A major problem has been obtain¬
ing the requisite land resource inventory analy¬
sis and design synthesis which is essential to
making suitability and capability determinations.
That problem is basically a planning and manage¬
ment problem. However, another problem that is
legal in nature is how to make the land use deci¬
sion coincide with the ecological planning and
management decision regarding the appropriate
use of the land. Today many federal and
state laws are forcing the decision-maker to
make land use determinations in light of not
only the economical and practical factors,
but also in light of the environmental and
ecological considerations about the land. In
some instances such as the Vermont legisla¬
tion, the legal requirements are very
direct: in others, particularly in the federal
areas, ' the requirements may be indirect
and, sometimes as under the federal Clean Air
Act, not even principally realted to the
land use issue.

congressional level over the environmental costs
that occur in federal projects. NEPA is also a
good example of a law that affects land use
planning indirectly. The Act itself says nothing
about land use decisions or where particular
activities should occur. But the Act is designed
to bring environmental considerations into the
decisionmaking process, and it is at that junc¬
ture that it affects land use decisions. Here
also the Act evidences a growing awareness of
the significance of land capability as a deter¬
minant of land use. NEPA operates by requiring
that a federal agency prepare what has become
known as the Environmental Impact Statement
(EIS) on all federal or federally assisted pro¬
jects significantly affecting the quality of
the human environment . 3^ The Act sets forth
what the EIS must contain. The entire project
and its environmental consequences must be
described in the EIS. Then it must discuss
alternatives to the proposed action, the
relationship between the short-term uses and
long-term productivity, and any identifiable
irreversible and irretrievable uses of natural
resources that would result if the action is
carried out. The Act further requires that
the EIS be made available for public criticism
and comment and that it be included among all
the project's materials through each of the
agency's internal stages for approval. In
this manner the EIS becomes one of several
factors that the decisionmaker has before him
at the time of making the decision to proceed
with the project. The EIS must also be cir¬
culated to appropriate federal agencies that
would be concerned with the project for inter¬
agency comments on the project.

Examples of both the state and federal
legislation, as well as some new local land
use ordinances, will be discussed. These
examples were not selected as being inclusive
of all the possible devices with respect to
land use regulation or legislation. They have
been selected because they are representative
of different approaches to guiding land use cur¬
rently being taken by state, federal, and local
governments. Also the examples illustrate a
variety of procedures available to those respon¬
sible for implementing environmentally deter¬
mined land use plans and policies.

The principal enactments at the Federal
level that affect land use decisions are the
Federal Water Pollution Control Act Amend¬
ments of 1972,29 the Clean Air Act Amendments
of 1970,30 the Noise Pollution Control Act of
1972, the Coastal Zone Management Act of
1972,32 and the National Environmental Policy
Act of 1969 (NEPA). 33 NEPA will be discussed
first because it is probably the most signi¬
ficant legislative enactment on environmental
problems in recent years. Basically the Act
is an environmental policy statement by
Congress and reflects growing concern at the

Obviously NEPA does not apply in every
local zoning situation. In fact the Act only
requires the EIS be prepared by a federal
agency when it is undertaking a major federal
action. 35 Also the courts have been reluctant
to get involved in strictly local matters and
try not to sit as a super zoning board. Even
when a court has not required an EIS, though,
the local citizens may be effective in delaying
construction or requiring modifications to a
project by requiring a public hearing and a
report by the agency on why the EIS is not
required. That was the situation in Hanley v.
Kleindienst36 where local citizens objected
to the location of a federal courthouse and
jail in downtown Manhattan in New York City.
Similar problems can arise under NEPA con¬
cerning the location of offbase housing for
military personnel? and of other federal
facilities. Although a court may deny a
dissatisfied local resident any rights under
NEPA when the location of a federal facility
is involved, the potential for its application
exists .

The principal and most successful use of

62

NEPA has been in requiring an EIS in projects
in which the federal government is directly
involved. In many cases against different
departments of the federal government the
agency has been enjoined from commencement
or completion of a project until an adequate
EIS has been prepared. These cases affect
planned community development directly. The
case examples include situations in which
federal government has been leasing federal
land for particular purposes without preparing
an EIS prior to leasing. In those situations
the courts have almost uniformly required that
the agency prepare an EIS.^ These cases
include everything from leasing lands for tim¬
bering and mining to the leases of the lands
on the outer continental shelf. ^

Developers must be aware of NEPA and the
EIS requirements in several instances. Fre¬
quently the land being developed, e . g ■ , the
Rocky Mountain area, is leased, purchased,
or under special use permit from the federal
government. In those instances the agency
involved would probably be required to pre¬
pare an EIS. But even if the land to be
developed is private land, NEPA compliance
may be required if funds for purchasing the
land or underwriting part or all of the devel¬
opment are coming from a federal source.

Federal funding often is required on large-
scale developments because of the large capital
outlay for the land. If funds are sought from
HUD under the Urban Growth and New Community
Development Act^® or other federal legislation
providing loans to private individuals, the
project may be delayed until an impact state¬
ment is prepared. Thus, in Sierra Club v.

Lynn^ an EIS was required for a planned unit
development outside San Antonio, Texas that
was going to be situated adjacent to an aqua-
fier recharge area. In another case a private
developer was enjoined from clearing land that
he was purchasing for development until the
federal agency that was making the loan had
prepared an EIS.^ Obviously this would also
apply to any areas of federal lands that were
being sold or exchanged for private develop¬
ment in the Colorado or region of the Southwest.

NEPA is significant not because it has
necessarily deterred or stopped development.

In most cases the particular project has been
continued and carried out, but with fuller kno wledge
of the host of environmental factors associated
with the development. This in turn permits
action to avoid, or at least minimize, environ¬
mental harm. By its thoroughness the EIS brings
to the decisionmaker's attention the full
environmental ramifications of the particular
activity. Thus, the suitability of the land as
well as the permanent harm to natural resources
will be pinpointed in the statement. Although
the Act does not give any priority to the

environmental factors in the decisionmaking
process, it clearly requires that the agency
consider and balance these factors with others
in making the decision to proceed. ^

From the developer's perspective, if the
federal government is involved in the particu¬
lar project, it clearly seems advisable to
consider whether an environmental assessment
should be prepared in advance for use by the
agency. By doing this early in the planning
process the parties can identify the environ¬
mental harm and possibly include action that
will avoid those consequences once the project
is undertaken.

The next federal legislation to consider
is the Federal Clean Air Act.^ Under that
Act the state prepares a plan to implement the
national ambient air quality standards and the
stationary sources standards. The air quality
standards are promulgated by the Environmental
Protection Agency, but enforced through the
state. The Act would affect developers of
second home or resort complexes principally
through the stationary source or indirect
source regulations. If the particular devel¬
opment will also include a large industrial
complex or other new source of air pollution,
the Act will require that the current air
quality standards be met. If they cannot be
satisfied in the region, the activity cannot
be located at the particular place. The other
principal problem with developing a second home
or resort complex would be the indirect source
regulations. 5 These apply to sources which
by their nature will create additional air
pollution problems through traffic or concen¬
tration of pollutants. They generally apply
to things such as a regional shopping center,
a large recreational arena, a traffic artery,
or a large housing complex. Each of these
activities provide parking area for many
vehicles or attract people and cars. The
indirect source regulations require that the
developer establish for the state agency or
EPA that the activity will satisfy the air
quality standards prior to construction.
Although the Clean Air Act Amendments obviously
were not directly related or addressed to land
use problems, they clearly have an indirect
affect because of the air pollution problem
the activity may create.

Another source of regulation that is not
so indirect is the Federal Water Quality
Amendments of 1972.^6 Under those Amendments
the national goal is the elimination of dis¬
charge of pollutants into navigatible waters
by 1985.^7 The principal section of the Act
related to new community or second home
developers would be §208 which deals with area¬
wide waste treatment management plans. Under
the Act the plans are to be prepared by the

63

state to determine areas where the water quality
control problems are "substantial." The plans
will determine the construction priority, size,
and location of waste treatment plants that will
be built with EPA funds. The section expressly
mentions "land use requirements"48 to control
nonpoint sources of pollution including agri¬
cultural and construction activity related
sources. Determining the placement of waste
treatment plants obviously could affect devel¬
opment of new communities or location of
industry. In addition under the Amendments all
point sources of pollution into navigatible
waters must have a discharge permit.49 One
result might be that more sprawl is encouraged
because a subdivision or housing district may
move further out of an urban center to a less
polluted place where the sewer treatment plant
would be authorized rather than building the
development closer to the heavily polluted
urban area.

Another example of federal legislation
indirectly impacting land use is the Noise
Pollution Control Act of 1972. The Act
basically is designed to control the quantity
of noise emitted by construction, transporta¬
tion, or other heavy duty equipment. But it
has an indirect effect on residential develop¬
ment. For example, the Department of Housing
and Urban Development (HUD) has determined
that residential areas should be free from
excessive noise. Regulations promulgated by
HUD do not allow federal assistance to
residences in areas subject to high noise
exposure.82" The principal concern is that
residential developments might be located too
near highways or airports. Obviously depending
on the distances of the second home development
from an urban area, location of a highway or
airport could be an important consideration.
Noise pollution also has been a consideration
in all HUD programs on which an EIS is required
by NEPA.

The last federal legislative example is
one that relates more directly to land manage¬
ment decisions. It is the Coastal Zone Manage¬
ment Act of 1972. 52 A primary purpose of that
Act is the preservation, protection, and
enhancement of the nation's coastal areas. The
Act undertakes this by encouraging states to
create a coastal zone management plan that
would identify the coastal areas needing resto¬
ration or preservation. The Act also encour¬
ages full consideration of ecological, cultural,
historical, and aesthetic values in the devel¬
opment of coastal regions. By requiring a com¬
prehensive plan as a prerequisite for developing
coastal regions, the Act strives to have the
land use decision based on a capability study
of the coastal zone.

Of course, of some interest in the future
will be the national land use policy. In the

past two legislative sessions Congress has pro¬
posed a national land use act that to date has
not become law. But the close margins and the
strong Congressional support for the legislation
clearly indicates that it may become effective.
The general federal plan is similar to the
Coastal Zone Management law in that it encourages
states to adopt statewide land use plans. The
purpose is to provide federal aid for research
and inventory of state land and to have a state
agency created to implement statewide land use
planning.82 Obviously, if adopted, such legis¬
lation would be significant for future develop¬
ment .

In recent years several states have been
reexamining their land use policy and practice.
Frequently, awareness of the severity of the
impact of certain land uses and a recognition
of land as a scarce resource has been the pri¬
mary motivating force. Hawaii was the first
state to embrace a planning program on a state¬
wide basis.84 Today, Maine, Vermont, Colorado,
California, are but four from an increasing
number of states that are considering or using
comprehensive, statewide, land use planning
programs. The particular examples discussed
are selected because they are thorough and
comprehensive; also, they are receiving wide¬
spread attention as models for other states.
Hence, they may illustrate the future of state¬
wide planning.

The Vermont program is a good example of
legislation trying to get land use decisions
based on ecologically determined land suit¬
ability classifications. This is done by
requiring all development be done according
to a statewide land use plan. Vermont has
adopted a permit system. Under the Vermont
legislation the sale or construction of a sub¬
division or other development without a permit
is prohibited . 88 The development the Act is
addressed to includes building on tracts of
land involving more than 10 acres, "construction
of improvements for commercial or industrial
purposes on more than one acre of land within a
municipality that doesn't have permanent zoning,"
and "the construction of housing projects such
as cooperatives, condominiums, or dwellings"
and, interestingly, construction for commercial
industrial, or residential uses above the eleva¬
tion of 2500 feet.-’8 Under the Vermont legis¬
lation a state board is created to develop a
land capability plan for the entire state. Once
that has been approved by the governor and legis¬
lature, all development must be approved by the
state board and be consistent with the plan. The
Act sets forth the particular requirements for
procedure, public hearings, and notice with
respect to granting of permits. Permits under
the plan can be conditional.

The findings the Board must make before

64

granting a permit show the legislative concern
for environmental protection and use of land
capability studies. The Board must find that
the subdivision or development "will not
result in undue water or air pollution," has
sufficient water for the future, or will not
cause an unreasonable burden on existing
water supply. Moreover, the Board must find
that the subdivision or development will not
1) cause soil erosion or reduce the capacity
of the land to hold water, 2) cause unreason¬
able highway congestion or unsafe highway
conditions, 3) place unreasonable burden on
educational, municipal, or governmental ser¬
vices, and 4) have an adverse effect on the
"scenic or natural beauty of the area as
aesthetic and historic sites of rare or
irreplacable areas."58 Obviously in granting
the permit the Board is to consider princi¬
pally the environmental effects of the activ¬
ity.

Since the Vermont legislation was adopted,
the State Planning Office has adopted a land
capability study. ^ The study details not
only the background of existing land uses, but
goes into great detail about matters relevant
to environmental or critical areas management.
The study includes detailed examples of the
soils, flood hazards, sewage disposal, and
water supply problems. It also discusses the
problems of demands on land for agricultural ,
forestry, recreational, and urban purposes.

The critical area management examines natural
areas, wildlife habitats, flora regions, his¬
toric resources, outdoor recreation, and land¬
scape aesthetics. The study is thorough and
a good example of an effort by the state to
identify regions and determine appropriate
areas for specific type development. In
addition, the complete study is noteworthy
because of its rather positive note of trying
to ascertain where development is appropriate.

Vermont also enacted legislation to
regulate land speculation in the state by the
Land Gains Tax. ® That tax came under ques¬
tion in Andrews v. Lathrop.^ The tax was chal¬
lenged on the constitutional grounds of denial
of equal protection because of the basis that
it operated. Under the Act land that was
sold quickly at a high profit in excess of
100% would be taxed at a graduated rate of up
to 60% over a 6 year period. Land that was
retained for at least 6 years was not subject
to the tax. The longer the land was held the
lower the tax. The Vermont Supreme Court up¬
held the tax against constitutional challenges
because it believed the tax was reasonably
related to regulating development by control¬
ling speculation on land. The Court held that
trying to limit sales of land and to reduce a
person's property tax by using the money gen¬
erated by the land gains tax to cover the

reduced revenues of the state were valid legis¬
lative objectives and were reasonably related
to one another. A different tax approach in
New Hampshire, the Home Owner's Exemption Law,
was declared unconstitutional under the New
Hampshire Constitution.

Another environmental legislative device
at the state level is the Maine Site Location
of Development Law .63 Under the law any per¬
son who proposes to develop land in any manner
that might substantially affect the local
environment must first obtain a permit from
the State Environmental Improvement Commission . 6^
The legislature specifically designated certain
types of projects that would require a license.
They included developments (1) that are in
excess of 20 acres, (2) that contemplate dril¬
ling, and (3) that use natural resources within
the state. ^ Before obtaining a license from
the State Commission, the person proposing the
development must show that his plan would pro¬
tect the public health, safety, and general
welfare — in particular that it would avoid
environmental harm. 66

In Re Spring Valley Development” ' raised
the issue for the Supreme Court of Maine of the
constitutionality of the statute; the court
upheld its validity. 6® It first determined
that the legislature's purpose was "to insure
that commercial and industrial developments,
which because of their nature or their size,
will impose unusually heavy demands upon the
natural environment, shall not be located in
areas where the environment does not have the
capacity to withstand the impact of the develop¬
ment. "69 in Spring Valley the particular pro¬
blem was that the person who proposed to sell
the land was not going to develop it himself;
he had subdivided the land and proposed to sell
the subdivisions to developers. His argument
was that the state law only applied to the
person who would actually be doing the devel¬
opment of the property . 70 The court rejected
this argument. It pointed out that residual
developments were within the law; in fact, it
held that the statutory language "commercial"
included subdivision. The court then pro¬
ceeded through a lengthy opinion to determine
the legislative intent and the constitution¬
ality of the statute. The court expressly
held that a "limitation of use of property for
the purpose of preserving from unreasonable
destruction the quality of air, soil and water
for the protection of the public health and
welfare"'^ was a valid exercise of the police
power of the state.

The Maine Site Location of Development
statute illustrates another approach to state¬
wide land use planning that focuses on parti¬
cular types of development and their impact.

The Maine Land Use Regulation Commission has
produced interim land use standards and

65

boundaries . ^3 it also has published two help¬
ful handbooks that discuss and clearly illus¬
trate environmental harm that can ensue from
development. They also show the interrelation¬
ship between the planner's ecological planning
determinations and the ultimate planning deci¬
sion. The booklets are "Building in the Wild-
landsof Maine" ^ and "Subdividing in the Wild¬
lands of Maine; both were written and
illustrated by a landscape architect. Inter¬
estingly, the considerations that led to
adoption of the Maine System included possible
new oil refineries and a deep-sea port for
supertankers.^ Similar considerations, such
as the development of oil shale reserves, may
induce other states in the West to follow
Maine's lead.

Another means to bring the environmental
considerations into the land use decisionmaking
process is typified by the California Environ¬
mental Quality Act.^ That Act is basically a
verbatim copy of the federal NEPA except that
it applies to all state agencies. The principal
purpose of the Act is to get the environmental
factors into the decisionmaking process at an
earlier time and to have these considered by
the decisionmaker. The Act obviously would
necessitate more environmental studies and
analysis by the state agency prior to making
its decision. The California Act has been
held to apply to private projects that are
being licensed or approved by state or local
governments in Friends of Mammoth v. Bd. of
Sup'rs. of Mono County. ^8

In addition to these state programs
regulating the use of land are various local
efforts by municipalities. These may come in
the form of agricultural, open space preser¬
vation, natural area management, or critical
areas zoning. But sometimes their designation
is more suspect and indicates their effect
on land development, e . g . , minimum acreage
zoning. Steel Hill Development, Inc, v. Town
of Sanborton^ vividly presents the conflicting
values at issue in situations involving zoning
or rezoning for larger minimum acreage require¬
ments. On its face the case seems relatively
simple. The developer had purchased over 500
acres of land, which he sought to develop as
a seasonal or second home development for per¬
sons in the Boston area 100 miles from Sanborton.
The town had a permanent population of 1000
which would be doubled by the proposed devel¬
opment. Negotiations to permit cluster zoning
failed, and the townspeople voiced serious
opposition to any development. The planning
board finally rezoned an area that encompassed
30 percent of the plaintiff's land from a
requirement of 35,000 square feet for a single
family home to a 100,000 square foot requirement.
The remaining 70 percent of plaintiff's land
was rezoned from three to six acres for a single

80

family home.

The federal circuit court of appeals upheld
the zoning in Sanborton, 83 but not without seri¬
ous reservations. The court feared the exclu¬
sionary effects of minimum acreage zoning.
Although the court clearly believed that muni¬
cipalities may zone in the public interest for
environmental considerations, the environmental
considerations must be real, not speculative.
They must be based on sound scientific studies
and analysis of the land and its capabilities,
or run the risk of being arbitrary.

Sanborton raises another reason for legis¬
latures or planning boards to obtain thorough
land environmental capability studies: the
regulation or use restriction can objectively
be defended if challenged in court. At that
juncture the planner's and lawyer's work mesh
totally.

The taking issue is a very complex pro¬
blem, especially in land use planning. Two
cases will be used to illustrate not only the
taking issue, but also land resource planning
through critical areas management and a
regional interstate compact.

The latter situation was presented in

82

Brown v. Tahoe Regional Planning Agency.

The case involved a class action brought by
persons who own land within the Lake Tahoe
region as it is defined in the Tahoe Regional
Planning Compact. The compact was entered into
by California and Nevada as a means to coordi¬
nate planning through a regional agency that
would be comprised of persons from both states.
The agency adopted a land use ordinance that
would apply to all lands in the Lake Tahoe
basin, whether in California or Nevada. The
plaintiffs alleged that they own land in the
particular area and that the ordinance is so
restrictive that it deprives them of any pri¬
vate beneficial use of the land. The taking
issue, as alleged by the plaintiffs, is that
the ordinance in effect takes their land for
public purposes such as conservation, recrea¬
tion, parks, or forestry purposes without any
compensation to them. The court in Brown,
held "that public welfare and necessity may
reasonably require exceptionally restrictive
land use classification for the protection of
the public interest in the Lake Tahoe basin,
but that such valid regulations may neverthe¬
less constitute a taking of private property
for public use entitling the owner to just

compensation . "83 in addition, the court held

that the plaintiff did not have to exhaust his
administrative remedies under the ordinance
because his challenge was to the constitution¬
ality of the ordinance. The court proceeded
to deny the motion to dismiss the complaint.

66

Another case involving the taking issue
dealt with state legislation and a local ordi¬
nance for critical areas management. Wisconsin
has adopted a Navigable Water Protection Stat-
tue° designed to preserve shorelands and wet¬
lands for conservation purposes. Under the
statute counties may zone to restrict uses on
wetlands within a certain distance from navi¬
gable waters of the state.85 Marinette County
in Wisconsin adopted a shoreline zoning ordi¬
nance that restricted filling or otherwise
modifying wetlands within its district. This
shoreland protection ordinance came under
challenge in Just v. Marinette County.88 In
that case the plaintiffs had attempted to fill
wetlands which they owned that were within the
restricted area of 1500 feet from the water.

The county enforced the ordinance against them
on the grounds that they had not obtained
necessary permits to fill the land. The Justs
contended that the county had taken their land
without compensation. The Wisconsin Supreme
Court upheld the ordinance.8^ In its opinion
the court held that the state could take pro¬
tective measures to conserve shoreland and
protect unpolluted waters that are clean in
their natural state. The court stated that
the County was not attempting to acquire pro¬
perty for public uses but rather sought to
prevent harm to the public right to the land
in its natural state. The court held that the
county could restrict the Justs to the natural
uses on the unimproved land.

Although the Just court held that the land
was not taken requiring compensation, certainly
its speculative value as a resort development
was diminished. In one sense the decision
reflects, and preserves, the value of the land
in its natural state, as a wetlands. Stated
otherwise, the land's capability is as a com¬
ponent of an ecologically complex, lake system
and not as development property. This type of
zoning for conservation purposes or by desig¬
nating particular areas as requiring special
management has been highly controversial.88
But in many states the critical areas are
coming under great pressure for development.
Areas such as wetlands, flood plains, and
scenic mountain areas may be the only avail¬
able land for development of scenic, resort
complexes or second homes. In those instances
these areas may have high demand for that type
development and from a locational viewpoint
are the only areas available close to the
seasonal activities. But the development
obviously can impair or destroy those intrinsic
features highly valued by the public. And as
other land for development comes eveh more
scarce within some states, not only areas of
critical environmental concern, but also
prime agriculture lands, and land for forestry
or other purposes will be threatened by devel¬
opment. Probably in each instance where the

state takes action to protect or conserve land
in the natural state the issue of whether the
individual's property has been taken for public
use without compensation will be raised and
have to be resolved in the courts. One answer
to the taking issue is that the state directly
purchase the land or the development rights on
lands. Obviously a greater financial commit¬
ment by states is necessary to purchase out¬
right the land for open space or conservation
purposes. However, the various proposals for
compensation in particular situations, including
transfer development rights, should be consid¬
ered because they can alleviate the problem
greatly .

In retrospect it might seem that the envi¬
ronment itself imposes the greatest constraint
on development of land. Future planning will
have to be environmentally oriented. Environ¬
mental land capability studies provide an
affirmative way to protect the environment and
to promote development. It is not negative or
no growth planning. In fact, in many instances
it has been demonstrated that land use planning
is better for both the developer and the public.
On the one hand, it achieves greater protection
of the environment, minimizes environmental
harm, and significantly reduces both public and
private costs. On the other hand, it designates
areas that are safe and suited to the particu¬
lar development being undertaken. This serves
to protect and enhance property values, thereby
making it desirable to both own and sell pro¬
perty. While certain localized scarcities may
occur as a result of comprehensive land use
planning, the land market is not destroyed
entirely. In that context both the developer
and the public benefit. The savings resulting
from detailed studies and analysis of land
capability before undertaking any development
are indeed very real.

Today a definite movement towards more
comprehensive environmental land resource
planning and management is underway. Citizens
are becoming more aware of land use abuses as
well as more knowledgable about ecology and
environmental land use interdependencies. As
voters and participants in society, citizens
are more willing to press for higher levels of
environmental quality, even if it means a
higher cost of living and more restrictions of
their individual activities.

Clearly the mood of citizens in many areas
of the country, including this region, is under¬
going a drastic change with respect to the
traditional attitude towards land as property.

A land resource ethic is definitely emerging.
Citizens who do not own land or who do not have
a direct economic interest in the products of
the land are exerting, and no doubt will con¬
tinue to exert, a greater force in issues of
preservation, conservation, and management of

67

NOTES

public as well as private land. In Just , supra,
Chief Justice Hallows spoke of the court as a
mirror of contemporary social values. Thus
when he determined the action did not con¬
stitute a taking of private property, but simply
a public constraint on the use of property to
prevent a public harm, he spoke of a large
class of people who may never come in direct
physical contact with the resource.

When land is viewed as a nonrenewable
resource, legislative restraints may be
sought to protect against harm to the public's
interest in it. The future also will bring
equally complex problems concerning by whom
and how the public's interest in land will be
protected. A significant increase in the
degree of public involvement in land use
planning and management will occur. This
involvement may take the form of greater
demands for public land acquisitions for open
space and environmental conservation, for
more stringent environmental performance
standards for many kinds of land uses, and
for more designations of critical environmental
areas where land conversion and development
will be strictly governed. Likewise, an
increase in statewide and regional land use
planning and management will result.

A final note. In April of this year the
American Law Institute released its Proposed
Official Draft of A Model Land Development
Code.-7 This is the result of fifteen years of
careful study of American land use planning and
regulatory experiences that many believe have
created more land use problems than prevented.
The model code presents several novel concepts,
the most notable being a move away from the
Euclidian concept of uniform zone districts.

The Code's approach emphasizes environmental
performance and a multi-level approach to
guiding land use decisions. It includes
features such as requiring a permit for cer¬
tain kinds of developments and provisions
for public land reservation, land banking,
and state regulation of large scale land
developments having regional impacts. A
variation of the code has already been adopted
in Florida and is working with a fair degree
of success. Many believe those states
interested in taking a more active role in land
use planning and management will consider and
probably adopt most, if not all, of the Code as
a substitute for the Standard Planning and
Zoning Enabling Acts of the 1920 's.

The handwriting is on the wall. Devel¬
opment of leisure properties in fragile
environmental areas will no doubt continue;
however, the constraints will be more stringent,
the supply of developable land perhaps less,
and the costs of development higher.

* Paper presented at the symposium on Man,
Leisure, and Wildlands: A Complex Inter¬
action, Vail, Colorado, Sept. 14-19, 1975.

** Ph.D., Associate Professor of Land Use

Planning, Texas Tech University, Lubbock,
Texas .

*** J.D., LL.M. , Professor of Law, Texas Tech

University School of Law, Lubbock, Texas.

1. National Environmental Policy Act of
1969, Public Law 91-190, 42 U.S.C. 4321.

2. Joseph Sax, Defending the Environment:

A Strategy for Citizen Action (New York: Alfred
A. Knopf, 1971) .

3. Victor J. Yannacone, Jr., "The Origins
of Our National Environmental Policy," in
Future Land Use: Energy, Environmental and
Legal Constraints, ed: R. W. Burchell and
David Listokin (New Brunswick: Center for
Urban Policy Research, Rutgers — The State
University, 1975), pp. 145-189.

4. Bernard H. Siegan, Land Use Without
Zoning (Lexington: D. C. Heath and Company,

1972) .

5. "Woodlands New Community Phase One:

Land Planning and Design Principles," report
prepared for the Woodlands Development Corpo¬
ration by Wallace, McHarg, Roberts, and Todd,
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1973.

6. Peter W. House and John Gerba, "Analytic
Techniques for Environmental Decision Making,"
in Future Land Use: Energy, Environmental and
Legal Constraints, ed: R. W. Burchell and
David Listokin (New Brunswick: Center for
Urban Policy Research, Rutgers — The State
University, 1975), p. 209.

7. Village of Euclid v. Ambler Realty Co.,
277 U.S. 365 (1926).

8. T. J. Kent, Jr., The Urban General Plan
(San Francisco: Chandler Publishing Co., 1964),

p. 18.

9. Ian McHarg, "Ecological Determinism,"
in Future Environments of North America, ed:

F. Fraser Darling and John P. Milton (Garden
City: The Natural History Press, 1965),

pp. 526-538.

10. Philip J. Lewis, Upper Mississippi River
Comprehensive Basin Study: Appendix B, Aesthetic

and Cultural Values ( n . p . : U . S . Army

Engineers Division, North Central Division and

68

Department of Interior, National Park Service,
1969) .

11. Fred Bosselman and David Callies, The
Quiet Revolution in Land Use Control (Washing¬
ton: The Council on Environmental Quality,
1971), p. 314.

12. Ian McHarg, Design with Nature (Garden
City: Doubleday and Company, Inc., 1971).

13. Michael J. Meshenberg, "Environmental
Planning: 1 Environmental Information for
Policy Formulation," Report No. 263, Chicago,
American Society of Planning Officials, Novem¬
ber 1970.

14. Charles Thurow, William Toner, and
Duncan Erley, "Performance Controls for
Sensitive Lands" A Practical Guide for
Local Administrators," Report No. 308,

Chicago, American Society of Planning Offi¬
cials, June 1975.

15. John M. Winters, "Environmentally
Sensitive Land Use Regulation in California,"
10 San Diego L. Rev. 693 (1973) .

16. "Land Resources of the Lake Tahoe
Region," prepared by the Tahoe Regional Plan¬
ning Agency, South Lake Tahoe, California,

July 1971.

17. Dennis L. Lynch and Standish R. Broome,
Mountain Land Planning (Fort Collins: College
of Forestry and Natural Resources, Colorado
State University, September 1973).

18. Regulations to local governments for
use in identifying and designating areas of
state interest under the state land use law.
Land Use Planning Reports, vol. 3, no. 31,
August 4, 1975, p. 7.

19. The literature on this subject is pro¬
fuse. Interested readers may pursue these
selected references. Melvin R. Levin, Jerome
G. Rose, and Joseph S. Slavet, New Approaches
to State Land-Use Policies (Lexington: D. C.
Heath and Company, 1974); Daniel R. Mandelker,
New Developments in Land and Environmental

Controls: A Supplement to Managing Our Urban

Environment (Indianapolis: The Bobbs-Merrill
Company, Inc., 1974), Chapter 5; B. Budd
Chavooshian, George H. Nieswand, and Thomas
Norman, Esq., Growth-Management Program — A
Proposed New Approach to Local Planning and
Zoning, Leaflet 503 (New Brunswick: Cook Col¬
lege, Rutgers University — The State University
of New Jersey, 1974); Robert H. Freilich,
"Awakening the Sleeping Giant; New Trends and
Developments in Environmental and Land Use
Controls," and "Development Timing, Moritoria
and Controlling Growth," in Institute on Plan¬

ning, Zoning and Eminent Domain, ed: Andrew
Cecil (New York: Matthew Bender Company, 1974) ,
Chapters 1, 5; "Phased Zoning: Regulation of the
Tempo and Sequence of Development," Notes, 26
Sanford Law Review 585 (February 1974); Fred P.
Bosselman, "Can the Town of Ramapo Pass A Law
to Bind the Rights of the Whole World," 1 Fla.
State U. L. Rev. 234 (1973); Golder v. Planning
Bd. of the Town of Ramapo, 334 N.Y. Supp.2d 138;
Construction Industry Assoc, of Sonoma County v.
The City of Petaluma, 375 F.Supp. 574 (N.D. Cal.
1974) rev'd., 8 BNA Env. Rpt. 1001 (9th Cir.

Aug. 13, 1975).

20. "The Costs of Sprawl: Environmental and
Economic Costs of Alternative Residential Pat¬
terns at the Urban Fringe," Washington, Office
of Policy Research, Council on Environmental
Quality, Department of Housing and Urban Devel¬
opment, Office of Planning and Management,
Environmental Protection Agency and Real Estate
Research Corporation, April 1974.

21. Therese C. Lucas, "The Direct Costs of
Growth: A Comparison of Changes in Local Govern¬
ment Expenditure in Growth and Non-Growth
Counties in Colorado," Denver, The Colorado
Land Use Commission, April 1974.

22. "Amistad: Guidelines for Tourism and
Recreation Development of an International
Resource," Research Report No. 5, Lubbock,

Texas, Texas Tech University, Department of
Park Administration, Landscape Architecture
and Horticulture, 1971.

23. Fred Bosselman, David Callies, and John
Banta, The Taking Issue (Washington, D.C.:
Council on Environmental Quality, 1973).

24. Land Use Planning Reports, Washington,

D. C., Plus Publications Inc., vol. 3, no. 3,
August 18, 1975, pp. 7-8.

25. People ex rel. Younger v. County of El
Dorado, 487 P.2d 1193 (Cal. 1971).

26. Vermont Land Use Law, 10 V.S.A. §§6001
et seq . (1970) and Vermont Land Capability and
Development Plan Law, H. 326, Effective July 1,
1973.

27. National Environmental Policy Act of
1969, 42 U.S.C. §§4321 et seq. (1970).

28. E . g . , Federal Clean Air Act, 42 U.S.C.
§§1857 et seq. (1970). However, transportation
control plans under the Act do affect land use,
but they are not discussed in this paper because
they primarily are used in urban areas, not
second home or resort development complexes.

See , South Terminal Corp. v. E.P.A., 504 F.2d
646 (1st Cir. 1974) and Pennsylvania v. E.P.A.,
500 F. 2d 246 (3d Cir. 1974).

69

29.

33

U.S.C

. §§1251

et seq .

(Supp. 1975)

30.

42

U.S.C

. §§1857

et seq .

(1970) .

31.

42

U.S.C

. §§4901

et seq.

(1972) .

32.

16

U.S.C

. §§1415

et seq .

(1972) .

33.

42

U.S.C

. §§4321

et seq.

(1970) .

34.

42

id. §4332 (2) (

c) (Supp

. 1973) .

35.

Id.

36.

484

F . 2d

448 (2d

Cir. 1973) .

37.

Town of (

Sroton v.

Laird,

353 F.Supp.

344 (D. Conn. 1972).

38. E . g . , Sierra Club v. Morton, 7 BNA Env.
Rpt . 1977 (D.C. Cir. June 16, 1975).

39. Wilderness Society v. Morton, 479 F.2d
842 (D.C. Cir. 19 73) (Mineral Leasing Act);
Natural Resources Defense Council v. Morton,

458 F.2d 827 (D.C. Cir. 1972) (Outer Continental
Shelf leases) ; and Minnesota Public Interest
Research Group, 498 F.2d 1314 (8th Cir. 1974)
(timbering) .

40. 42 U.S.C. §§4501 et seq. (1970).

41. 502 F. 2d 43 (5th Cir. 1974).

42. Silva v. Romney, 473 F.2d 287, af f ' d
sub nom. , Silva v. Lynn, 482 F.2d 1282 (1st
Cir. 1973).

43. E . g . , Calvert Cliff Coord. Com. v.
A.E.C., 449 F. 2d 1109 (D.C. Cir. 1971).

44. 42 U.S.C. §§1857 et seq. (1970).

45. 39 Fed. Reg. 37922, Oct. 24, 1974.

46. 33 U.S.C. §§1251 et seq. (Supp. 1975).

47. IcM §1251.

48. IcL §1288(b) (2) (F) (G) and (H) .

49. IcL_ §1311.

50. 42 U.S.C. §§4901 et seq. (1972).

51. For discussion of HUD regulations see,
Federal Environmental Law (West: St. Paul,
Minn.) Ed. by E.C. Doglin and T.G.P. Guilbert,
p. 1202-09.

52. 16 U.S.C. §§1415 et seq. (1972).

53. For a general discussion of national
land use planning proposals and bills, see.

Federal Environmental Law, note 51 supra at
1415-65. See also S. 268, 93d Cong., 1st Sess.
(1973) .

54. Hawaii uses a state board to do zoning
for the entire state. Some aspects of the
program are indigenous to that state. For a
thorough discussion of the program and studies,
see , The Quiet Revolution in Land Use Control
(CEQ Wash. , D.C. 1971) .

55.

10 Vt .S .Ann. §6081.

56.

10 §6001.

57.

10 icL §6086.

58.

Id.

59.

Vermont Land Capability

(Vt. State Plan-

ning Office: Montpelier 1974).

60.

32 Vt.S.Ann. Chap. 236.

i — 1

VO

315 A. 2d 860 (Vt. 1974)

62.

708 (N

Felder v. City of Portsmouth, 324 A. 2d
•H. 1974).

63.

(Supp .

Me. Rev. St at. Ann. tit.
1973) .

38, §481

64 .

Id. at §482.

65.

Id.

66.

Id. at §484.

67.

300 A. 2d 736 (Me. 1973) .

68.

Id.

69.

Id. at 741-42.

70.

Id. at 745.

71.

Id. at 742.

72.

Id. at 748.

73. "Standards for Interim Land Use Distric
Boundaries and Permitted Uses," (Me. Land Use
Regulation Commission: Augusta, Me. Rev. 1973)

74.

Hendler, Bruce (Me. Land

Use Regulation

Comm'n: Augusta, Me. 1973).

75. Id.

76. See, The Quiet Revolution in Land Use
Control note 54 supra at 187.

77. Cal. Pub. Res. Code §21100 (Supp. 1974).

70

78. 502 P . 2d 1049 (Cal. 1972).

79. 469 F . 2d 956 (1st Cir. 1972). For more
recent litigation in the same case, see Steel
Hill Dev., Inc. v. Town of Sanborton, 27 Z.D.

1 (unreported decision by the D.C.N.H., Dec.
30, 1974) , where the court refused to review
the validity of the same ordinance that was
involved in the earlier case.

80. 469 id. at 959.

81. 469 id . 956 e_t seq . For a fuller dis¬
cussion of this case and the exclusionary
ramifications of minimum acreage zoning, see,
Skillem, Environmental Legislation - An
Alternative to Minimum Acreage Zoning, 6 Tex.
Tech. L. Rev. 1 (1974). The cases collected
there reflect the mixed judicial attitude
toward large lot zoning.

Another recent decision by the New
Jersey Supreme Court warrants attention be¬
cause it overruled local zoning ordinances
on exclusionary grounds. But also the
court imposed affirmative duties on the
community to plan low-income housing and to
consider regional, as well as local growth.

So. Burlington Cty. N.A.A.C.P. v. TP. of Mt.
Laurel, 67 N.J. 151, 336 A. 2d 713 (1975).

Also a significant case holding that
a community can zone to regulate growth and
preserve its rural character is Construction
Industry Assoc, v. City of Petaluma, 8 BNA
Env. Rptr . 1001 (9th Cir. Aug. 13, 1975).

The case involves a controlled or "no growth"
ordinance that was overturned by the trial
court on grounds that it infringed the

individual's fundamental right to travel.

The appeals court disagreed and upheld the
ordinance against all constitutional
challenges. Id .

These recent developments are important
because they deal with recent local responses
to premature and sometimes unwanted growth.

82. 385 F.Supp. 1128 (D. Nev. 1973).

83. Idj_ at 1132.

84. Wis. Stat. Ann. §144.26 (Supp. 1974).

See also Del Code Ann. tit. 58 (1971) for a
similar coastal protection statute.

85. Wis. Stat. Ann. §144.26 (Supp. 1974).

86. 56 Wis. 2d 7, 201 N.W.2d 761 (1972).

87. Id.

88. See, e. g. , Bartlett v. Zoning Comm'n.,

161 Conn. 24, 282 A. 2d 907 (1971); State v.
Johnson, 265 A. 2d 711 (Me. 1970); Comm'r. of
Natural Resources v. S. Volpe & Co., 349

Mass 104, 206 N.E.2d 666 (1965); cf^ Goldblatt
v. Town of Hempstead, 369 U.S. 590 (1962).

89. ALI Model Land Development Code, (Pro¬
posed Official Draft) (American Law Institute;
Philadelphia, Pa. Apr. 1975).

90. For a thorough discussion of Florida
land use see, Luther J. Carter, The Florida
Experience: Land and Water Policy in a Growth

State (John Hopkins Press: Baltimore, Ma. 1974).

71

Who Will Be the Future Buyers and Principal Users
of Each Category of Development?'

William Sims-

One thing we've all found out this morn¬
ing is that we have done very little research
on who is buying now, who's selling, and what
we expect to happen in the future. So what I
would like to do is tell you, from a practical
standpoint, about the people who actually have
to sell all this stuff that's built to the people
who come here to the mountains.

Usually they don't know why they're here,
but they're ready to buy something. So, let's
look at a profile of who buys, who sells, and
who uses. Probably they're going to be the
same people in the future that we have right
now.

The buyer we have today is a man who
comes into the mountains and wants to buy
near Dillon, Colorado, preferably on the lake,
80 acres, with a house on it and a barn and a
stream and a good view. He would like to pay
about $600 an acre. At that price, the closest
I can get him to Dillon Lake would be some¬
where in western Kansas. But this is what
people come into the mountains and ask for.
They want cheap land with a big house on it
and a view and all of these things. Those
things are long gone, and you and I both know
they will never be recovered again. When we
tell prospective buyers that the closest lot you
can get them is $3, 000 an acre they just are
completely flabbergasted --they've never heard
of such outrageous prices. So, you spend
about six hours talking with them, in maybe
two different visits, and end up selling them
a quarter-acre site for $11, 000 and they're
happy.

— Paper presented at the symposium on
Man, Leisure, and Wildlands: A Complex
Interaction, Vail, Colorado, Sept. 14-19,

1975.

2/

— Moore Realty and Brokerage Co., Dillon,
Colorado.

A man who buys a house usually comes in
first to rent one. When you tell him you
haven't had a house to rent for almost two
years, he starts laughing. When you show
him houses at $50, 000 to $60, 000 that he can
buy in Denver for $35, 000, he understands
the problem. So you usually end up with him
in a condominium.

Whether condominiums will be bought in
total or by some type of time sharing or some
other method we don't know yet. All we know
is that the person that normally buys real
estate buys because he's emotionally involved.
It's an impulse item, an item he buys because
he likes it. You can talk to him all day about
how good the price is, how great the condo¬
minium is, but he's going to buy what he likes
if he can afford it. He is going to buy some¬
thing he absolutely doesn' t need. There isn't
a single person in the audience who needs a
condominium in Vail, Colorado today unless
he's going to live here permanently.

Another problem is trying to get a man
and his wife to agree on what they want. So
you analyze them and figure out which is the
strongest, who's going to make the decision,
and you ignore the other one. So you end up
selling the wife.

The payment, if he finances it, is going
to be higher than the payment on his first
home, in almost every case. Many of the
sales, probably the higher percentage in Vail,
are bought for cash. But if the buyer has to
finance it, he will be paying finance charges
of about 2 to 4 points, financing about 80% at
9-3/4 or higher percent interest, for about
25 to 30 years.

The buyer must also decide what he's
going to do with it after he gets it. About
25% of the condominiums bought will be rented,
either on a nightly basis or on a monthly
basis; 75% of the units will sit empty most of

72

the year. They will not be used by a renter,
and they will be used very little by the owner,
depending on how close he is. As a good ex¬
ample, I've never seen the owner of the con¬
dominium next to mine in Dillon and I've lived
there two years ! It' s been sitting empty all
that time, fully furnished. An agent is trying
to sell it for $9 6, 000. I would say it's worth
about $115, 000; it sold for about $90, 000
originally without carpeting, draperies or
furniture.

This is the type of individual who wants
to buy a condominium today. When he finds
out it's a tough proposition, he may get an¬
other family or two to go in with him. If
they get much farther than that they're into
J. J. Collins' program, time sharing.

We don't know if time sharing is going to
work. Vail Associates in this area has been
the most successful with it. There are hor¬
rendous problems we don't know about. One
is management. Are these people buying
time sharing really real estate buyers? The
theory is that if you get it down to where
they're paying $2, 000 to $4, 000 for a time
slot you will increase your market. You may
also increase your problems. You may be
selling to people who normally buy cars and
refrigerators, not real estate. If the owner
of a financed condominium gets sick of coming
to Vail every year, he may write you a letter
after a year or two and say: You keep it! If
you've gotten enough down, maybe you don't
care !

Now, let's get a profile of the fellow who
uses a condominium but doesn't own it; he
rents it on a nightly basis. He flies out through
Continental Airlines through the package plan
Mr. Kelley has set up. He usually comes in
about the 20th of December and stays through
the 6th of January. Everybody wants to come
at that time ! But they fly in from Chicago,
rent a car, and drive up to the mountains.

When they leave Denver, the sun's out and it's
beautiful, but when they hit Georgetown the
road is icy and the snow' s blowing. They have
to wait 30-40 minutes to get through the Eisen¬
hower Tunnel. They're going to stay six days
in a nice condominium in Breckenridge. They
have a four-day ski pass. They don't ski the
first day, they unpack and get their nerves
calmed down from the drive. They don't want
to get back into the car again, they want to

walk everywhere. But it's 31° below outside
and the wind' s blowing, so they get a drink
and watch the Monday night football game or
whatever is on TV. And they call their
buddies in Chicago and tell them how rugged
it is out here. The next day they go skiing
for the first time, the first exercise they've
had in months. If they survive, they add a
little more to it the second day. The third
day they rest and attend their wounds. They
may ski one more day, then rest up before
they pack to go home. So they ski about 3. 8
days out of 6, they've walked to every place
they've been, they haven't driven the car, and
they go back telling everybody how really tough
it is out here. It might be, because many of
them break their legs, they get terrible sun¬
burns, their muscles are just beat. But they
have spent a lot of money.

Why did they come out here to torture
themselves? Maybe they saw the President
on television, or they thought they could es¬
cape from all the problems in the cities.

People come out here to buy for those same
reasons. Many people come to us and say,

"I have been to Colorado for four or five years
now, and I really enjoy this area; I want to
get away from everybody." They don't realize
we are having the same problems out here that
they have in Chicago: we're just trying how to
figure out how to solve them before they get
too bad.

These are the users and the buyers today.
We don't expect them to be much different to¬
morrow; we hope that all of us and the people
who are involved in building and subdividing
are a little smarter.

If you read the newspapers you would think
we are in a deep depression in the mountains,
that nobody' s making a living, that we have
condominiums completely empty everywhere.
We do have some empty condominiums. A
major reason is that, in January, 1974, over
6, 000 units were completed in all of the ski
areas at about the same time. We couldn't
sell them fast enough. Probably in all the ski
areas in Colorado, less than a thousand units
a year are sold. The first question obviously
is. Why didn't somebody plan better than that?
Several factors contributed. What with ad¬
verse weather conditions and all the problems
of getting started, construction of a condomi¬
nium often takes about 18 months. In 18

73

months we've had Watergate, slow economic
conditions, and problems with gasoline supplies.
And 18 months ago you could sign a note for
one and a half million dollars, agree to pay
18% interest to the banker, and the banker was
happy to lend you the money; he had lots of it.

Say you were a lawyer, you had never
built anything in your life, but you heard "they"
were making a lot of money up in the moun¬
tains, so you had your architect friend draw
up some plans. Your banker didn't even look
at your plans. (This has actually happened. )

He didn't go look at the site. You built the
condominiums, even though you didn't know
the first place about a condominium. You
never asked anybody whether they could be
sold. Now they are ail finished 18 months
later, when economic conditions are bad and
you're paying 18% interest. The banker's
getting nervous over the recession, and calls
you every day wanting to know how many you've
sold. So you come to somebody like me and
say, "Here are these units, would you sell
them?" Let's look at them: there's a vanity
in each bathroom or next to the bathroom for
you to wash your face. I'm not very big, but
when I bend over, I can't brush my teeth be¬
cause there isn't room enough to move my arm.
The bedrooms have three walls against the
three sides of the bed, but the living room is
way too big. The kitchen has no windows, and
a wife would be sick of the place in a week.

The place has a parking garage with an open
bottom, and all the pipes froze up on Christ¬
mas Eve.

All of these things are bad planning. No¬
where along the line did the banker say "Wait
a minute, you're a lawyer, you don't know
anything about building. Who's going to sell
this for you? Does he know what he's doing?
What kind of financing have you got perma¬
nently?" He gave you the money to build at
18%. Then when everything falls apart, the
banker gets fired because he made a bad loan,
the developer gets eaten alive by 18%, the
realtor's dying because he doesn't have any¬
thing to sell that's worthwhile.

Yet, the airlines are upset because they've
got thousands of people coming out here and
nowhere to put them. The bankers won't let
you use the units for rental because they don't
want them to get damaged and dirty --a legiti¬
mate reason. So you have four, five, or six
hundred empty condominiums sitting in Vail,
Colorado. People are standing in line to get
into Vail, but there's no place to put them.

The papers are all writing about what a de¬
pressed area it is, and it really isn't depressed
We've got a combination of a lot of dumb
people who did a lot of dumb things, and each
is trying to figure out who ought to be the
dummy! The problem is that, first of all, the
lawyer should never have built them. But in
easy money times, lawyers, doctors, school
teachers, engineers, everybody becomes an
expert in building. We can prevent such prob¬
lems through the efforts of planning people and
through the people who loan the money.

The thought I'd like to end up with is that
the buyer is a good man. He's going to buy
because he buys emotionally. He loves the
moun tains and he loves Colorado. It's a place
to get away, where he can relieve his mind
from city tensions. We're going to need more
of that as time goes on. So we've got to do
our best as planners and builders to give him
a product that fits the environment and that is
compatible with other public lands and uses,
yet one that can be resold in the future, can
be used, and can be a credit to the community.
But it can't be done by one agency of the
government, or one individual. Maybe it takes
a catastrophe like the economy slowdown and
a lot of empty units and a lot of bad subdivi¬
sions to get us all to realize that we have to
contribute our part. Maybe our part is re¬
straining some development, or advising other
people what we think is best for that area, or
doing some research to determine where we're
going.

That's about who's going to buy in the
future, and who's going to be the user. I did
exaggerate slightly, but not much. What I've
told you is really what we do every day.

74

Session I Discussion

Loren Potter, UNM: There is an obvious
trend toward condominiums at ski areas. What
are the pros and cons of the high -density, low-
cost dormitory type of facility such as "The
Night Latch" that used to be here at Vail?

William Sims : I'm familiar with The
Night Latch because I was instrumental in
having it torn down ! I think it1 s the economic
times. Dormitories in the early days were
for young people. Many of them have switched
to condominiums now for different reasons,
some related to liberalism, to comfort, and
to money. The cost of putting up a dormitory
now is too high for what you can get out of it.
Actually, even a condominium is a lousy in¬
vestment for income purposes. If you rent it
for the maximum number of days you could
get, you would still come out short of paying
all the costs of running it. It is a good invest¬
ment, however, in terms of appreciation, the
cost of building today versus the cost down
the line.

Potter: I think business is overlooking a
significant user group for ski areas. Couldn't
you serve more people per square foot in that
kind of a facility?

Sims: You might be able to serve more
people per square foot, but would they want to
pay for it? Would they come? Couldn' t you
serve them better in another type of facility?

A $72, 000 condominium sleeps six people and
goes for $120 per night in peak season. That's
$20 per night per person, but they don't have
to buy restaurant meals.

Douglas Fox, RMFRES: Mr. Kelley,
would you care to discuss the economics of the
ski business for airlines; particularly, would
you give some indication of how much money
Continental, or airlines in general, spend on
advertising?

Maurice Kelley: Any carrier will assess
his route structure and figure out where the
marketing opportunities are. In the case of
Continental, Colorado ski country is an ideal
promotional opportunity because it's contra-
seasonal - -July and August are our biggest
months --so this gives us an opportunity to
mount a major marketing effort in the winter.

In our annual marketing plan, we build in a
ski marketing program of about $250, 000 to
$300, 000 worth of advertising effort in skiing
magazines, business magazines, and so on.
United says in the trade press it spends about
half a million dollars promoting skiing. It's
a major part of any carrier who serves Colo¬
rado.

Also, we work with other carriers, since
we only fly here from Chicago and L. A. This
past year we had Eastern Airlines, Delta,
Piedmont, Allegheny, and American selling
our Vail packages. They'd bring skiers into
Chicago, where we'd put on extra sections --
sometimes 3 or 4 extra planes on Saturday
morning --to bring people here. It's a totally
coordinated marketing effort, which can really
build resort areas !

Que stion: What is the possibility of a
Motel 6 type operation in this area, where
people can stay for about $6 per night?

Sims: I think it would work if you found
the right piece of ground. Operating costs
would be higher, it's just impossible to get
labor here at any decent price. The land it¬
self might be a real problem, especially here
in Vail. I think it would go in Dillon or any of
the other ski areas.

An important point that we haven't consid¬
ered is that it probably would go well in
summer ! You come into Vail on a summer
day and people are milling all over the place.
But at night the streets are deserted and the
hotels are empty. Where did they go? Out
into the National Forest to sleep in campers,
tents, under the trees ! We'd like to figure
out a way to get them into the condominiums !

J. J. Collins: In Vail, people want to free
themselves from the automobile once they get
here. They want to be within walking distance
or have some type of public transportation
system to carry them from their sleeping
facilities to ski lifts and eating places. But
such close-in land in Vail is too expensive to
support a Motel 6 type operation, so you move
them out of town. Then they've either got to
keep the automobile, which increases their
per -day expenses, or the area has to provide
them with a transportation system. Either
way, there has to be a dollar trade-off!

75

76

SESSION II

SOCIO-ECONOMIC CONSEQUENCES OF DISPERSED AND
CONCENTRATED HOUSING DEVELOPMENT

Chairman: James Osbom} Associate Dean
College of Agricultural Sciences
Texas Tech University

A. COMMUNITY AND REGIONAL COSTS

Coordinator: Charles 0. Minor 3 Dean
School of Forestry
Northern Arizona University

B. COMMUNITY AND REGIONAL BENEFITS

Coordinator: James Gray
Department of Agricultural Economics
New Mexico State University

C. SOCIAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL PLANNING

Coordinator : Dennis H. Knight
Botany Department
University of Wyoming

Session II focuses on community and regional costs and benefits
accruing from leisure property developments as well as social
and environmental planning considerations affecting these kinds
of developments.

77

The Rural Suburb: A Socio-Economic Overview1

2/

Edwin H. Clark, II—

Some of the strongest support for and
opposition to leisure home developments is
stimulated by their supposed economic and
social benefits and costs. Everyone associ¬
ated with the industry, either as participant or
observer, has some story to tell that supports
his bias. And that seems pretty much to be
the stage at which research on leisure homes
is presently floundering - -with stories which
support one viewpoint or another. Most
leisure home research has been directed at
intensive case studies which at best will sup¬
port episodic analysis. This approach helps
substantially in making leisure home research
conferences more interesting, for a war story
will beat a regression equation every time, but
it does not provide a great deal of assistance
to those attempting to predict the impacts of
the next development . Case studies rarely
provide the type of information that allows one
to define general relationships and identify
critical parameters. One of the main questions
that has to be answered is whether we know
enough about these developments on the basis
of all the case studies completed or underway
to allow us to begin to generalize, to begin to
develop some predictive tools.

I am not going to try to provide the answer
in this paper. The purpose here is little more
than to ask the right questions.

In asking these questions, I am going to
be focusing on one small part of the whole
recreational property industry. This industry
ranges from raw land sales, which are often
little more than a rather perverse form of
gambling to intensive recreational developments
such as Disneyland. This range includes camp¬
ground developments and trailer developments,

— Paper presented at the symposium on
Man, Leisure, and Wildlands : A Complex
Interaction, Vail, Colorado, Sept. 14-19,

1975.

2/

— Senior Economist, Council on Environ¬
mental Quality, Washington, D. C.

goes on to subdivisions when the homes are
built by the lot buyers and through the fully
developed leisure home subdivision where the
developer not only subdivides the land but
builds the houses. Most of my discussion
will really be dealing with these last two types
--legitimate leisure developments where the
residences are either provided by the develop¬
er or are truly expected to be provided by the
buyer in a reasonably short time.

These developments often differ very
little from a typical suburban subdivision;
they have similar densities, similar layouts,
and similar problems. "Wilderness Acres"
is often no more than a lonely "Executive
Estate". Research on leisure homes should
always be asking how the effects of these
developments differ from the effects of any
other subdivision. To the extent that they are
similar, all of the research done on suburban
development can be used to help understand
leisure home developments. I will use this
analogy in my own comments. But we should
very carefully attempt to identify where the
similarities and differences lie. Making these
distinctions should be a basic focus of any
leisure research.

Finally, most of my observations are
based on a leisure home study sponsored by
CEQ in association with HUD and the Appala¬
chian Regional Commission. The results of
this study, which was undertaken by the
American Society of Planning Officials, the
Conservation Foundation, the Urban Land
Institute, and Professor Richard Raget, is
being published this year. It includes an
analysis of leisure home markets, the environ¬
mental, economic, and social impacts of such
developments, and proposals for effectively
regulating these developments.

With these general comments, let me get
on with my overview. In this I will try to do
three things. The first is to attempt to define
a framework for identifying the effects we are
concerned about. The second is to attempt to

78

identify the primary factors which determine
the magnitude of the effects. And the third is
to summarize what I think we have learned
about these effects.

An Impacts Typology

In any analysis of social and economic
effects the basic questions which should be
asked are where, whom, when and what.

Where do the effects occur? Probably the
most meaningful distinction here is between
those effects which occur at the local level, at
the regional level, and at the national level.

Who is affected? For residential develop¬
ments, one key division is among the new resi¬
dents (or 'natives'), and non-residents. A
second division would be according to income.

A third would be according to occupation- -for
instance farmers versus merchants. Another
would be property owners versus renters.
Another would be consumers versus taxpayers.
And so forth. Those are an unlimited number
of ways of identifying the different groups that
could be affected by the development. Most
of these divisions, of course, overlap with
one another. Every individual will fall into
several of the separate groups identified. A
person may be a native, a farmer, a property
owner, and both a taxpayer and a consumer at
the same time. The net impact of the develop¬
ment on this person will be an aggregation
(which is not necessarily a simple sum) of the
separate impacts upon him in these various
roles.

When will the effects occur? Some occur
before development takes place, some during
the development period and others will occur
in various forms after the initial development
is completed and the development continues to
mature and change. One of the major prob¬
lems with case studies is that they usually
provide only a snap shot in time. Even the
Forest Service seems reluctant to sponsor
long-term research projects- -say for a period
of 50 to 200 years - -which would be necessary
for a thorough analysis of effects over time.

As a result, we tend to ignore this dimension
of the analysis, although it is most important.

What effects are of concern? The follow¬
ing is a preliminary list of the types of socio¬
economic effects I think are important in
studying leisure home developments. This

initial list is sort of a casual integration of
what I know about what we have found in past
studies. The list will undoubtedly be modified
by future research- -some effects being added
and others subtracted- -but this list should
serve for the time being.

Economic and Social Effects

In terms of economic effects there are
two major distinctions. The first is between
impacts on incomes and impacts on costs (both
taken in a very general sense). The second is
between the impacts that occur in the market
place and those that occur in the public sector.
These are basically concerned with the direct
and indirect tax revenues generated by the
project compared to the direct and indirect
additional costs of the public services it
requires.

To help in identifying the specific cost
impacts we should be interested in, it is use¬
ful to start by looking at government budgets
and see how residential developments are
likely to affect the different budget categories.
Figure 1 attempts to do this for costs. School¬
ing is the biggest cost item in local government
budgets, both in terms of capital and operating
costs. Property tax, of course, is the largest
source of local government revenues, but other
sources are important as well. In the follow¬
ing section of the paper I will discuss which of
these cost and revenue categories are affected
by leisure home development.

It is less easy to identify the impacts in
the private market which are of concern.

Some of the relevant questions are how does
the project affect monetary and non-monetary
incomes, perhaps distinguishing on the mone¬
tary side among changes in wages, changes in
profits, and changes in wealth. Changes in
non-monetary incomes brings us perilously
close to social impacts, so we will postpone
discussion on those for a moment. Of course,
even on the monetary side, we should be talk¬
ing about real and not nominal incomes, which
raise the question of how the development
affects prices, or otherwise affects the costs
experienced by household units in producing
the services they consume.

Let us move on to discuss some of the
non-monetary impacts and this will carry us
over into social impacts --I am never sure
where the division lies.

79

The population growth resulting from a
leisure home development will probably in¬
crease the cost of public and private services,
but may also increase the quality of these
services as well. For instance, the town may
decide it is necessary to improve its fire pro¬
tection by buying a new fire engine. The in¬
creased protection is available to the old as
well as the new residents and this is a form of
non -monetary income . Of course, services
can get worse too, diminishing the non-mone-
tary income of the original town residents.

The same is true of recreational opportu¬
nities. A new development may increase
these in either of two ways. The developer
may directly increase the available facilities,
for instance, by building a lake. Or the faci¬
lities may be provided indirectly because the
buying power of the new residents is sufficient
to support, say, a bowling alley which will
also be used by the original inhabitants. On
the other hand, the development may cut off
access to recreational opportunities tradition¬
ally enjoyed by the original inhabitants or may
make the sites so crowded that the experience
is considered less valuable.

Other such impacts of concern include the
increased congestion associated with population

LAND

OPEN SPACE,
PUBLIC FACILITIES,
OR SERVICES

STREETS a ROADS

UTILITIES

Fig. 1. --Public costs of different development
patterns. Source: Real Estate Research
Corporation, The Costs of Sprawl: Detailed
Cost Analysis. A study undertaken for the
Council on Environmental Quality, Depart¬
ment of Housing and Urban Development,
and the Environmental Protection Agency
(U. S. GPO, Wash., D. C. , 1974).

growth, possible increased crime rates, a
loss of political autonomy, the stresses often
resulting from a new culture invading an old,
and the problem that the original inhabitants
may be forced to change their lifestyles and
even leave the area where the development
occurs.

This list is nothing if not incomplete. It
attempts to make one point, however, and that
is that these impacts affect the new residents
as well as the original residents. And the
impacts on the new residents can't be all that
bad, for otherwise they wouldn' t be coming
and spending as much money on a second home
as they are. This is a consideration we have
to keep in mind as we bemoan the passing of
the old. Another thing we should remember is
that many of these impacts may have both
positive and negative sides. New residents
may well change the social complexion of a
community. Is this destruction or reinvigora-
tion? It is probably both.

Let us leave the typology at this point.

We have listed a number of different social
and economic impacts that may be of concern,
and we have listed a number of different ways,
under the three questions where, whom, and
when, in which we should classify these im-

pacts. There are a lot of little boxes we have
defined, too many to be filled by most research
efforts. Luckily, lots of these boxes probably
are not too important, although agreeing on
which particular ones are unimportant is often
very difficult.

Some Results

Having tentatively identified the types of
effects that we think we should be interested
in let me now briefly summarize what I
think we know about the importance of these
impacts. This is not going to be a rigorous
fully footnoted and cited summary. Rather it
is going to be more of a perhaps too casual
integration of a number of different studies of
development. For a more fully footnoted study
I would refer you to the one referred to earlier,
soon to be published by the Council on Environ¬
mental Quality in association with HUD.

What I am going to try to do now is present
a brief capsule of my impressions of what this
and other studies have found. It should provide
at least a touchstone for the other papers to be
presented in this session. My goal here is
less to define the magnitude of the impact than
to identify the most important factors deter¬
mining that magnitude. To follow the pattern
I've already set, let us start with economic
impacts and first deal with those in the public
sector.

Any development involves government
costs. There are the investment costs in¬
volved in building roads, supplying sewers and
water, and building government facilities to
serve the population that is associated with the
development. There are also the operating
costs for police and fire protection, road
maintenance, etc.

The factors which apparently most affect
public investment costs are (in no particular
order):

• Pattern and density of development

• Development controls exercised by local
government

• Size of project and amount of development

• How the development is used (e. g. ,
summer only, all seasons, permanent,
etc. )

Leisure home developments are likely to

be large. The average size of projects filed
with the Office of Interstate Land Sales, HUD,
is about 1000 acres. Much less is known about
buildout rates. Some projects will probably
never see a house. Others will be built up
very quickly. In general, the more physical
front end investment the developer supplies,
the faster the buildout rate is likely to be.

Even projects which have a low buildout rate
can be expensive if the community has to pro¬
vide services to widely scattered houses.

The importance of development controls is
that it allows the government to ensure that the
project is developed in such a way and to such
standards that the government won't be stuck
with supplying or upgrading much of the infra¬
structure for the residents.

The impact of pattern and density on in¬
vestment costs was demonstrated in the CEO
publication The Costs of Sprawl. — The
results of this study, summarized in Figure 1
demonstrate that higher density development!/
(i. e., walkup apartments and low-rise apart¬
ments), and clustering reduce investment costs
per resident substantially. Investment costs
from roads and utilities are 10 to 20 percent
lower with clustering, and 40 to 60 percent
lower with higher density and clustering com¬
bined.

The impact of infrastructure quality on
cost is obvious: dirt roads are cheaper than
paved roads. Some of these savings, of
course, really represent no more than a trans¬
fer from investment costs to increased opera¬
tion and maintenance costs.

How the development is used can have
important effects. If the development is to be
used during the snow season, better roads
will have to be built and more money spent in
keeping them open. Even more important.

— Real Estate Research Corporation,

The Costs of Sprawl, a report prepared for
the Council on Environmental Quality, the
Department of Housing and Urban Development,
and the Environmental Protection Agency
(Washington, Government Printing Office,

1974).

4/

— The ranges of density covered in this
report is from 1 2/3 to about 3 dwelling units
per gross acre.

81

however, is the question of whether the devel¬
opment will be used as a permanent residence.
If so, costs will be much higher than if it is
used only for casual recreation. With perma¬
nent residents, roads may have to be up¬
graded, sewers provided, schools built,
health care facilities constructed, and so
forth. I will return to this question later.
Finally, of course, the cost of the infra¬
structure is going to be substantially affected
by the characteristics of the site, both geo¬
graphical and climatic, and these vary widely
from one development to the next.

Moving on the public service operation
and maintenance costs, these are related pri¬
marily to the size of the population and the
quality of the services provided. Develop¬
ment pattern and site characteristics are less
important, although climate clearly affects
some costs. There is little information about
how these costs vary among small communities
but there may be strong discontinuities. For
instance, a small village may have no or a
small, volunteer, fire department, but a
sudden influx of population may force it to
acquire better equipment and establish a paid
department. The public costs would jump
from very low to very high. As with invest¬
ment costs, an important factor in deter¬
mining these costs is the quality and amount of
services required by leisure home develop¬
ments.

Flipping to the other side of the ledger,
leisure home developments also increase
public revenues at the local level. The amount
of increased revenued generated by the project
depends on such factors as the balance between
different revenue sources, the amount and type
of development, how much the development is
used, and how the local tax assessor reacts
to the development. Concerning this latter
point, if the land is worth $500 an acre in
agricultural land but is sold to potential home
builders at $25, 000, the assessor has to decide
how he will value the agricultural land which
is not developed. If the assessor assumes
that all of this land is also worth $25, 000,
then the farmers are going to pay a large por¬
tion of any increased revenues and the lot
buyers in the development a relatively low
proportion. On the other hand, if the assessor
(as is often the case in rural communities)
assumes that there are two different markets
and the farming land is only worth what it pays

as a farming land, then the new tax revenues
will be shifted primarily to the new lot owners.

This gets to the question of who is going
to pay the increased costs. Commonly it is
the original community population that pays a
high proportion of these costs. However,
there are various ways that the costs can be
shifted on to the new residents. One is through
property assessment policies, as mentioned
above. A second is by the community requir¬
ing the developer to put in most of the infra¬
structure or otherwise assume what are com¬
monly public costs. The developer, of course,
passes these costs directly to the buyer and
they do not pass through the public sector at
all. Finally, some of the costs, to the extent
that they are subsidized by state or federal
aid, will be paid by taxpayers who have nothing
to do with the local community or the develop¬
ment.

A most important question in leisure home
development is when these costs and revenues
occur. One of the major conclusions of our
leisure home study is that a leisure home
development is really little more than an early
suburb. The homes may be built initially in
all expectations that they will be used for
nothing more than a summer cottage or winter
ski lodge; eventually, however, they will most
likely be converted into permanent homes. In
some instances this conversion proces s takes
decades. Leisure homes in New England may
not become permanently occupied for 50 years
or so. In other cases, however, the conver¬
sion occurs instantaneously. Leisure homes
being built outside Washington, D. C. are
bought as first homes and settled on a perma¬
nent basis immediately. Even before the
developments are finished, school buses are
winding their way around construction equip¬
ment and through muddy roads picking up
children of the first new residents. The
important question then becomes not so much
what will the costs be, but rather when will
they occur.

A pure leisure home development does
not require as high a level of services as
permanent homes. Usually public revenues
exceed public costs before conversion to per¬
manent use takes place. However, as homes
are converted to permanent dwellings the
higher cost investments will have to be made,
and public costs may exceed public revenues.

82

This raises one of the fundamental dilemmas
associated with leisure home development.
Should the developer be required to provide
these high quality services from the beginning
of the development or should the infrastructure
be provided when it is actually required (per¬
haps with some attempts made to get the home
owners to pay these costs at that time). If
you accept the proposition that the developer
should provide the services, you are implying
that leisure homes cannot be bought by any
but the very wealthy or by those who really
want to use them as permanent homes. This
is also not a very efficient solution. Some of
the infrastructure will go effectively unused
for many years and may deteriorate during
this period. For instance, sewers will dete¬
riorate whether they are used or not. If the
developer has to install them decades before
any building occurs, they may not be usable
when they are needed. If so, the only thing
that will have been accomplished is that the
lots will be substantially more expensive, and
there will have been a substantial waste of
resources. On the other hand, allowing the
development to occur to very low standards and
then attempting to patch it up later can also be
very expensive. And getting the residents of
the development to pay the increased costs at
the time they have to be made is often difficult.
The local community may be faced with a
dilemma to which there is no solution.

So where does this bring the assessment
of public costs. Basically, my conclusion is
that a community should review a proposed
leisure home development as being a potential
permanent subdivision and should expect costs
and revenues accordingly. The critical issue
is how fast is the conversion to a permanent
subdivision going to occur? If it is expected
to occur rapidly, then the community should
require that the development be built essenti¬
ally to suburban standards from the beginning.
However, if the community believes that this
conversion process will take a long time, this
is probably an inefficient solution. The com¬
munity should rather look at the expected flows
of revenues and costs, when they will occur,
and try to determine how it can place the bur¬
den on the residents of the development when
the costs appear. In the meantime, the taxes
paid by a project may exceed the costs of the
services that the government has to provide
that project until a substantial proportion of
conversion has occurred. Could not this

revenue surplus gathered during the earlier
years be used to pay the increased costs
which occur in later years?

Let us move now from the public into the
private sector. There is always a hope in the
host community that new development will
bring new riches to the original population.

The developer is usually not shy in promoting
this expectation, painting vivid pictures of all
the spending that will be done by the new resi¬
dents, the employment to be generated by the
development, and so forth. What actually
occurs may be quite different. Research in
regional economics tells us that a major factor
determining the impact of a development on a
local economy is the ability of the economy to
provide the services required by the develop¬
ment. If the economy is small to begin with,
the impact will also be small. A smaller
proportion of the original expenditure will be
made in the community, and the expenditure
multiplier will be smaller.

Some of the other variables that affect the
income generation include the size of the
development, the income of the residents, and
the amount of time the residents spend in the
development. For the high quality develop¬
ments in which the developer builds all the
homes, much of the labor may be imported
into the region if the developer has his own
contracting force or is unable to find a local
contractor who can undertake such a large
contract. There will be some jobs available
to local people but these are likely to be in
lower paid, unskilled positions. Nor are the
imported construction workers likely to con¬
tribute sufficiently to local economy. Many
of them will be commuting to the site from
residences far away. Construction workers
commute 80 miles or more each way, rather
than temporarily moving their families
closer to the construction site.

After the new residents move in, their
expenditures often are not as high as average
household expenditures in suburban areas.

They bring many of their needs from their
permanent homes. In some cases their ex¬
penditures are high enough to generate sub¬
stantially increased demands for goods and
services, but even so, outsiders may end up
benefitting. It may not be the old general
store that sells all of the food but the new A&P
built by someone out of state. Studies done in

83

New England have shown this to be the case in
commercial development around skiing cen¬
ters. If this does happen the local store owner
can actually be hurt because he has stiffer
competition than he had previously. Of course,
the other side of the coin is that if stiffer com¬
petition results in lower prices, all consumers
benefit.

In general, employment generated after
the construction period is finished, is likely
to be seasonal and low paid employment. Nor
is the development likely to stabilize the
economy of the small town. There will be
economic growth, more stores, more income
generated, but much of this growth may not
benefit all of the people. I would be reluctant
to justify a proposed leisure home develop¬
ment on the basis of its supposed local income
generating effects.

Social Impacts

Social impacts are probably as important
as economic impacts, but are much harder to
quantify. We rely more on episodes. And I
have my own episode to add. I used to live
up in the northwest corner of Massachusetts,
and had many friends and relatives who lived
in Vermont. Like many I became fascinated
with the old Vermont Yankee and was inter¬
ested in the conflict between the Yankee and
the immigrant, be he a leisure home owner,
a hippie, or whatever. Many years ago a
family moved to a small Vermont town to es¬
cape New York City. Like many, they had
started by spending their summers there, but
finally decided that they would give up some
of their monetary income for the peace and
quiet and beauty of a rural residence. And
like many they loved their small town, and
longed to be accepted as a part of it. One
morning the wife was down at the old general
store talking to Jake the store owner about
how much she felt a part of Vermont and how
much her family loved living there.

She said to Jake, "Jake I know that you
Vermonters will never accept me as a native.

I can never live here long enough for that to
happen." Jake, like most Vermonters, would
rarely add more than a simple "spose so" or
"yap" to the conversation, so the woman went
on:

"But Jake you know my son Paul."

"Yap. "

"And you know he was born here in Ver¬
mont. "

"Yap. "

"Now, I realize that you are never going
to accept me or my husband as natives, but
how about Paul? Paul was born here just as
much as your children were. Are you ever
going to accept him as a Vermonter?"

"Well, " said Jake, "you see the chair
over there ? "

"Yes, I see it. "

"And you see that pregnant cat sitting
there in that chair?"

"A-nd you see that stove, don't you?

"Yes. "

"Now tell me, if that cat were to jump
into that stove and have it's kittens, you
wouldn't call them biscuits would you?"

Now that story, apocalyptical or not,
may pretty well summarize what we can say
about social impacts. I will try to say a little
bit more but I'm not really sure I'm going to
succeed. Thn influx of new residents will
change the life style of the natives. There
will be more congestion- -it will be harder to
find a parking place, harder to get out of your
garage. Life in the town will change. The
new A&P may be cheaper, but it is bound to
lack much of the personality of the old gen¬
eral store. The original inhabitants may well
resent these changes. More likely, the early
immigrants will resent them more. There
will be other changes as well. Crime will
likely increase, although crime is becoming
a more serious problem in rural areas
everywhere. The original inhabitants may
find they have less control over what happens
in their town and even or over their own
lives. Because of the sudden influx of large
numbers of strangers, the community solid¬
arity may well deteriorate.

I have the theory about the progress of
rural politics. Before the development
pressure starts, the town is run by the old

84

merchant or farmer. However, as develop¬
ment pressure begins to build up, the specta¬
tor and real estate agent is likely to become
more interested in taking the leading role.
After development progresses the new resi¬
dents who have settled there permanently will
become more concerned about what is happen¬
ing to the quality of life and make their effort
to take over the town so that they can stop the
growth- -the old gangplank syndrome. The
initial inhabitants lose control early in the
process and may well resent being excluded.

But there may also be a number of social
benefits to the original inhabitants. The
quality of their life may well improve if their

incomes go up. They may be able to afford
better housing, better food, etc. If the new
residents demand and can support better ser¬
vices, these better services will also be avail¬
able to the original inhabitants. They may
benefit from better schools, better hospitals,
better police and fire protection. They may
have access to a doctor where none was avail¬
able before. All change has social impacts,
some of them favorable, some of them unfav¬
orable. It is clear that the quality of life will
change. It is not clear whether it will im¬
prove or not. This depends to a great extent
on the values of people, what they are accus¬
tomed to, and what they expect.

85

Cost to Public Land Agencies Resulting From Recreation
Developments on Adjacent Private Lands1

2

David D. Chase and Theodore A. Hoff /

Abstract. — Scant information exists on the source and
magnitude of costs to public land agencies resulting from
private land developments on adjacent lands. In this study
management cost functions are developed and empirically test¬
ed with data from the Mogollon Rim Area of Arizona. The
authors demonstrate the usefulness of this methodology as a
forecasting and budgeting device for local level land managers.

INTRODUCTION

That there has been a dramatic increase in
the development of private landholdings, within
or adjacent to public lands, for recreation
purposes is widely recognized. These develop¬
ments have arisen for several important reasons.
Environmental conditions in crowded metropolitan
areas have caused people to seek clean, uncrowd¬
ed and unspoiled lands for recreation retreats.

A rise in disposable personal income combined
with shorter working periods has enabled more
people to take advantage of second homes. In¬
flation expectations has caused an increased
demand for rural land resulting in soaring land
values making the development of private lands
potentially profitable.^ Increased property
tax burdens have added an additional impetus to
reduce the quantity of land held by single
parties. Natural resource characteristics such
as climatic relief and the presence of lakes
and streams have also been important demand
factors .

Among the many impacts on wildland areas
resulting from the development of private lands
within or adjacent to National Forest boundaries
is a substantial increase in the direct and

_/ Paper presented at the Symposium on
Man, Leisure, and Wildlands: A Complex Inter¬
action, Vail, Colorado, Sept. 14-19, 1975.

_/ The authors are respectively Associate
Professor of Finance and Assistant Dean, and
Assistant Professor of Economics, College of
Business Administration, Northern Arizona
University, Flagstaff.

jV Doane's Agricultural Report, "Farmland
Price Trends", Vol. 38, No. 31-5, Aug. 1, 1975.

indirect cost of managing nearby public lands.
Scant information exists on the source and
magnitude of these costs. However these costs
are critical inputs for regional and community
planners and resource managers in evaluating
land use alternatives.

In this study the authors seek 1) to
develop a generalized methodology for deter¬
mining incremental cost functions which are
associated with the higher National Forest
management responsibilities caused by increased
utilization of private enclaves for recreation
developments; and 2) to show how the information
derived from this study can be used by Forest
Service personnel and other land management
agencies in their planning and budgeting
procedures. In order to accomplish these ob¬
jectives, specific cost functions are estimated
from sample data gathered from the Mogollon Rim
area of Arizona, imputations to a general uni¬
verse are made, and the applicability of this
framework to local level land managers is
explained and assessed.

BACKGROUND

A unique wildland that has received more
than its share of recreation oriented "people
pressure" is the Mogollon Rim area of Arizona.
This area encompasses portions of the Tonto,
Apache-Sitgreaves , and Coconino National Forests.
The land lies within parts of northern Gila
County, southwestern Navajo County, and southern
Coconino County in Arizona. Within the study
area there are almost 66,000 acres of land in
private ownership. In 1972, 8,000 acres of
this had been recorded as being dedicated to
subdivisions. There are approximately 150

86

different subdivisions, which include 16,555
lots ranging in size from less than one-quarter
of an acre to over four acres.

The recent publication of the Mogollon
Rim Land Use Planning Study (MRLUPS) included
important work by Lindquist (1972), Boster and
O'Connell, and Thompson and Lewis. The MRLUPS
provides a timely and complete compendium of
the socio-economic and natural resource charac¬
teristics of the Mogollon Rim. The Boster and
O'Connell study yields significant information
on the economic base of the Mogollon Rim area,
including employment multipliers. Perhaps the
most important characteristics of this area
are: 1) its reliance on export employment, and

2) the dominance of the lumber industry, tran¬
sient recreation trade, state and federal
government activity and pensioneers or second-
home industries in the area. Boster and
O'Connell's work provides demographic insights
on the nature of the population utilizing
private lands in this study area. Since the
economic base of this region is fairly narrow,
it is not difficult to see why second homes or
transient populations are important to this
area's economy.

The Thompson-Lewis study is a most signi¬
ficant research document relating the effects
of rural residential development on private
land in the southwestern United States. Thompson
and Lewis attempt to determine the extent of
private land development in the Mogollon Rim
area and "to indicate the probable impacts on
land management alternatives" that accompany
such developments.^/

This study seeks to extend the Thompson-
Lewis study on the Mogollon Rim's socioeconomic
characteristics by developing a methodology for
measuring the incremental costs to the Forest
Service associated with second home-recreation
type developments.

METHODOLOGY

Physical Characteristics of Subdivisions

For the purposes of this study the
Thompson-Lewis data, which is complete through
1972, is assumed to be current and that no
material changes in the physical characteristics
of subdivision developments within the study
area have occurred within the last two years.
Given the scope of the recession of 1974-75,
and a post study sampling of subdivision acti¬
vity by the authors, we are convinced that the
data collected by Thompson and Lewis remain
valid.

In order to develop quantifiable indicators
of the size of subdivisions, the density of their
populations, and their distance from neighboring
metropolitan communities, the following statis¬
tical data was used from the Thompson and Lewis
study: 1) the legal description by county,
township, and range of the subdivision; 2) the
number of lots in the subdivision; 3) the number
of permanent houses in the subdivision; 4) the
assessed valuation of the land; 5) the assessed
valuation of the improvements; 6) the number of
lots sold; 7) the number of second homes, and
8) the number of acres in the subdivision.

Each subdivision was plotted on a master map of
the study area to provide locational perspective.
An additional statistic, the number of miles to
the nearest major community, was calculated.

Forest Service Management Costs

Preliminary discussions with the Forest
Supervisors of the National Forests within the
study area indicated that the District Rangers
were best able to identify the costs incurred
by the National Forests that are associated
with rural land developments. Accepting this
advice, the study area was divided into Ranger
Districts. The Ranger Districts involved in
this study are the Long Valley and the Blue
Ridge Districts of the Coconino National Forest,
the Payson and the Pleasant Valley Districts of
the Ton to National Forest, and the Heber Dis¬
trict of the Apache-Sitgr eaves National Forest.

A cost questionnaire and definitions to
accompany the cost questionnaire were prepared
with the help of the Flagstaff District Ranger
from the Coconino National Forest. All cate¬
gories are considered traditional costs
associated with the functional areas of ranger
districts. Included in these cost categories
are trespass, special use permits, facility use
and wildlife depletion, fire danger and control,
insects and disease, timber harvest, watershed
management, transportation management, and air,
natural beauty, and open space. It should be
noted that many of these categories were singled
out by Thompson and Lewis as being potential
problem areas in managing public lands in and
around which there is a high potential for
rural subdivision growth.^/ This study utilized
the definition sheet to minimize the ambiguities
associated with terminology, establish response
parameters, and consequently increase the
probability of more reliable cost information.

A letter introducing this study to the
District Ranger was sent two weeks prior to the
mailing of the cost questionnaire and the
accompanying definitions. Each Ranger received

/ Lindquist, and others. 1972,

p 89.

5J Ibid.,

p 103.

87

a cost questionnaire for every subdivision
located in his Ranger District. Shortly after
the mailing of the questionnaires to the Rangers,
the research team traveled to each Ranger Dis¬
trict and conferred with the Ranger and his
staff regarding problems of interpreting
questions and of filling out questionnaires for
particular subdivisions.

During these visits it became obvious that
the Rangers included a number of subdivisions
located within a close proximity to each other
as a homogeneous management unit; it became
impossible to completely differentiate costs by
subdivisions. When individual subdivisions could
not be disaggregated from a management unit,
the Ranger or his staff officer was instructed
to fill out the questionnaire on a management
unit basis. The final statistical results of
this study relate the costs to the National
Forests associated with servicing the set of
subdivisions located within 33 traditional
Forest Service management units.

The management units, as established by
the district rangers, varied in size fron 5
acres to 2136 acres. The distribution of these
units was highly skewed toward smaller acreages
with 29 of the 33 units encompassing less than
450 acres, two of about 1000 acres and the re¬
maining two of about 2000 acres. The largest
four units were removed from the sample in order
to provide more homogeneous data with the goal
of yielding better cost functions at little
reduction in sample size.^/

STATISTICAL MODEL

The basic hypothesis of this study is that
a set of cost equations for estimating the costs
to the National Forest Service associated with
increased utilization of private lands for re¬
creation and second home development can be
derived via multiple regression.^/ Specifically,
C. = 6 + 2 6..X., i=l, - - - m, j=l, - - - n,

i o i=l 1J j’

where C. is the type of management cost to the
United States Forest Service as previously
described and X.: ' s are the physical character¬
istics of a particular management area as given
by Thompson and Lewis. The composite hypothesis

_/ Preliminary statistical analysis in¬
dicated that inclusion of all 33 management
units reduced the R^ values considerably.

_/ While several alternative models were
attemtped, the authors accepted the multiple
regression approach as yielding the best results.
Further work with Log transformations are under¬
way in order to test for economies of scale.

can thus be stated as:

H 6..= 0, for all i=l , - - m, j=l, - - n.
oi ij J

The computer program used in the analysis was
the SPSS package (Nie, Bent and Hull, 1970) with
specific applications of the step-wise regression
and the partial correlation models of the pack¬
age. The tests of significance of the individual
Beta coefficients are as defined by Neter and
Wasserman (1974).

STATISTICAL RESULTS

The independent variables (Xj) to be used
in the regression model are shown below. The
set of observations for these variables for
each management area was adopted from Thompson
and Lewis . ®/

Variable

Name

Variable

Number

Unit of

Measurement

County

VAR 12

Dummy Variable

Distance from town

VAR 13

Miles

Number of lots in

management unit

VAR 14

Units

Average lot size

VAR 15

100 sq . feet

Houses

VAR 16

Units

Mobile homes

VAR 17

Units

Rentals

VAR 18

Units

Land value

VAR 19

$1,000

Improved value

VAR 20

$1,000

Lots sold

VAR 21

Units

Number of second

homes

VAR 22

Units

Acres in management

unit

VAR 23

Acres

Average value of a

lot

VAR 24

$1,000

Average value of

improvements total

subdivisions

VAR 25

$1,000

Ratio of lots sold

to total lots

VAR 26

Percent

g

/ Lindquist,

and others .

,, 1975, pp 88-105

88

Ratio of second

homes to lots VAR 27 Percent

Ratio of houses

built to numbers

of lots VAR 28 Percent

Table 1 shows the cost equations that
were estimated after removing the four largest
areas. These equations exhibit coefficients of
determination and reliability in the regression
coefficients which are reasonable. It is
interesting to note that, for several of the
specific costs, different sets of independent
variables produced almost equivalent regressions.
This phenomenon was most evident in the tres¬
pass cost estimates, which resulted in four
equations with essentially indentical , F-
statistics, constants, and error terms. In each
of the four trespass cost equations there were
2 significant regressors. The first one in¬
volved the number of lots in the management
unit (VAR 14) and the average value of improve¬
ments in the subdivisions (VAR 25) ; the
second, the number of lots sold (VAR 21) and
VAR 25; the third, the improved value (VAR 20)
and VAR 25; and the fourth, the number of
second homes (VAR 22) and VAR 25. VAR 14,

VAR 20, VAR 21, and VAR 22 are highly correlated
(all Rij's >_ .95), which explains the great
similarity of the equations.

An important result of the removal of the
largest management areas was that the coefficient
of determination (R^) of specific costs became
much larger than that of the aggregate cost
estimate (equation 1) . This suggests that
the best method of estimating aggregate costs
for budgetary purposes, would be to estimate
specific costs and add the results. This is
intuitively appealing when considering that
different specific costs may well depend upon
different characteristics. For example, fire
control cost, one of the major and most easily
identified costs to the Forest Service, does not
show up with a significant cost regression
function. The implication here is that fire
control is not dependent on the characteristics
of the management units, but rather depends
upon terrain, logging slash buildup, type of
ground cover, and other variables not included
in the study. Since fire control is a cost
included in aggregate cost, this would also
explain the decrease in for the aggregate
cost function as compared to the other specific
cost functions.

CONCLUSIONS AND POLICY IMPLICATIONS

The composite null hypothesis consisted
of 10 simple hypotheses relating to aggregate
cost and the nine specific cost categories. In
two cases, fire control cost (VAR 05) and trans¬

portation management cost (VAR 09) , the null
hypotheses were accepted. The remaining eight
null hypotheses were rejected. Regression
equations for estimating costs were derived
that were statistically significant at least at
the 95 percent level, and in most cases at the
99 percent level, with respect to the F-test
for the equations. These results suggest that
a set of fairly reliable cost equations are
available for Mogollon Rim Area district rangers
to use in estimating budgetary outlays for a
forthcoming fiscal year. The fact that these
equations contain two and at most three explan¬
atory variables minimizes the numerical mani¬
pulations involved in their application.

An example of how a ranger might utilize
these equations is as follows. Assume that the
ranger in the Long Valley District of the
Coconino National Forest wants to estimate the
costs of trespass on his district resulting
from the Clear Creek Pines subdivisions. The
nine subdivisions in Clear Creek Pines are
treated by the Long Valley District as five
management units. The first trespass cost
equation indicates that the number of lots
in the managements units (VAR 14) and the
average value of improvements for the subdivision
(VAR 25) are the relevant explanatory variables.
In these five management units the ranger will
find 1148 lots (VAR 14) and $3,775 of average
improved value (VAR 25) These values are

aggregated over the five units. Applying the
trespass cost equation using the data given
above yields the following result.

Trespass Cost= gQ + (X^) + 825 (X^)

= 74 +.39(1148) + 4.45 (3.775)

= $538.52

The same variables (14 and 25) apply to
estimating the cost of special use permits
(equation 6) .

Special use cost= 71 + .63 (1148) + 3.48 (3.775)

= $807.38

These equations are useful also in pointing
out situations where the costs to manage for
certain characteristics is negligible. For
example, the cost to control insects and disease
(equation 11) will be realitively insignificant

9

_/ Interview with Long Valley District
Ranger, 1974.

1(~7 Note that while the dollar amount of
the average improved value of the subdivision
is $3,775, the regression equation is written
to accept this term in thousands. Thus the
dollar amount enters the equation as 3.775.

89

Table 1. — Estimation Equations

Inter-

Equation #

Cost

Independent Variables

1

01

Aggregate Cost

VAR 22

8 4.77
a 3.38***
t 1.41

28 24

-3500 340

1.66* 307

2110 1.11

.35

4.45**

1290

y

1638

2

01

VAR 21

28

.33

6.3***

1837

1632

8 3.81

2597

o 1.17

1951

t 3.26***

1.33*

3

02

VAR 14

25

.42

9 . 5i***

76

235

Trespass

6 .39

4.45

a .12

1.47

t 3.25***

3.03***

4

02

VAR 21

25

.42

9.51***

76

235

6 .54

4.91

o .17

1.48

t 3.18***

3. 32***

5

02

VAR 20

25

.42

9 . 33***

79

237

6 .39

4.53

a .13

1.47

t 3.00***

3.08***

6

03

VAR 14

25

.63

22. 5***

71

196

Special

6 .63

3.48

Use

a .10

1.22

Permit

t 6.3***

2.85***

7

03

VAR 21

25

.61

20.5***

74

203

6 .85

4.21

a .15

1.27

t 5.6***

3. 51***

8

04

VAR 14

24

.43

9 . 74***

-26

95

Facility

6 .23

19.31

Use

a .05

16.9

t 4.6***

1.16

9

04

VAR 16

26

.42

9 # 3***

62

96

8 1.39 -

67.81

a .32

50.35

t 4.34***

1.35*

10 05

Fire Control Not Significant

90

11

06

Insects &
Disease

VAR 19 28

8 .06 59.46

o .01 31.44

t 6.00*** 1.89**

.47

11.7***

-24

26

12

06

VAR 20

6 .065

a .014
t 4.64***

.45

21.9***

-2.4

26

13

06

VAR 16

6 .39

a .09
t 4.33***

.41

18.85***

-3.6

27

14

07

VAR 21

25

24 .67

16.8***

-34

56

Timber

8 .278

1.13

27.11

Cost

a .042

.356

9.86

t 6.62***

3.17***

2.75***

15

07

VAR

14

24

25 .65

15 . 4***

-39

58

B

.20

30.

.42

.896

a

.032

10.

.31

.364

t 6

.25***

2.

,95***2,

, 46***

16

07

VAR 22

25 24 .65

15.3***

-36

58

8 .32

1.15 27.44

a .051

.368 10.21

t 6.27***

3.125***2.69***

17

08

Watershed

VAR

8

a

t

24 13

21.07 -4.29

8.81** 2.06

2.39 2.08**

.21

3.48**

1.25

49.3

18

09

Transportation

Management

Not

significant

19

10

Natural

Beauty

VAR

8

0

t

23 27
.64 73.70
.09 31.98

7.11*** 2.29**

.64

23.5***

-77

60

*

Significant

at

90%

level

**

ft

at

95%

level

** *

tf

at

99%

level

91

in a ranger district's budget. For the Long
Valley District land values, VAR 19, were
estimated to be $1,314,000 over all five Clear
Creek Pines management units. VAR 28, the ratio
of houses built to the number of lots, averages
12% for the five units.

Thus :

Insect and Disease Cost = -24 + .06 (1,314)

+ 59.46 (.12)

= $62.19

The utility of this analysis is even more
apparent when one attempts to forecast probable
costs when the subdivisions in question are fully
developed. For example, assume with special
use permits (equation 6) that the average
improved value per subdivision was 100 times
greater than it presently is (eg. $377,500
instead of $3,775). Special use costs to the
Long Valley District due to higher improved
values in Clear Creek Pines subdivision would
increase to $2,107.94 or a change of $1,300.56
for a 100 times increase in average improved
value. This result indicates that the marginal
cost of the special use activity to the Long
Valley District resulting from a 100 times
increase in the average improvements of prop¬
erties in Clear Creek Pines Subdivisions is,
on a dollar basis, not great. On other ranger
districts the results may be vastly different
depending on the unique characteristics of the
individual ranger district.

RECOMMENDATIONS

This study, being limited in scope, raised
more questions than it answered. A principal
question of whether costs are strictly a linear
function of the independent variables in the
study or whether economies of scale exist was
implied by our removal of the four largest
management units from the study. The appraisal
of ranger's responses to the cost questionnaire
indicates that a ranger either vastly under¬
estimates the cost of dealing with large units
or intuitively realizes the advantages of scale.
This is an important question in terms of
Forest Service policy with respect to concen¬
tration of private land within the Forest. If
economies of scale do exist, Forest Service
policy should perhaps be aimed at concentration
of private land through appropriate trading
practices, special use permit policy, and the
like.

The study revealed that the rangers
sampled had never attempted to evaluate the costs

to support rural subdivisions which are "on the
Forest." It is the author's feeling that the
ranger's estimates were low.' Thus the cost
equations of this study yield low answers.

Through experience and time however, these
estimates should begin to yield more precise
cost data.

Another aspect that needs to be examined
is the geographical location of private home
developments within the forest, considering such
factors as terrain, proximity to established
towns, the physical effects on surrounding
forest land, and the availability of utilities
(principally water and electric service) . The
Forest Service may improve its stewardship of
the forest resource by actively promoting
development at selected locations and dis¬
couraging development at other locations.

This study indicates that the development
of enclaves within National Forests results in
an increase in costs of operation for the Forest
Service. Effective planning and budgeting must
reflect and provide for these costs if the Forest
Service is to maintain or improve its ability
to manage the forest properly. Forecasts in¬
dicate that the number and size of these develop¬
ments is going to increase over the coming years,
thus the burden on the Forest Service is going
to increase over time. This study has formulated
a means of estimating the cost impact of these
developments in the Mogollon Rim area. The
methodology employed should be applicable to
other areas of the National Forest in Arizona
as well as in other parts of the country.

LITERATURE CITED

Chase, David D. and Theodore A. Hoff.

1974. An analysis of incremental costs to
the United States Forest Service resulting
from recreation developments on adjacent
private lands along the Mogollon Rim Area
of Arizona. The College of Business Ad¬
ministration, Northern Arizona University
and the Eisenhower Consortium (project
16-34 7-CA).

Lindquist, L.A. and others.

1972. Mogollon Rim land use planning study.
U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest
Service .

Neter, John and William Wasserman.

1974. Applied linear statistical models,
p. 230. Richard D. Irwin: Homewood

Nie, Norman H., Dale H. Bent and C. Hadlai Hull.

1970. Statistical package for the social
sciences. McGraw-Hill: New York.

92

The Mountain Property Owner: His Values, Goals, and Problems1 u*>

! 2

R. Burnell Held and Charles F. Robinson_/

Abstract. — Values, objectives and problem perceptions of
owners of mountain properties within national forest bound¬
aries were determined. Although land uses on private lands
and the forest are not in complete harmony, areas of common
interest offer hope for resolving differences.

INTRODUCTION

Second-home residences in the Colorado
Rockies take a variety of forms, from the
costly condominiums of the ski resorts to a
simple, summer-use cabin, or even a house
trailer parked on an undeveloped lot. The
time of use varies as well as the type of use.
The motivations for purchasing the properties
may be much the same but the attitudes and
values of these property owners can be expected
to vary. New problems are created for local
government and for adjacent land owners as
mountain lands are converted from ranch and
agricultural use to residential use. The at¬
titudes and desires of the new owners and users
may be quite different from those of the former
owners and users. Where the properties are
within the boundaries of a national forest,
this change in ownership and use is especially
important to the personnel of the United States
Forest Service.

The most accessible and buildable of the
privately-owned lands in the Colorado Front
Range have long been converted to residential
use. In many areas, houses and cabins which
were built originally only for seasonal use
have been winterized and are used as year-round
residences. With structures in the canyons and
on the mountain sides, one must travel far to
find a relatively undeveloped forest landscape.

If Paper presented at a symposium, Man,
Leisure and Wildlands; A complex Interaction,

U.S. Forest Service, Vail, Colorado, September
17, 1975

2 J Dr. Held is Professor of Recreation
Resources and Mr. Robinson was formerly Grad¬
uate Research Assistant, Colorado State Uni¬
versity, Fort Collins, Colorado.

Even within the boundaries of a national forest
one will find development. While the Forest
Service at one time leased tracts to persons
desiring to build summer homes in the forest
land, this policy has been largely discontinued
and in some areas, existing homes have been re¬
moved. Thus, the developments which are en¬
countered in the forests are usually those
which are built on former mining claims , or on
one-time forest homesteads. Under the Forest
Homestead Act of 1906, lands within established
national forests were made available to those
desiring to homestead them providing that the
land was chiefly valuable for agriculture, not
needed for public purposes, and could be oc¬
cupied without injury to the forest.

DEVELOPMENT ON THE ROOSEVELT NATIONAL FOREST

The Roosevelt National Forest, lying north
and west of Denver, primarily in Larimer County,
is a forest with substantial inholdings of
private land. These inholdings are not uni¬
formly distributed throughout the forest but
tend to be found in the broader valleys, at
lower elevations, and in the eastern portion
of the forest. However, even the more remote
areas of the forest have such inholdings.

One of the relatively remote areas of the
forest is the watershed of the Little South
Fork of the Cache la Poudre River. In this
67,705 acre area, only 3.4 percent of the land,
or 2,302 acres, is in private ownership. Sixty
three percent of the private land, or 1,449
acres, is held in tracts of 40 acres or more.

The remaining 853 acres are divided among
slightly more than 100 owners who, in most in¬
stances, have acquired ownership since 1960.

93

These properties are 90 to 120 minutes
driving time from Ft. Collins, the nearest
source of supplies and medical aid. Denver
is an additional 70 minutes or more away. The
best of the two routes into the area, although
a paved highway for 35 miles, continues there¬
after as a gravel road with a much steeper
grade. The gravel road is not maintained during
the winter and portions of the road are usually
impassable by mid-winter.

The character of the area has undoubtedly
determined the type of purchaser who has bought
property there. The remoteness of the area,
winter road conditions, and elevations of 8 to
9,000 feet make it less attractive than other
areas for a year-round residence. The nearest
school is at least ten to twelve miles away
over mountain roads and over a high pass. There
is no resort development in the watershed al¬
though a small church camp is located there.

The area has little potential as a developable
ski area. It does offer attractive views of
snowcapped mountains in the summer, many op¬
portunities to camp, fish, and hunt in season,
trails into the high country of Rocky Mountain
National Park and relative seclusion. Perhaps
one of the major attractions is that the lots
usually back-up against the national forest and
the lot owner, even on a small lot, can enjoy
that land and can be reasonably certain that
this part of his view and general environment
will change relatively little.

There is an understandable concern on the
part of national forest personnel as they see
properties which were once put to uses which
were highly compatible with the management of
the forest converted to uses where there is less
likelihood of harmony. While the Forest Service
has a long history of issuing special use per¬
mits for the construction and occupancy of sum¬
mer homes in certain areas of the forest, the
decisions relating to the size, location and
terms of occupancy are made by the Forest Ser¬
vice. In the new residential areas these deci¬
sions have been made without consultation with
the Forest Service and with seemingly no con¬
cern for whatever impacts such development
might cause.

The catalog of ills that can accompany the
conversion of mountain land to residential use
is lengthy. There are the hazards to human life
and property: avalanches, landslides, fire,
and to some extent, floods. There are the ever
present problems of waste disposal and the
inadequacy or the failure of conventional methods
in mountainous locations and the costly alter¬
natives. There are the increased silt loads
in streams from disturbed areas such as roads
and building sites, the loss of wildlife range
and habitat and disruption of migration routes,

increased traffic with its noise and dust in
formerly quiet areas, and an increase in land¬
scape scars where new roads and utility rights-
of-way are pushed through. And then there is
increased demand, at least from some of the
new land owners, for public services which are
costly to provide in remote areas.

The problems that accompany the conversion
of private lands from an extensive to an inten¬
sive use are largely a reflection of the
increased number of people in the area and the
greater degree to which the land must be dis¬
turbed to permit the construction of roads,
houses, and related improvements. Trespass on
forest land occurs, and whether in innocence
and ignorance or as a deliberate act, this
increases the administrative burden on Forest
Service personnel.

OBJECTIVES OF PURCHASERS

The new neighbors deep in the forest may
raise other problems for the forest manager in
the future. What were the objectives of the
purchaser of the tract of mountain land when
he bought? What were his expectations with
respect to changes in the area over time? What
were his perceptions of the role of the Forest
Service and its personnel in the management of
the forest land? These are questions which
should also be of concern to the forest manager.
With some understanding of the values, objec¬
tives and perceptions of the purchasers of such
lands, there is the possibility of finding ways
to harmonize the two types of land use in the
area, particularly if the differences in values
should not be as great as they may appear to be
initially.

Of the 102 owners of properties of less
than 40 acres who were identified, 80 responded
to a mail questionnaire. Information was
obtained concerning the year of purchase, some
of the factors which were important in the deci¬
sion to buy, the type and extent of use that
has been made of the property, and problems
relating to the property that have arisen.

County records indicated that there was virtu¬
ally no small-parcel real estate activity in
the watershed during the ten-year period of
1955 through 1964. Twenty-eight percent of the
initial sales after the larger tracts had been
subdivided took place during the 1965-1969
period and 71 percent occurred from 1970 through
1974. Not included in these figures, however,
is the resale activity. It was not intended
originally to investigate this. However, in
the process of communication with what were
thought to be current owners, based on the most
current records available, thirteen properties
of the 102 were found to have new owners.

94

The properties, for the most part, are
owned by local people or people living within
a radius of three hours driving time from the
study area. Forty-six percent are Larimer
County residents; 35 percent are from the
Denver-Boulder metropolitan area; 5 percent are
from other parts of Colorado and many of the
remaining 14 percent are out-of-state owners.

The out-of-state owners, however, appear to be
largely people who bought the property while
living in Colorado and who later moved to
another state. There was no direct information
on this in the questionnaire. The only evidence
of this was from other information supplied by
the respondents.

Sales efforts appear to have been oriented
to people in the locality and region rather
than to out-of-state buyers. All buyers who
responded indicated that they had examined the
property before buying it but for 46 percent of
the respondents, the Little South Fork area was
the only area they had looked at. What was it,
then, that attracted them to this area? Respon¬
dents were asked to rate eleven different char¬
acteristics of the area that might have been a
consideration in their decision to purchase the
property. If an unlisted factor was involved,
the respondents were invited to indicate it as
well. They were then asked to rate the impor¬
tance of each factor in their decision to pur¬
chase the property on a 5-point scale ranging
from" extremely important" to "not at all impor¬
tant." Similarly, they were also asked to
indicate the purpose of the purchase. Recog¬
nizing that several purposes might be involved,
they were also asked to rate the relative impor¬
tance of the different purposes. 3/

The responses to these questions indicate
two characteristics of the area were of greater
importance than all else: the scenic quality
of the area and the private, uncrowded condition
that they found there. Subsequent comments
volunteered by the respondents reinforce this.
The considerations which were of least impor¬
tance were the purchase of property there by
friends, property improvements, the subdivision
plan, presence of utilities, and nearness to
residence of the buyer.

_3/ The five levels of importance were reduced
to two in the analysis with the number of
responses in the middle category divided equally
among "important" and "not important." Then,
the individual reasons were ranked according
to the number of respondents who had checked
them.

When asked about the use they expected to
make of the property, vacation use was ranked
slightly higher than weekend use. Given much
less importance than either vacation or weekend
use was its use as an investment. Rated close
to this was use during retirement. Next, with
an extremely low score, was use of the property
for a permanent home. From these responses it
seems clear that getting away from everything
in their everyday life for brief periods to
enjoy the mountain scenery and environment in
relative seclusion would most accurately de¬
scribe the motives and values of the typical
respondent when the decision to purchase the
lot was made.

Of the 80 respondents, 29 or 36 percent,
reported that they had a house or cabin on the
property. Eleven of these respondents had
purchased the property with the improvement
already upon it .4 J House construction was under¬
way on six additional properties at the time of
the survey. Thirteen owners reported that they
have been unable to fulfill their plans to build
a dwelling or add other improvements, largely
because of financial constraints. However, dis¬
tance from the property as well as time con¬
straints and the difficulties of access to the
lot have also held up plans. Fourteen other
owners indicated they expected to sell their
unimproved property while another 14 expected
to keep their land but did not expect to build
immediately. Thus, it appears that even with
the subdivision lots largely all sold, the
change in the appearance of the landscape will
be relatively slow. This is important for it
presents an opportunity for the Forest Service
to work with land owners in the development of
their properties so as to minimize as much as
possible the adverse affects of development.

Specific information about landowner-Forest
Service relationships was sought in the study.
Almost 82 percent of the respondents indicated
that the fact that the property was an enclave
within the national forest was an important
factor in their decision to buy. Twenty per¬
cent, however, had objections to uses that were
being made on the forest or certain management
practices. These concerns involved the tree
kill by bark beetles and a concern that the
trees on their property would also be killed,
road problems, problems of public trespass (the
prevention of which is not a Forest Service
responsibility) and miscellaneous complaints.

4/ As indicated earlier, 13 properties had
changed hands since subdivision had taken place
Thus, nearly 85 percent of the properties that
changed hands had been improved at the time of
sale. This contrasts sharply with the overall
rate of building in the study area.

95

While relationships with the Forest Service, as
seen from the point of view of the respondents,
are largely positive, this situation could eas¬
ily change as more of the property owners com¬
plete dwellings on their properties and begin
to spend more time in them.

PROBLEMS IDENTIFIED BY PURCHASERS

The fact that the area is not accessible
during the winter was a concern of 62 percent
of the respondents who wished to have the roads
kept open. While 12 percent had expressed no
position on the question, 26 percent of the
respondents were opposed to keeping the roads
open. They argued that such an action would
lead to even greater use pressure in the area
from the general public, that the cost would be
prohibitive, and that the stress on the eco¬
system would be greater. Not mentioned in this
regard, but of significance, is the fact that
some of the subdivided areas are important elk
winter range areas and an increased amount of
human activity in the area could have a detri¬
mental effect on the elk.

The responses to a question soliciting
reaction to various types of development other
than single family residences in the area, to¬
gether with the emphasis given to scenic values
and an uncrowded environment, suggest that the
Forest Service may be able to find common ground
with the lot owners by stressing the importance
and the need for cooperative action in an effort
to maintain as high a quality of environment as
possible.

Landowners were also asked to state their
opinions as to what the general area near their
properties would be like in five years. The
response choices were "get better", "stay the
same", "get worse" and "don't know." Of those
responding to the question, only 16 percent
thought the area would get better. Thirty-four
percent thought it would stay the same. Thirty-
six percent thought it would get worse. Four¬
teen percent said they did not know. They were
also asked to indicate what would be responsible
for the changes they anticipated. Those who
expected an improvement defined it in terms of
improved roads, the construction of buildings
on the currently empty lots, and better forest
management practices in the area. On the other
hand, those who anticipated a deterioration in
conditions for the area cited a greater number
of people and cabins in the area, heavier traf¬
fic, more noise, an increase in trespass and
incidents of vandalism, poorer forest and wild¬
life management, and higher property taxes.

Compared with other areas, activity in the
study area is still in the developing stage, but

the landowners have been there long enough to
encounter situations not to their liking. The
following 13 concerns were those most frequently
mentioned with the first two mentioned by 68 and
64 percent of the respondents respectively:

trespass and vandalism

poor road construction or maintenance

deteriorating natural surroundings

high level of traffic

inadequate fire protection

inadequate sewage disposal systems

lack of or poor utilities

over crowding — neighbors too close

inadequate water supplies or wells

difficulties in obtaining building permits

uncontrolled subdivision activity

decline in water quality

undesirable neighbors

The last eight problems in the list were
seen as being important by a smaller percentage
of the respondents, ranging according to the
problem mentioned, from 17 to 29 percent of those
responding.

There is a lack of concensus about some of
these matters, however, as shown by some of the
additional comments which the respondents vol¬
unteered. Some, for example, would like to see
building standards relaxed because of the added
cost involved. Why, asked one respondent, is a
25 foot road required when a 12 foot road will
do? Why seek fire protection when it is less
expensive to let it burn? Why be concerned
with sewer systems when an outhouse with a con¬
crete vault will do? Why worry about wells when
water for cooking and drinking can be hauled in
from town and water for washing can be taken
from the stream? All landowners do not share
these feelings, at least to the extreme of this
particular owner.

When asked to identify the persons, or
agencies responsible for the existence of these
problems, replies were as indicated in Table 1.

One does not have to accept the accuracy of
the perceptions of the landowners as to the
causes of their problems but these perceptions
are nevertheless important. The Forest Service
now has neighbors that feel it should provide
them with improved roads and better fire pro¬
tection and that the Forest Service should do
something to reduce the traffic into the area
and take care of the natural surroundings that
the new neighbors feel is deteriorating with the
Forest Service being a major cause. 5/

5/ Criticism centered on the abuses of cer¬
tain areas by vehicles, excessive use of camp¬
grounds, and the loss of trees due to bark
beetle infestation.

96

Table 1. Problems in the subdivision perceived by property owners
and the agents most frequently blamed for them

Problem Frequency

Perceived (

Causal Agents and Percent of Responses

Poor road construction

or maintenance

55

County 41.8

Forest Service 25.5

Deteriorating natural

surroundings

37

Forest Service

35.1 Self and Neighbors 18.9

Trespass or vandalism

35

Public 57.1

County 22.8

High levels of traffic

27

Others 29.6

Forest Service 25.9 State 18.5

Inadequate fire protection

21

County 38.1

Forest Service 33.3

Decline in water quality

19

Self and Neighbors 42.1 State 21.0

Inadequate water supply

15

Self and Neighbors 46.6

Inadequate sewage disposal

systems

14

County 42.8

Self and Neighbors 31.4

Lack of, or poor utilities

13

Developer 30.7

Others 30.7

Uncontrolled subdivision

12

County 58.3

State 25.0

Crowding, neighbors too close

11

Developer 63.6

Neighbors 18.2

Undesirable neighbors

11

County 45.4

Others 36.3

Building permit difficulties

10

County 70.0

State 20.0

And in the words of one respondent, "I can't
over-emphasize the need for the Forest Service
to show the public where private lands are
within public land ... People who use (the) pub¬
lic land(s) should be kept within them. More
restrictions on the use and abuse of public
land would help us all."

Also of interest is the fact that the
problems which landowners feel have become
worse in recent years are roads, traffic, tres¬
pass and vandalism and deteriorating natural
surroundings, in that order.

There is reason for optimism in believing
that many of these problems can be dealt with
effectively. The basic desires of most resi¬
dents in the area are compatible in many
respects with those of the Forest Service
although there are, and probably will be, points
of difference. Improved communications between

the Forest Service and these landowners would
be highly desirable, but much time and diffi¬
culty is likely to be involved in accomplishing
this. Fortunately, a large percentage of the
residents are local people with primary resi¬
dences in the same county. Denver residents and
others would be more difficult to reach.

The problem which the Forest Service faces
in these situations is considerable. Before the
properties under study were subdivided, it was a
relatively simple matter for Forest Service per¬
sonnel to maintain contact with the several
owners of the properties. But the subdivision
process has created 100+ small property owners
where previously there were perhaps less than
five at most. The communications problem has
truly exploded and even though an opportunity
may still exist to work out mutually satisfactory
development plans, the Forest Service does not
begin to have manpower adequate for the task if
each landowner must be contacted.

97

Economic Implications of Second Home Developments
in Selected Areas of Colorado1 L

2

Richard G. Walsh, Michael F. Retzlaff, and Eliot 0. Waples_/

Abstract. — Costs and benefits of condominium ownership at
three Colorado ski areas were estimated on the basis of a sam¬
ple survey in 1974. Costs of owner use under recent inflation¬
ary conditions were $37 per day compared to rental rates of
$32. Under stable investment values, owner costs would rise
to $59 per day. If investment values fall 5 percent annually,
costs would rise to $103 per day of owner use.

INTRODUCTION

Increased attention has been focused in
recent years on the development of second home
subdivisions, primarily large condominium com¬
plexes, near the base of ski areas in the Rocky
Mountains. Until recently, most Western com¬
munities and state governments welcomed and
encouraged the development as a source of new
income and general economic growth. It is now
becoming apparent that the costs resulting
from these developments may exceed the bene¬
fits they provide. The people involved are
interested in what can be learned from recent
experience that will help formulate sound devel¬
opment policies for the future. What have been
the objectives of condominium buyers? How has
condominium ownership worked out in terms of
economic costs and benefits? What are the ex¬
pectations for the future?

This paper provides answers to some of the
questions that have been raised. It reports on
the findings of a survey of condominium owners
in Breckenridge-Dillon, Steamboat Springs, and
Vail, Colorado. A random sample of 410 condo¬
minium owners was drawn from subdivisions near
the base of these three ski areas. Response
rate was 24 percent to a mail survey in the

Vpaper presented at a symposium, Man ,
Leisure and Wildlands: A Complex Interaction,

U.S. Forest Service, Vail, Colorado, September
17, 1975.

^/Dr. Walsh is Professor of Economics,

Mr. Retzlaff was formerly Graduate Research
Assistant, and Dr. Waples is Chairman of the
Department of Finance and Real Estate, Colorado
State University, Fort Collins.

spring of 1974. The 99 useable replies repre¬
sent a 2-4 percent sample of the universe.

OBJECTIVES OF CONDOMINIUM BUYERS

In the past decade, a large market devel¬
oped for condominiums in second home subdivisions
of Colorado. One function of the market has
been to provide overnight lodging services to
buyers and their families engaged in outdoor
recreation activities, notably skiing. Another
function has been the opportunity provided for
rest and relaxation in a scenic mountain set¬
ting. Fully two- thirds of the buyers sampled
primarily sought one or the other of these two
closely related objectives. Forty-two percent
reported recreational activities, and 22 percent
reported rest and relaxation.

Not as well known has been the economic
function of the market for condominiums in these
second home subdivisions. The primary objec¬
tive of one-third of the condominium buyers in
the past has been investment return. This was
most evident in Steamboat Springs where nearly
one-half (47 percent) reported that the primary
reason for purchasing a condominium was invest¬
ment return. Typically, these buyers expected
their second home investment to provide rental
income and a capital gains tax advantage, and
only secondarily recreational lodging for them¬
selves. In addition, nearly half (46 percent)
of condominium buyers reported that investment
return was the second or third ranking reason
for purchase. This was particularly true for
Vail where nearly 55 percent of condominium
buyers reported that investment return was the
second or third ranking reason for purchase.

98

Table 1. Reasons for purchasing a condominium in Breckenridge-Dillon,
Steamboat Springs, and Vail, Colorado, 1974

Rank order of reasons
for purchase

Area

Areas C omb ine d

Breckenridge-Dillon

Steamboat Springs

Vail

Percent

Percent

Percent

Percent

As an Investment

First

30.6

47.4

32.3

34.3

Second

14.3

15.8

29.0

19.2

Third1/

32.7

15.8

25.8

27.3

Total

77.6

79.0

87.1

80.8

As a Headquarters

for Recreation

Activities (Skiing)

First

30.6

47.4

58.1

42.4

Second

32.7

15.8

16.1

24.2

Third

22.4

15.8

3.2

15.2

Total

85.7

79.0

77.4

81.8

As a Place for

Rest and Relaxation

First

36.7

5.3

6.5

22.2

Second

30.6

52.6

25.8

33.3

Third

16.3

10.5

19.3

16.2

Total

83.6

68.4

51.6

71.7

Other Reasons^/

First

2.0

-

3.2

2.0

Second

8.0

-

0

4.0

Third

10.1

-

9.7

8.1

Total

20.1

12.9

14.1

_/To simplify the table, an infrequently reported fourth ranking was included in the third
rank category. This included five reasons in the case of the Breckenridge-Dillon sample, and two
reasons in the case of the Vail sample.

^/Other reasons for purchase included: (1) as a subsequent retirement home, and (2) for the
entertainment of guests such as relatives and business associates.

How well has the condominium market ful¬
filled the economic function? Nearly one-half
(48.5) of the buyers reported that owning a con¬
dominium failed to meet expectations as to in¬
vestment returns. Either the quality of
condominium association management was low and
expenses were excessive (28.3 percent) or rental
income was lower than expected (20.2 percent).
This was particularly evident in Steamboat
Springs where over two- thirds (68.4 percent)
reported their expectations with respect to
investment returns had not been realized.
Problems of management quality and turnover,
rental income, and property damage were reported
by nearly two-thirds (63 percent) of condomin¬
ium buyers. Such problems were most frequently
reported by Steamboat Springs buyers, and least
frequently by Vail buyers.

Other buyers reported no problems with the
management and rental of their condominiums
(36.4 percent). Investment return met or ex¬

ceeded the expectations of 27.2 percent of all
condominium buyers reporting. This was slightly
higher for those in Vail (32.2 percent). Ex¬
pectations with respect to recreational activi¬
ties were met or exceeded more frequently in
Steamboat Springs and Vail than Breckenridge-
Dillon by a two-to-one margin. Expectations as
to rest and relaxation were met or exceeded in
Breckenridge-Dillon by a margin of about ten-
to-one over Vail and more than five-to-one over
Steamboat Springs.

The result is that use patterns change after
the first year of ownership and many owners put
their condominiums up for sale. The number of
days owners use their condominiums has declined
by 13 percent in Vail and 7 percent in Steamboat
Springs compared to their use during the first
year of ownership. Breckenridge-Dillon owners
increased the number of days they spend at their
condominium by 15 percent over the first year of
ownership. Annual turnover of condominium

99

ownership was rather high; 44 percent in
Steamboat Springs, 33 percent in Breckenridge-
Dillon and 23 percent in Vail.

COSTS AND BENEFITS OF CONDOMINIUM OWNERSHIP

The investment value of condominiums aver¬
aged about $40,000 in the spring, 1974. The
range was from $15,000 to $75,000. Those located
in Vail were substantially higher in value,
while those in Breckenridge-Dillon were lower.
Investment in furniture and equipment averaged
$3,100 when purchased separately. This is
shown in Table 2.

ciation dues averaging $966. The range was from
zero to $4,630. These costs varied with the num¬
ber of days rented and the nature of rental com¬
mission. It was customary for those reporting to
include maid service, sewer, water, and garbage
collection fees in this category. In addition,
heating costs were often included here when cen¬
tral natural gas or oil systems were used rather
than electricity. Some also included repairs.

Electricity at $188 per year often included
heating by this means. The range was from $40
to $575. A surprisingly number of condominiums
lacked telephone service (42 percent) . Payment
for this service averaged $100 annually.

Table 2. Total investment and average annual costs and benefits of condominium ownership
and use, Breckenridge-Dillon, Steamboat Springs, and Vail, Colorado, 1972-1973

Costs and Benefits

Breckenridg

e-Dillon

Steamboat

Springs

Vail

Areas Combined

Annual

Per Day'V Annual

Per Day

Annual

Per Day

Annual Per Day

Investment Costs

$34,804.25

$39,556.25

$49,202.88

$39,962.50

Condominium

32,900.00

38,400.00

42,900.00

37,300.00

Furniture,- &

App liaises

2,650.00

2,150.00

4,550.00

3,105.00

Annual Costs

7,438.20

$175.85

9,104.66

$321.71

10,423.23

$299.82

8,931.14

$251.37

Operating Costsl/

1,863.62

44.06

1,463.23

51.70

1,455.59

38.20

1,670.03

43.27

Property Taxes

366.94

8.67

518.89

18.34

533.33

14.00

441.20

11.43

Insurance

107.35

2.54

137.14

4.85

132.96

3.49

119.90

3.11

Electricity

165.92

3.92

220.63

7.80

208.85

5.48

187.80

4.87

Telephone

85.88

2.03

125.71

4.44

113.16

2.97

100.68

2.61

Repairs

466.94

11.04

548.42

19.38

711.00

18.66

551.00

14.27

Rental Management

&

Association Dues

697.29

16.48

721.60

25.50

1,623.00

42.60

966.05

25.03

Recreation Equipment

414.54

9.80

275.56

9.74

492.96

12.94

412.51

10.69

Recreation Use Fees

190.89

4.51

340.00

12.01

462.22

12.13

294.63

7.63

Opportunity Cost

2,784.34

65.83

3,164.50

111.81

3,936.23

103.31

3,197.51

82.83

Depreciation

1,571.28

37.15

1,693.44

59.84

1,921.07

50.42

1,697.93

43.99

Travel Expenses

391.06

9.24

972.38

34.36

1,480.19

38.85

821.14

21.27

Travel Time Cost

1,324.74

31.32

2,478.38

87.58

2,973.26

78.04

2,024.39

52.44

Food

500.41

11.83

408.65

14.44

524.64

13.77

492.54

12.76

Annual Benefits

1,949.96

46.10

3,794.31

134.07

5,790.74

151.99

3,430.08

108.86

Rental Income

1,029.79

24.34

1,562.50

55.21

3,259.26

85.54

1,793.33

46.46

Appreciation 3/

422.06

9.98

1,466.31

51.81

1,233.22

32.37

851.06

22.05

Tax Savings

498.11

11.78

765.50

27.05

1,298.26

34.08

785.69

20.35

Net Annual Costs

5,488.24

129.75

5,310.35

187.64

5,632.49

147.83

5,501.06

142.51

^/Annual operating cost items do not equal total operating costs shown because averages are
for those reporting and do not include nonrespondents, and (2) depreciation is not included in the
total .

2/Per day of owner use in 1973. See note 1 / to Table 3.

3/Adjusted for inflation averaging 6 percent and for capital gains taxes estimated as 1.8 percent.

Operating costs are the out-of-pocket costs Property taxes at $441 averaged about 1.2

associated with owning a condominium. Largest percent of market value excluding furniture and

by far were rental management fees and asso- equipment. The range was from $163 to $1,000.

100

Costs of fire, hazard and theft insurance aver¬
aged slightly over 0.3 percent of market value
of the property insured.

Repairs at $551 averaged about 1.5 percent
of investment at current market value. The
range was from zero to $2,026. Included were
repairs to the building exterior and interior,
roads and driveways, water and sewage systems,
and replacement of expendible linens and kitchen
utensils .

Depreciation was estimated to average
$1,698 for the first year. Normally, deprecia¬
tion is calculated using the double declining
balance method over a 40-year, useful life of
structures, with zero salvage value. This is
equivalent to 5 percent on the undepreciated
balance of investment, excluding land. However,
land was not valued separately by respondents
and therefore it was included in the calcula¬
tion. Furniture was depreciated similarly over
a 10-year, useful life.

Opportunity cost and interest on investment
averaging $3,197 were estimated as 8 percent of
the total investment in the condominium includ¬
ing furnishings and equipment. This estimate
was based on two considerations. The average
interest rate was 9 percent on second home
mortgage loans made by Colorado Banks in the
summer of 1973, and less in earlier years. The
potential return to owners' equity was 7.8 per¬
cent on corporate bonds in 1973. Most owners
also made payments on the principal of mortgage
loans, but this was considered an investment
and was excluded from costs.

Recreation use fees averaged $295 which
included ski lift tickets and payments for ac¬
cess, boat launching, horseback riding, and
the like. Recreation equipment expenditures
averaged $412 for clothing and skis, boots,
fishing tackle most of which have a short use¬
ful life of one to two years.

Travel costs were broken into two compon¬
ents: time cost and travel expenses. Travel
expenses averaged $821 and included 10 visits
annually averaging 1,100 miles round trip per
visit. Travel by Vail owners averaged 7-8 trips
of 1,812 miles each compared with Breckenridge-
Dillon owners who took 13 trips averaging 638
miles annually. Table 2 shows that expenses re¬
flect these differences in distance traveled.
Travel costs per person averaged 4.8 cents per
mile, which is close to the estimate of Burt and
Brewer (1971) and Walsh (1974).

Time cost was defined as the opportunity
cost of time while traveling, valued at the re¬
creationist's wage rate. Travel time costs were
$2,024 annually at 14.4 hours per trip and an¬

nual household income $56,400 or $28.20 per
hour.

Food costs only include expenditures over
and above normal food expenses at home. These
costs were calculated as $12.76 per day, based
on recent food studies (Bureau of Labor Statis¬
tics 1975).

Economic benefits to owners of vacation
home condominiums included rental income, ap¬
preciation in value of the investment, and tax
savings. Rental income was the largest benefit
of condominium ownership, averaging about $1,800
per year for 80 days rental. Rental income in
Vail was substantially higher, while those in
Breckenridge-Dillon were lower, reflecting the
number of days rented. Average number of days
rented in Vail was 133 compared to 60 in
Breckenridge-Dillon. Nearly all of the condo¬
minium owners (84 percent) offered their units
for rent about 90 percent of the year.

Income tax saving to owners of vacation
home condominiums was estimated as $786 per
year. Tax savings were substantially higher
in Vail, and lower in Breckenridge-Dillon.

These savings would be offset somewhat by in¬
creased operating costs of renter use. Property
taxes and mortgage interest may be deducted from
ordinary income in full. If rental income is
greater than these two costs, a portion of oper¬
ating expenses and depreciation may be deducted
up to the total amount of rental income, accord¬
ing to an Internal Revenue Service ruling July
12, 1972, on tax savings from condominiums de¬
signated as vacation homes. The sum of deduc¬
tions cannot exceed rental income unless the
condominium is used exclusively for rental pur¬
poses .

Appreciation in the value of investment
in condominiums has averaged 11 percent annually
in the study areas. This unadjusted apprecia¬
tion rate averaged 12 percent in Steamboat
Springs and Vail, compared to 9 percent in
Breckenridge-Dillon. The $851 appreciation
shown in Table 2 has been adjusted for erosion
in the dollar values to January, 1974, and for
capital gains taxes. The adjusted appreciation
rate was roughly 3.2 percent.

EXPECTATIONS FOR THE FUTURE

There are essentially three possible future
conditions that may affect the economic costs
and benefits of condominium buyers in Colorado:
(1) the recent inflationary trend in investment
values may continue, (2) prices may stabilize
eliminating benefits from the 3.2 percent aver¬
age annual appreciation in investment values,
or (3) prices may enter a depressed trend in

101

which investment values fall by some amount,
illustrated here by adding a 5 percent annual
decline in investment values. Table 3 shows
the effects of these three possible scenarios
on average annual costs and benefits.

costs to buyers of condominiums would rise
sharply. Their costs would
increase by nearly one-half (46.3 percent) to
$208.50 per day of use, as compared to costs in
1973. Total annual costs would rise from $5,500

Table 3. Average annual costs of condominium ownership under recent increases in investment
prices and alternative steady and falling investment price trends, Breckenridge-
Dillon, Steamboat Springs, and Vail, Colorado V

Costs Under Alternative

Price Trends

Breckenridge-

Dillon

Steamboat

Springs

Vail

Areas

Combined

Average Total Costs Per

Year

Inflationary Prices

$5,488.25

$5,310.35

$5,632.49

$5,501.06

Steady Prices

5,910.31

6,776.66

6,865.71

6,352.15

Depressed Prices

7,481.59

8,470.10

8,786.78

8,050.08

Average Total Costs Per

Day

Inflationary Prices

129.75

187.64

147.83

142.51

Steady Prices

139.72

239.45

180.20

164.56

Depressed Prices

176.87

299.30

230.62

208.55

Average Lodging Costs Per Day2/

Inflationary Prices

63.62

29.45

(-10.47)

37.23

Steady Prices

73.76

81.26

21.90

59.29

Depressed Prices

110.90

141.10

72.32

103.28

V Annual occupancy was slightly higher for respondents included here who gave complete
cost information than for the entire sample of 99.

Breckenridge-Dillon : 42.3 days of owner use, 60.7 days of renter use;

Steamboat Springs: 28.3 days of owner use, 46.4 days of renter use;

Vail: 38.1 days of owner use, 133.4 days of renter use; and

Areas Combined: 38.6 days of owner use, 79.9 days of renter use.

£/To calculate average cost per user day, divide through by average household size of
3.0 in Breckenridge-Dillon, 3.4 in Steamboat Springs, 3.7 in Vail, and 3.3 overall.

Costs to buyers of condominiums were
$5,500 annually or $142.50 per day of use in
1973. This would increase by 15.5 percent if
future prices were to stabilize eliminating
benefits from annual appreciation in investment
values. It was assumed that all other costs
and benefits remained at 1973 levels. Steamboat
Springs and Vail owners would be more severely
effected because they have enjoyed relatively
higher appreciation rates in the past.
Breckenridge-Dillon costs per day of use would
increase by about 28 percent and Vail costs by
22 percent daily. Breckenridge-Dillon owners
would suffer only nominal cost increases of 8
percent per day because of lower appreciation
rates in the past.

If the economy became depressed and the
market price of condominiums fell 5 percent
annually, other conditions remaining the same,

under current inflationary conditions to $8,050.
Steamboat Springs and Vail owners would be more
severely effected because their investment
values were relatively higher than for
Breckenridge-Dillon owners. Costs of daily use
would increase 36 percent in Breckenridge-Dillon
compared with 60 percent in Steamboat Springs
and 56 percent in Vail.

It is meaningful to compare the cost of
lodging incurred by condominium owners under
(1) recent inflationary conditions to cost of
lodging under (2) conditions of steady invest¬
ment price trends and (3) depressed prices.
Lodging costs included all costs shown on Table
2 except transportation, travel time, recreation
equipment and fees, and food. The resulting
average cost per day for lodging is shown at
the bottom of Table 3.

102

A 1974 study of expenditures by Aspen ski¬
ers showed average lodging costs of $50 per
day (Goeldner 1974). Nearly 40 percent of the
skiers interviewed rented a condominium, com¬
pared to 44 percent who rented a lodge, motel,
or hotel. Average daily rental rates for the
condominiums surveyed were $40.50 in the
winter ski season and $23.40 in the summer sea¬
son. Vail had the highest average winter rates
with $51.00 and Breckenridge-Dillon the lowest
with $30 per day. Steamboat Springs winter
rates were $50. Vail had the lowest summer
season rates with $21.50 per day compared to
$24 in Steamboat Springs and Breckenridge-Dillon
where opportunities for summer recreation may
be somewhat greater. The lower summer rates
in Vail may also reflect the fact that they
were more successful in obtaining renters who
occupied the units for longer periods of time.
Forty-four percent of Vail rentals were for
180 days or more, while this was the case for
only 23 percent of Breckenridge-Dillon and 13
percent of Steamboat Springs rentals.

Under recent inflationary conditions, aver¬
age costs of lodging to the condominium owners
surveyed were $37.20, about $5.00 per day more
than the average rental rates charged for the
same condominiums of $32.17. This weights win¬
ter and summer rates by owner use in the two
seasons. Lodging costs of owners in
Breckenridge-Dillon at $63.60 per day were more
than double the rental alternative, with costs
$36.80 more than average rental rates of $26.80
for the same units. The situation in Vail was
in sharp contrast to this. Vail owners have
had free use of their condominiums in the past.
In 1973, their condominium benefits contributed
$10.50 per day of use toward other recreation
and travel expenses. In Steamboat Springs,
lodging costs to condominium owners were $11
per day less than the weighted rental rates of
$40.50 for the same units.

If future prices were to stabilize elim¬
inating benefits from annual appreciation in
investment values, costs of lodging to condo¬
minium owners would rise to $59.30 per day, or
$27 more than weighted rental rates for the
same units. Vail owners would still incur costs
about half those of renting but costs of
Breckenridge-Dillon and Steamboat Springs owners
would be more than twice those of renting.

If the economy became depressed and the
market price of condominium fell 5 percent
annually,^/ lodging costs to owners would rise

£/It was reported this summer that prices
on vacation homes including condominiums were
running 10 to 15 percent less than in 1974
(Business Week, 1975).

to $103.30 per day, or $71 more than weighted
rental rates. Under these conditions, Vail
owners would incur costs $32 per day greater
than rental rates for the same lodging.
Breckenridge owners would pay $84 per day more
than the renting alternative. Steamboat Springs
owners would pay more than $100 per day over
rental.

IMPLICATIONS FOR PUBLIC POLICY
Inflation in the Cost of Skiing

The average total cost of skiing has been
increasing faster than the rise in the consumer
price index since 1968. Skiing costs including
lodging have risen at a rate nearly 50 percent
greater than the index of all consumer purchases.
The consumer price index rose by about 55 per¬
cent from 1968 to 1974 compared to the costs
of skiing at Aspen which climbed 81 percent over
the same period of time (Farwell 1974). Most
(92.5 percent) of the Aspen skiers were out-
of-state so this comparison does not apply to
Colorado resident skiers.

At a 1974 cost of $205 per day for a family
of 3, skiing in Colorado is becoming less and
less accessible to the out-of-state middle class.
Condominium ownership reduced this cost somewhat.
The lodging portion of the average costs per
day for Aspen skiing families was $50. Condo¬
minium ownership in the three study areas re¬
duced this to an average of $37 per day c." shown
in Table 3. It seems ironic that these savings
tend to go to families whose ability to pay is
much greater than for most skiers. Skier incomes
tend to be above average U.S. household income.
Yet, incomes of condominium buyers in Colorado
ski areas were even higher than for skiers. Ap¬
proximately one-half of Aspen skiers had incomes
of $25,000 or greater, compared to nearly 90
percent of the condominium owners we sampled in
the three study areas. The estimated average
income of Aspen skiers was $40,500 compared to
$56,400 for condominium owners. Fully 20 per¬
cent of the skiers had incomes below $15,000
compared to only two percent of the condominium
owners studied.

Indications are that the rise in the market
price of condominiums has exceeded recent in¬
creases in construction costs, thus contributing
to inflationary pressures. The market value of
condominiums in this study appreciated at an an¬
nual rate of 11 percent compared to the Depart¬
ment of Commerce composit construction cost
index (with equivalent weighting) which increased
at a rate of 9 percent. Over 10 years, a 2 per¬
cent annual increase in value adds 22 percent
more to inflationary pressure, while a 3

103

percent annual increase (Steamboat Springs and
Vail) adds 34 percent.

Testimony was taken by the Colorado Land
Use Commission that the development of Vail has
had an inflationary effect on worker housing
throughout the county (Hearings 1974). This
would be subtracted as a cost in estimating
the regional economic impact of Vail on the
local economy.

Governmental Subsidies to
Condominium Buyers

Condominium developments near the base of
ski areas in Colorado have received subsidies
from various units of government. Careful con¬
sideration should be given to whether these
subsidies achieve socially beneficial results,
and whether they should be continued in the
future.

Local units of government in these areas
provide a property tax subsidy estimated at ap¬
proximately $520 per year. This is the differ¬
ence between the average actual level of 1.2
vs 2.5 percent (Shelton 1968) for residential
property elsewhere in the nation, on $40,000
market value. This affects the ability of local
government to provide necessary services. Re¬
assessment is underway in some areas.

The Federal and State income tax laws allow
deductions of property taxes and mortgage in¬
terest, and a proportion of operating expenses
and depreciation, up to total rental income.

This subsidy was estimated as an average of
$785.70 in the three study areas, and nearly
$1,300 annually in Vail. There were some off¬
setting operating costs from rental use, not
separable in this study. With a total of 4,145
condominiums in the three study areas, the U.S.
Treasury provided about $3.3 million in 1972-
1973 to help these rather high income investors
buy their condominium properties. In Vail
with 1,500 condominiums in 1972-1973, the sub¬
sidy was estimated as nearly $2.0 million.
Congress may ponder whether to continue the
deduction of property taxes and mortgage inter¬
est on a second home. In addition, a question
may be raised whether any portion of operating
costs and depreciation are reasonable deduc¬
tions on second homes rented out only 80 days
per year, the average reported in the three
areas .

The Federal and State income tax laws also
allow capital gains income to be taxed at 50
percent of the tax rate on ordinary income of
individuals. This would have averaged at least
$648 annually in the three areas, a minimum of
$894 in Vail. This subsidy, like the others,
is limited to individuals who can afford to
invest in real estate, and discriminates against

lower and middle income taxpayers whose ordinary
income is primarily salary or wages.

The Federal and State income tax laws also
allow deduction of the cost of travel for busi¬
ness purposes. This subsidy was estimated as
$41 per household annually. It averaged $124
in Vail and $63 in Steamboat Springs. A sub¬
stantial part of the travel by condominium
owners in Steamboat Springs and Vail was for
business purposes, a minor part of which was to
attend condominium association meetings and in¬
spection of property. Recently, IRS tightened
up allowable travel deductions for condominium
ownership meetings and property inspections.
Overall, business purposes accounted for 28
percent or two trips by condominium owners to
Vail, and 18.4 percent or one trip to Steamboat
Springs, but only 9 percent or one trip to
Breckenridge-Dillon where most Denver residents
engage in year around recreation on weekends.

In comparison, a sample of all Aspen skiers
showed that business purposes accounted for
only 12 percent of their trips (Goeldner 1974).

Existing Forest Service regulations with
respect to development of ski areas provide a
subsidy to owners and developers of private land
at the base of ski lifts which are located prim¬
arily on public land in the West. Forest Service
fees average 2-3 percent of gross receipts from
ski lift tickets, ski school and equipment rental,
based on the proportion of the lift on public
land (Walsh 1972, Price 1965). This allows base
area developers to capture a substantive exter¬
nal benefit from land development. The extent
of this subsidy is not known. It would be the
annualized difference in the value of land and
improvements with and without the opportunity to
ski on puhlic land nearhy? all other things

equal. No information was collected in cnis
survey on condominium development in mountain
areas away from ski areas on public land. How¬
ever, most Dillon condominiums were located a
considerable distance (5-10 miles) from the
Breckenridge Ski area, while most Steamboat
Springs and Vail condominiums sampled were
within walking distance of the ski slopes
there. Comparing Dillon to the other areas
provides a very rough estimate of the extent
of this Forest Service subsidy to base area
condominium development. The difference in the
market value of condominiums annualized at 8
percent was $384 for Steamboat Springs and
$1,152 for Vail, compared to Dillon. This can¬
not be considered more than a mere estimate
because the proportion of sample condominiums
located in Breckenridge and Dillon has not been
determined, quality and size varies among areas,
and although Dillon condominium owners cannot
walk to a ski slope, they can drive to several
in less than 20 minutes (Breckenridge, Keystone,
Cooper Mountain, Arapahoe Basin, and Loveland).

104

Energy Conservation

Condominium owners and skiers who live out
of state consumed considerably more energy in
travel than those who live in Colorado. Future
governmental policies to conserve energy may
reduce less essential long distance travel.

This could lead to fewer out-of-state skiers
in Colorado, with more downhill and cross¬
country skiing closer to home.

Skiers and condominium owners commonly
reside in either (1) Denver and drive to the
slopes on the weekend, or (2) in the Midwest or
East and fly in several times a year staying
about a week each time. If each household spends
38 days per year at the ski area (Vail, for
instance) , the Denverite makes about 19 trips
while the distant owner, if from Washington,

D.C., may make five trips. With average house¬
hold size at three, and plane occupancy rate
at 50 percent, a travel energy consumption per
skier-day can be computed: the Denver condo¬
minium owner will use 420,000 BTU's per skier-
day. The Washington, D.C. owner consumes
4,447,000 BTU's per skier-day. Despite the
fact that the owner living 1,800 miles from
Vail only makes five trips per year, his energy
use is more than 10 times greater than the Denver
owner. The travel energy consumption of a con¬
dominium owner from Chicago, 1,100 miles away,
is 6.5 times that of the Denver skier. The
average condominium owner in the three study
areas traveled 1,100 miles round trip, thus his
travel energy consumption was 3.25 times that
of the Denver skier.

be about 58 percent fewer without condominium
ownership. Fifteen percent would not come at
all. Vail owners would take 45 percent fewer
trips there. Ownership did not appear to effect
the number of days per trip. Typical out-of-
state owners in Steamboat Springs and Vail stayed
an average of 7-8 days per trip compared to all
out-of-state skiers in Aspen who stayed 7 days.

Owners who rented out their condominiums
tended to use them less frequently themselves
than those who did not rent. When condominium
owners rented out their units part time, personal
use per year declined 30 percent in Breckenridge-
Dillon, 25 percent in Steamboat Springs, and
14 percent in Vail compared to personal use
reported by all owners in the sample.

Forest Service Policy Questions

The concern about the high cost of skiing
in Colorado has led the U.S. Senate to schedule
hearings next month on a proposed bill to provide
full disclosure of the relevant economic data and
to allow for more public input in rate making
decisions by the U.S. Forest Service. This
study suggests that the price of lift tickets
is only a part of the problem of increased
costs of skiing. Costs of condominium ownership
and of rental by skiing families are also im¬
portant .

The Forest Service should consider includ¬
ing profits from land development and rental
revenues from lodging in the determination of
lift ticket prices. For now these external

Passenger

Mode

Energy

Intensiveness-*-/
at 100% Load

Average

Load, 1970

Energy

Intensiveness^/
at Average Load

Average

Speed

(%)

(mph)

Bus

740

46

1,600

45

Railroad

1,100

37

2,900

40

Automobile

1,600

48

3,400

~50

Air

4,100

49

8,400

400

VbTU per passenger-mile. See Hirst (1973) , Gimmer and Luszynski (1972) and Hirst and
Moyers (1971) .

Effects on Recreational Behavior

Public policy that encourages condomin¬
ium development affects recreation behavior,
’ecreation patterns changed when buyers used
ndominiums part of the year as vacation quar-
iis for themselves and their families, and
jffered them for rent the rest of the year.

Condominium owners reported that the num¬
ber of trips they would take to the areas would

benefits of Forest Service administered resour¬
ces are captured by a few fortunate individuals.
This inflates ski lift ticket prices artificial¬
ly. The principle of equity suggests that part
of appreciation in values of land and improve¬
ments should accrue to society to the extent its
resources create these values.

The Forest Service has the responsibility
to consider ways to protect the public interest
in moderate costs of private land development

105

and construction of seasonal housing units in
mountain subdivisions at the base of ski areas
on Forest Service administered land.^/ Prior¬
ity should be given to developments offering
medium-priced accommodations and services, to
both skiers and employees. The Forest Service
can influence the availability of low and medium
priced accommodations (condominiums , lodges and
apartment rentals) serving some ski slopes on
Forest Service land. The agency has jurisdiction
over the original ski slope developer who may
own a substantial portion of the private land
located at the base of the ski slope. However,
when ownership of much of the base area land is
in the hands of others, the Forest Service may
have little or no influence on development deci¬
sions. The proposed Senate bill should remedy
this deficiency. Meanwhile, other government
agencies and private interests should cooperate
with the Forest Service in planning low cost
housing for skiers and employees and their fami¬
lies, and necessary public services. Local
housing codes can require new construction of
large condominium or lodge complexes to include
quarters for employees and their families.

To the extent that increased summer rental
of condominiums and lodges in ski areas occurs,
it may result in losses of revenues to summer
resorts located wholly on Forest Service adminis¬
tered land. The Forest Service has written into
its regulations the obligation to consider the
effect of its actions on existing concessioners.

In an era of resource scarcity and limited
growth in the U.S. Economy, forms of outdoor re¬
creation should be encouraged that do not require
large flows of irreplaceable resources or pro¬
duce severe environmental degradation (Meadows
et al., 1972). Many forms of athletics should
be encouraged for this reason. Downhill skiing
does not appear to qualify under current invest¬
ment and cost conditions in the three study
areas. Skiing may rank among the highest users
of irreplaceable resources compared to all out-

4_/"Priority will be given to developments
offering medium-priced accommodations and ser¬
vices. A National Forest concession is designed
and developed to furnish services to those seek¬
ing forest recreation. The facilities them¬
selves do not constitute the recreation
attraction. Hence, they will be adequate to
provide reasonable comfort and convenience,
but with no elaboration which would be out of
keeping with the forest environment. They will
normally offer accommodations at moderate cost,
and special justification will be required for a
permit covering exclusively high-priced accommo¬
dations and services." Forest Service Manual,
Section 2344.03. Amend. 31, December 1968.

door recreation activities. If the industry is
to prosper and grow in the next few decades, it
will be necessary to seek ways to limit invest¬
ment and minimize costs, while avoiding severe
environmental degradation.

LITERATURE CITED

Bureau of Labor Statistics.

1975. BLS releases partial results from 2-
year survey of consumer expenditures.

News. U.S. Department of Labor.

Burt, O.R., and Durward Brewer.

1971. Estimation of net social benefits from
outdoor recreation. Econometrica 39:813-
827.

Business Week.

1975. Picking up bargains in second homes.

May 5.

Farwell, Ted.

1974. The Aspen Skier--1974. Ski area man¬
agement. Fall.

Gimmer, D.P. , and K. Luszczynski.

1972. Lost power. Environment 14:14-22.

Goeldner, C.R.

1974. The Aspen skier: lodging survey.

Volume II. Business Research Division.
University of Colorado. Boulder.

Hearings .

1975. Colorado Land Use Commission. Denver.
December 16.

Hirst, Eric, and John C. Moyers.

1971. Efficiency of energy use in the United
States. Science 179:1299-1234.

Hirst, Eric.

1973. Transportation energy use and conser¬
vation potential. Science and Public
Affairs. Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists
29:36-42.

Meadows, Donella H. , et_ al .

1972. The limits to growth. Universe Books.
New York.

Price, Harrison A., Fred J. Cochrane, and
Robert B. Hicks.

1965. Economic potentials of a resort devel¬
opment at Mineral King, California. Pre¬
pared for Walt Disney Productions. Economic
Research Associates. Los Angeles.

Rice, Richard A.

1972. System energy and future transporta¬
tion. Technology Review (January) .

106

Shelton, John P.

1968. The cost of renting versus owning a
home. Land Economics Journal : 59-72 .
February.

Walsh, Richard G.

1971. Housing-renting versus buying. Con¬
sumer economic workshop. Extension Service.
Colorado State University. Fort Collins.

Walsh, Richard G.

1972. Economic feasibility study of forest
resorts. Report to the U.S. Forest Service.
Washington, D.C.

Walsh, Richard G. , and Edward G. Parsons.

1972. The demand for seasonal recreation
housing in Colorado. Department of Eco¬
nomics. Colorado State University. Fort
Collins .

Walsh, Richard G.

1974. Effects of improved research methods
on the value of recreation benefits. Na¬
tional symposium on the economics of out¬
door recreation. U.S. Forest Service. New
Orleans.

107

Environmental Costs and Socioeconomic Benefits of
Leisure Home Developments

Peter G. Montague^/

Abstract. — Numerous environmental and socioeconomic impacts
occur from leisure home developments. This study lists the
chief impacts and recommends policies which local governments
can adopt to minimize problems while maximizing benefits.
Special recommendations include initiation of a natural re¬
source inventory and adoption of environmental impact review
to guide the development process.

Something like three million American
families - five per cent (5%) of the total
number of U. S. families - own leisure homes.
Leisure homes are now being built at the rate
of 100,000 to 150,000 each year. (Housing
Data Bureau, 1973). People who are very
gloomy about the current economic outlook have
questioned whether the boom in second homes can
continue.

However, the Commission on Population
Growth and the American Future estimated that
by the year 2000 average family income will
rise from the current $12,000 to more than
$21,000 (in constant dollars) and that per
capita consumption expenditures will more than
double. (Rockefeller, 1972). This will leave
increased amounts of money available for pur¬
chase of leisure homes. Shorter working hours
will give people more leisure time. So it seems
homes will continue.

With Richard Ragatz and Carl Burlingame
we have adopted the term "leisure" home as
opposed to "vacation home" or "second home",
because t'ne term leisure home more accurately
reflects the uses to which such homes are put.
The leisure home is used by weekenders and
seasonal vacationers, but it may also be used
by partially retired people who spend just a
day or two a week at their office, as well as
by the fully-retired. (Ragatz and Burlingame,

\j Paper prepared for the symposium on Man,
Leisure, and Wildlands: A Complex Interaction,
Vail, Colorado, Sept. 14-19, 1975. Prof.
Montague was unable to attend.

Associate Professor of Architecture and
Planning, University of New Mexico, Albuquer¬
que, New Mexico 87131.

1973). T’ne President's Council on Environ¬
mental Quality (CEQ) studied the costs and
benefits of leisure home developments during
1973. The CEQ study concluded that;

...leisure homes are over time
converted into permanent resi¬
dences and therefore should be view¬
ed as a special form of early urban¬
ization which generates the same
types of economic, environmental
and social impacts as other resi¬
dential developments. Further,
leisure home developments may create
more serious environmental problems -
for example, on mountainsides or in
wetlands - than normal suburban sub¬
divisions .

In terms of their economic
impact on the local government, the
study finds that as long as they are
used only for recreational [part-
time] purposes, leisure homes gener¬
ally generate tax revenues in excess
of the costs of the public services
required. However, as the develop¬
ments become converted to permanent
homes, these costs may exceed the
tax payments, particularly if con¬
version results in a need for
public investment to upgrade or
replace roads, water supplies, and
sewers .

Private recreational develop¬
ments may also create social prob¬
lems resulting from the impacts of
outsiders on the local culture and
the way such developments interfere

108

with the public's use of valuable
recreational environments." (Council
on Environmental Quality, 1974).

The problems associated with leisure home
developments are various. Here is a listing
of problems which have been identified by one
writer or another:

1. Increased water demand in water-short

areas .

2. Environmental problems from disposal

of residuals — liquid, solid and
gaseous .

3. Increased demand for public services,

(e.g. extensive road system,
education system) .

4. Inadequate regulatory structure for

subdivision development, leading
to numerous kinds of consumer
frauds .

5. In-flation of land prices with the

result that (a) farmers are
driven off the land; (b) young
people have a harder time getting
established and tend to drift
away.

6. Effects on nearby lands:

-Litter

-Wildlife Harassment

-Fire control problems

-Crowding

-Esthetic damage

-Noise

-Trash

-Garbage

-Sewage

-Soil compaction
-Vegetation destruction
-Erosion

-Water siltation

-Vehicle emissions: carbon

monoxide, nitrogen oxides,
hydrocarbons, particulates

-Dust

-Rock Removal
-Picnic-fire smoke

7. Absentee ownership of local land with

consequent erosion of the local
economy from the vantagepoint of
local people, and with consequent
erosion of local self-government.

In Iron County, Utah, eighty-six per cent
(86%) of the lots sold during the past decade
for leisure use were sold to out-of-state
owners (mainly people from California and
Nevada). These are clustered near Brian Head
Ski Resort - which is about 2000 acres of
privately held land surrounded by Dixie Nation¬
al Forest. (Shaw, 1973).

A study of the New England ski town,

Warren, Vermont elaborated on this problem of
absentee ownership. The Warren ski area was
created in 1958; a survey in 1972 showed that
out-of-staters own eighty-four per cent (34%)
of the leisure homes in Warren. Seventy per
cent (70%) of the landowners in Warren are
non-residents and fifty-seven per cent (57%)
are out-of-staters. The study shows there is
an increasing trend for land to be sold to
out-of-staters .

The study also showed that forty-eight
(48%) of the privately-owned land in Warren
is now owed by corporations or by realtors.

The town of Warren has, in the words of
the study, been "infiltrated and expropriated
from the original residents for the enjoyment,
profit and use of the expropriators. A ski
area came to Warren in 1958 and since that
time the tow has been excised from the tradi¬
tional fabric that once made it part of Vermont.
Less than one-third of the people who lived in
Warren before 1958 still live there. Of the
jobs that have been created since 1958, fewer
than fifteen per cent (15%) have been filled
by pre-development residents of Warren," says
the study by the Vermont Public Interest Re¬
search Group. (Hedger, 1972).

Real estate values in Warren have sky¬
rocketed, making it difficult for young Warren-
ites to strike out on their own, especially in
the traditional land-based activities of farm¬
ing, logging and sawmilling, the study notes.

A study in Utah confirms what happens to raw
land prices when subdivision occurs. Prices
multiply by a factor of ten or more. (Shaw,
1973) .

Basically, there are two kinds of develop¬
ers - those who are intending to stay with their
projects and create communities and those who
are planning to sell the land and leave. The
problem of land sales fraud stems largely from
this second kind of developer. The situation
with land sales fraud in the semi-arid south¬
west has reached astonishing proportions. At
the 1975 meeting of the National Association
of Attorneys General (held in Albuquerque,

New Mexico) Robert Blakey, Jr. , Assistant
Attorney General of Arizona and head of the
Land Fraud Division of the AG's office in
Arizona, described the land sales game as "a
gigantic problem which needs immediate atten¬
tion."

According to Mr. Blakey, one land develop¬
ment company in Arizona would take people to
the site by car - mostly elderly women on fixed
incomes - and once there, would grill them for

109

hours and tell them they could not be taken
home until they bought a lot. "One woman,"
he said, "bought five lots before they took
her back home.... Land frauds will never be
totally eradicated but if sufficient pressure
is brought to bear by the public, the whole¬
sale rape of the consumer will be brought to
a manageable level," Mr. Blakey said.

(Martinez, 1975).

We face, then, an extremely complex social
phenomenon. Each leisure home presents a new
set of problems or exacerbates an old one. And
the cumulative impact is impressive:

In 1973, there were 163 new suburbs plan¬
ned for Colorado's front range. In May of that
year a writer in EMPIRE, the Sunday Magazine
of the Denver Post , suggested that in thirty
years or less Colorado's mountain country will
be so developed with condominiums and homes
that there won't be any reason to go there
anymore. EMPIRE quotes a source "close to the
Colorado Land Use Commission," saying, "We
worry about the cumulative effect of mountain
subdivisions, things like air pollution, schools,
forest fires, water pollution, transportation
and commuting, road maintenance and snow re¬
moval. In many areas we're at the point where
no matter how well planned a development might
be, it may have to be rejected because of the
cumulative pressures of all the developments."

The EMPIRE article ends saying, "It is
clear that the day when one buys a place in
the hills 'to get away from it all' is about
gone. Prime land, with its hill-to-hill houses,
closely resembles the urban setting one seeks
to escape." (Nyberg, 1973).

We can recommend two basic policy tools
for helping local governments assess the desira¬
bility of proposed leisure home developments.

The first is a natural resource inventory of
their local area.

The basic elements of a Natural Resource
Inventory (Office of Environmental Services, nd)
are :

A. Geology

1. Bedrock type and characteristics

Structural type and age)

2. Depth to bedrock

3. Unconsolidated materials

4. Mineral resources (e.g. sand,

gravel)

5. Geologic cross-sections

B. Hydrology

1. Underground water

a) Aquifer outcrop: thickness,
location, extent

b) Direction and rate of ground-

water movement

c) Groundwater recharge and dis¬

charge areas

(You need to know these, whether
they fall within the boundaries
of your project or not.)

d) Well locations and yields

e) Quality of groundwater

f) Depth to groundwater

2. Surface Water

a) Surface water (including fre¬

quency, quantity and direc¬
tion of flow)

b) Low flow of streams (mean seven-

day flow with recurrence in¬
terval of ten years)

c) Flood plains, and marshes,

swamps , bogs , peat , muck

d) Depth to groundwater

e) Surface water quality, limnology

f) watershed and sub-watersheds

(drainage units)

g) liquid waste and disposal sys¬

tems

C. Geography

1. Physiographic region and/or sub-

region

2. Elevation, slope, relief

D. Meteorology

1. Air quality (stationary and moving

sources of air pollution)

2. Prevailing air currents (air shed

parameters)

3. Type, intensity, duration and total

of precipitation, plus information
on evaporation rates

4. Topographic effects on wind

5. Maximum-minimum range of tempera¬

tures (on a monthly basis)

6. Areas where fog occurs (including

the frequency)

E. Soils

1. Soil types, texture, stoniness,

depth

2. Shrink-swell potential

3. Frost heave potential

4. Erodibllity (K factor - potential

soil loss in cubic feet per year)

5. Percolation rates

6. Depth to groundwater

7. Surface runoff, permeability

8. Fertility (ability to support vege¬

tation)

9. pH (acidity-alkalinity)

10. Cation exchange capacity (nutrient
absorption)

F. Vegetation

1. Classification by broad areas

2. Fire hazards, history of wildfires

3. Pollution-affected types

4. Vegetation of recreational and/or

110

historic value (unique or scarce)

G. Wildlife

1. Nuisance or hazardous species habi¬

tat

2. Rare and beneficial species habitat

3. Spatial and seasonal abundance and

distribution within habitat

H. Historic and cultural factors

1. Existing land use

a) open space

b) pipelines

c) railroads

d) roads

e) recreation

f) urbanization (characterize or

describe it)

g) agriculture

h) waste treatment and disposal

facilities (liquid and solid
waste)

i) environmental nuisances

2. Proposed land uses (master plans,

zoning maps, etc.)

3. Historic sites and areas

4. Possible or existing archeological

sites

5. Scenic qualities

After a natural resource inventory is com¬
pleted, it provides a data base for decision¬
makers. It also provides the basis for our
second policy recommendation, which concerns
the development process itself.

Discretionary review should lie at the
heart of all development guidance. Discretion¬
ary review should replace the old concept of
"anything goes, so long as it meets minimum
standards". The best regulatory mechanism for
discretionary review is environmental impact
analysis. The great benefits of the process
are: 1) its focus on proposed developments;

2) its consideration of feasible alternatives;

3) its replacement of the "minimum standards"
concept with a concept of seeking among feasi¬
ble alternatives to find the one which is best
for the public interest.

on the environment which may result
from the proposed action.

4. Identification of unavoidable ad¬
verse environmental effects.

5. An assessment of every feasible
alternative to the proposed action.

6. A description of cumulative and
longterm effects of the proposed
action on the earth's environment.

7. Identification of any irreversible
commitment of resources that might
result from the action. (Leopold,
1971)

Discretionary review focuses on the con¬
sequences of proposed development and on feasi¬
ble alternatives to it. Conscious choice of
the best available options, instead of mere
satisfaction of minimum standards, is the most
realistic way to achieve quality in development.

State and local governments should enact
strict legislation protecting open spaces in
potentially productive agricultural areas and
in other critical environmental areas. Here,
completion of a Natural Resource Inventory is
essential. Areas of critical environmental
concern include :

1. Areas with important cultural or natural

characteristics that development would
interfere with. These include: all
wetlands; floodplains of rivers, lakes
and streams; areas of unstable soil or
high seismic activity; steep slopes and
ridgetops ; rare or valuable ecosystems;
valuable forests and related land; and
historic districts.

2. Areas required for future public recre¬

ation .

3. Areas that would serve as buffer zones

between urbanizing areas and would
have a strategic significance in con¬
trolling the pattern of future develop¬
ment .

4. Potentially production farmland, which

might also perform the buffer zone
function .

States should enact legislation, modeled
on NEPA, requiring environmental impact state¬
ments in connection with major state, local
and private actions that significantly affect
the envi ronmen t .

A good environmental impact statement
must include:

1. A detailed description of the proposed
action.

2. A detailed description of the existing
environment which will be impacted.

3. A discussion of direct and indirect
(including distant and delayed) effects

Vermont is an example of a state that has
decided to closely restrict land developers.
Vermont requires a permit for any development
involving ten or more acres or ten or more lots.
Vermont's land use law prohibits a district
commission from granting a development permit
unless it finds that the development :

1. Will not result in undue water or

air pollution.

2. Does have sufficient water available

for the reasonably foreseeable needs
of the development.

3. Will not cause an unreasonable burden

on any existing water supplies.

Ill

4. VJill not cause unreasonable soil ero¬

sion or reduction in the capacity of
the land to hold water so that a
dangerous or unhealthy condition may
result .

5. Will not cause highway congestion or

unsafe conditions of use on highways
existing or proposed.

6. Will not cause an unreasonable burden

on the ability of a municipality to
provide educational services.

7. Will not place an unreasonable burden

on the ability of the local govern¬
ment to provide educational services.

8. Will not have an undue adverse affect

on the scenic or natural beauty of
an area, aesthetics, historic sites,
or rare and irreplaceable natural
areas .

9. Is in conformance with a duly adopted

land use plan, development plan, or
land capability plan [statewide plans
required by Vermont law].

10. Is in conformance with any duly adopted
local regional plan. (Reilly, 1973) .

Some leisure home developments can bring
desirable broadening of the tax base for a
community. However, at some determinable time,
varying from community to community, this type
of development will begin to have an adverse
effect on the provision of general governmental
services. ^ Even when this point is reached
and surpassed, however, leisure home develop¬
ment can still appear to have little effect
on the tax rate as long as expensive capital
improvements and increases in operating costs
actually required by the new development are
put off by local government. During the earli¬
est years of development, leisure homes can
have a beneficial effect on the tax rate if
reductions in the school tax rate made possible
by the leisure home development offset required
increases in other tax charges. The point at
which costs exceed benefits from the develop¬
ments may be passed very quickly or may be
avoided for some time by shrewd local govern¬
ments .

To deal effectively with leisure home
developments the local municipal (or county)
government has to organize itself to serve a
"service population" which includes permanent

^-Montague, Peter G., "At the Edge of Wilderness,
Evaluating Environmental and Socioeconomic
Costs and Benefits of Leisure Home Develop¬
ments Near National Forests in the Semi-
arid Southwestern U. S. A." (In type¬
script) Albuquerque, N. M. : School of
Architecture and Planning, University of
New Mexico, 1975.

population and occupants of leisure homes*
Seasonal (leisure) development will increase
demand on local services by increasing the
size of the service population. Leisure home
developments may increase the demand for ser¬
vices even faster than the service population
itself increases because (a) the leisure home
population may be even more demanding than the
resident population, as far as services go;
and (b) as a community grows it needs more
urban services than a small rural community
does .

Unbalanced growth of residential units
without corresponding commercial and industrial
growth can be a detriment to having a well-
rounded community and this may lead to develop¬
ment of a specialized type of bedroom seasonal
community that can have adverse impacts year-
round .

As Ragatz and Burlingame have pointed out,
we are witnessing in this decade the burgeoning
of a new life-style based on leisure. A life¬
style that was formerly only available to a hand¬
ful of wealthy people is coming into the range of
possibility for better than half of all Ameri¬
can families, and the ramifications are going
to be important. As Ragatz and Burlingame have
also noted, historically Americans have had a
deep aversion to leisure for its own sake. The
life of leisure is viewed by many with a deep
sense of guilt and even fear. So the phenomenon
we are watching involves a deeply-rooted strug¬
gle among psychological forces.

Will leisure home communities develop a
stable lifestyle? In 'larch, 1974, the New
York Times reported a Colorado Health Depart¬
ment contract study which linked high drug use
to a five-county region in Colorado - the Vail,
Aspen, Breckenridge and Steamboat Springs area -
with an economy developed primarily around
recreational and leisure living. The study,
carried out by the 3ehavioral Research and
Evaluation Corporation of Boulder, Colorado,
concluded that per capita consumption of drugs
was significantly higher in the leisure-based
lifestyle region, compared to statewide per
capita drug use. The researchers collected
data on beer, wine, hard liquor, heroin, barbit-
uates and amphetamines. (Anonymous, 1974).

Therefore, it is not entirely clear that
leisure-based communities can be developed
without incurring serious hidden costs involving
the mental and social well being of the resi¬
dents. A healthy community should have these
characteristics (Greater Hartford Process,

1972) :

Wholeness - the ability to meet an indivi¬
dual's diverse and changing needs
throughout his or her life cycle, from

112

childhood through old age.

Variety - varied facilities, services, and
settings for different kinds of life
styles.

Balance - a population of each community
approximating that of the region in
terms of age, race, and income; a mix
of land uses insuring sufficient eco¬
nomic base to support required serv¬
ices: a mix of housing types adequate
to house all who work in the community.

Identity - a spirit of community in which
neighbors know each other, share
interests, and together feel a sense
of responsibility for the future of
the community.

Participation - governmental mechanisms
allowing for citizen participation
in the decisions that will affect
their lives.

Stability - a low rate of mobility because
people have either a real or felt
sense of ownership in the community.

Delight - a physical environment that is

aesthetically satisfying, that informs,
delights, stimulates and calms.

These are the qualities of a sound commun¬
ity, and as local authorities review proposals
for new leisure-home developments, they need
to ask themselves the hard question: As this
community of leisure homes changes and becomes
a permanent community of first-homes, will it
meet these criteria? If the answer appears to
be no, then perhaps the developer can be in¬
duced to change his plans, or even to drop
them altogether.

LITERATURE CITED

Anonymous . "Colorado Ski Areas Lead in Use of
Drugs," New York Times , March 24, 1974,
pg. 23.

Council on Environmental Quality. Environmental
Quality - 1974: The Fifth Annual Report

of the Council on Environmental Quality.

Washington, D. C. : GPO , December 1974.

Greater Hartford Process. The Greater Hartford
Process . Hartford, Conn.: The Greater
Hartford Process [18 Asylum St., Hartford,
Conn. 06103], 1972.

Hedger, Stephen. Downhill in Warren: The
Effects of the Ski Industry and Land
Development on Warren, Vermont. Montpelier,
Vermont: Vermont Public Interest Research
Group, 1972.

Housing Data Bureau. 1973 Directory of Recrea¬
tion Land and Planned Community Developers.
Los Altos, California, 1973.

Leopold, Luna B. , Frank E. Clarke, Bruce B.

Hanshaw, and James R. Balsley. A Procedure
for Evaluating Environmental Impact. [Geo¬
logical Survey Circular 645] Washington,

D. C.: U.S. Geological Survey, 1971.

Martinez, Tomas. "AGs Told Ways to Fight Land

Fraud," Albuquerque Journal , April 30, 1975,
pg. A-9.

Nyberg, Bartell. "Colorado High Country - Will
it be planned or plundered?" EMPIRE
Magazine , The Denver Post, May 20, 1973,
pp. 8 - 13.

Office of Environmental Services. Handbook for
Environmental Commissioners. Trenton, N.

J. : New Jersey Department of Environmental
Protection, nd.

Ragatz, Richard, and Carl Burlingame. The Va¬
cation Home Market. Los Altos, Calif. :
Housing Data Bureau, Inc. , 1973

Reilly, William K. , ed. The Use of Land: A
Citizen's Policy Guide to Urban Growth.

New York: Thomas Y. Crowell Company, 1973.

Rockefeller, John D. Ill and others. Population
and the American Future, The Report of the

Commission on Population Growth and the
American Future . New York: New American
Library, 1972.

Shaw, Joan K. , ed. A Taxpayer's Problem -

Recreational Subdivisions in Utah (Logan,
Utah: Utah State University, 1973).

113

The Benefits of Vacation Home Developments
to County Governments1 r %

2/

Gordon D. Lewis-

Abstract. — Vacation home developments grow and change in
ways similar to urban subdivisions. In the early stages, they
have relatively high benefit-cost ratios in respect to their
requirements for government services. These ratios decline
over time, and without careful planning, they can be reversed.
County officials and land developers must provide early
guidance to insure these developments are not detrimental to
county revenue-cost relationships in the long run.

INTRODUCTION

Concentrated second-home developments
such as those in the large ski areas at Vail
and Aspen in Colorado and Big Sky in Montana
are, without doubt, beneficial to county tax
revenue flows. For example, THK Associates
(1974) reported that Snowmass, in the Aspen
ski complex, contains 5 percent of the popu¬
lation and 18 percent of the assessed value
in Pitkin County. It receives 18 percent of
the county's expenditures but contributes
22 percent of the county's revenue. Revenue-
expenditure relationships are fairly similar
for all the major ski areas, so I will limit
my discussion to the more dispersed vacation
home developments where relationships between
county costs and revenues differ at any point
in time and over various periods of time.

The establishment and expansion of
dispersed vacation home developments appear
very attractive to officials in predominantly
rural counties. Such developments seem to
offer an opportunity to enlarge the county tax
base and improve tax revenues without changing
existing tax rates or unduly increasing county
expenditures. Moreover, such developments may
increase employment opportunities and enhance
other local economic activities. Local
officials tend to base the granting of the

JV Paper presented at the symposium on
Man, Leisure, and Wildlands: A Complex Inter¬
action, Vail, Colorado. Sept. 14-19, 1975.

2_/ Principal Economist, Rocky Mountain
Forest and Range Experiment Station, USDA Forest
Service, Fort Collins, Colorado.

authorizations and permits needed for vacation
home developments on the following justifi¬
cations :

1. Vacation home developments represent
a higher use of the land than the agri¬
cultural pursuits presently being followed
on these lands. This higher use increases
the value of the lands so that land tax
yields are automatically increased with¬
out necessitating any change in existing
tax rates. Revenues are increased with¬
out legal action, and reevaluation costs
are minimum as recent sale prices can be
used to reflect market value.

2. Vacation home developments normally
do not require increases in high-cost
public services. Most county governments
spend the greater part of their incomes
in providing educational facilities and
social services. These are high-cost
items in the budget, and the addition of
more students to the school system or a
greater demand for social services such

as medical care greatly increase the costs.
The occupants of truly vacation home
developments are transient to the area so
they do not add children to the school
system, and their needs for social services
are supplied at their permanent residences.

3. Vacation home development, like all
other residential developments, require
private as well as public goods and serv¬
ices. Foods and fuels must be purchased,
structures and equipment must be repaired,
and recreational focal points must be

114

serviced. The demands for these goods
and services create activities in which
cash flows are created or enhanced and
additional employment is needed. The
local economic activities are intensified
and economic benefits are increased.

It is the purpose of this paper to examine
these justifications to determine under what
conditions they are valid, to what extent the
expected benefits are actually produced, and
how they are affected by changing character¬
istics of the developments over time.

LAND VALUES

The conversion of agricultural land to
vacation home developments does increase land
values for tax purposes. In fact, a series
of value increases may occur. Richey (1972)
in his study of a large vacation home develop¬
ment in Sauk County, Wisconsin, found that
land values increased 30-fold over a 3-year
period while passing through four stages.

Value increases occurred when:

1. The original owner sold the land to
the developer and the development plans
were certified by a government agency.

2. The developer improved the site by
constructing roads, surveying and staking
lots, and clearing brush and undesirable
vegetation.

3. The individual user purchased the lot
from the developer and recorded the trans¬
fer of title with the county officials.

4. The individual user put in improve¬
ments such as water and utility systems,
or erected a dwelling or other structures.

Richey also found that the value of nearby
lands that were not part of the development
and had not been recently sold increased only
8 percent over the same period. Apparently,

Sauk County officials did not feel that the
value of these adjacent lands increased simply
because they had subdivision potential. Rather,
the land was revalued only after the use
actually changed. However, when the use
changed, the county officials rapidly revalued
the land using county land sales records and
building permit issuance.

In the Southwest, the same pattern has
occurred, but the question of "true" land
values has arisen. Bleck (1972) found that
there was little or no correlation between
prices for subdivision lots and such factors
as lot size, transportation systems and
amenities such as electricity, telephone, water,

gas, and fire protection. In fact, one devel¬
oper requested that the tax value of his lots
be reduced as 40 percent of the developer's
sale price was promotion costs. Such over¬
valuation was reflected in resale prices. In
Arizona, buyers found that vacation home sub¬
division lots were not good investments. Re¬
sale prices received ranged from 58 to 88 per¬
cent of the price originally paid by the de¬
veloper .

In all cases, however, vacation home
developments increase the value of the developed
land over that for the land under the previous
use, but the new value is not accurately
reflected by the prices first paid for the lots.

COUNTY COSTS

In the initial stages of development and
sale of lots in vacation home subdivisions,
county costs are related primarily to the
great amounts of time spent by local government
officials — such as the county assessors, the
assessment appeals boards, and the county
treasurer — in establishing and adjusting tax¬
able values and tax collection procedures. In
later stages, as more lots are bought by indi¬
viduals, the additional costs attributable to
the subdivisions are primarily related to pro¬
viding more county services such as the costs
of police and fire protection, road maintenance,
and trash disposal.

Adams et al. (1973) found that, in northern
California, vacation home developments caused
county costs to increase beyond the level of
additions to county revenue. Their data indi¬
cated that Butte County would lose $160.82 per
year per vacation home unit if a proposed
100-lot vacation home subdivision was developed.
However, their study was based on the lot buyers
being people who owned a primary residence else¬
where in Butte County, so Adams included some
additional costs for operation of the school
system. Moreover, Adams and his coworkers
assumed that lot owners would spend over 16
weeks per year on the site.

These assumptions may be applicable to
Butte County, but they do not indicate con¬
ditions typical of other areas. In fact, Hanson
(1972) determined that over half of the buyers
of lots in remote recreational subdivisions in
northeastern California did not expect to use
their lots in the near future, and that one-
third did not expect to visit their lots at all.
Moreover, Johnson (1973) found in his study of
Ludlow, Vermont that, in the short run, vacation
home developments have no adverse effect on
school costs. Rather, they substantially in¬
crease the tax base without increasing the
number of pupils attending school.

115

Thus, it would appear that vacation home
developments should have no major adverse im¬
pact on county operational costs at the onset;
purchases are made for investment and retire¬
ment purposes, and recreational use is for
short periods of time (Johnson 1973) .

ECONOMIC ACTIVITY

The owners of vacation homes patronize
local stores and businesses and have an impact
on the local economy. The extent and magnitude
of this impact is dependent, of course, on the
size, location, and type of development and the
reasons for ownership. It can be quite variable
in different areas of the Nation.

For example. Brown (1970) indicated that
a 1,300 acre, 1,600 lot second home develop¬
ment in Pennsylvania doubled the economic
activity in the area (an economic multiplier
of 2). He estimated that the first $7 million
invested in development would generate over
$14 million in economic activity would accrue
to local business firms.

Along the same lines, Robert R. Nathan
Associates (1966) estimated that economic
multipliers for counties in the Appalachian
region ranged from 1.47 to 2.53. However, they
indicated that, in most of the smaller communi¬
ties, little of the expenditures would accrue
to local business firms. The Appalachia study
also indicated that many of the economic bene¬
fits of vacation home developments were offset
because of seasonal aspects. Vacation home
usage was usually related to some specific form
of recreation which, in turn, was controlled
by the season of the year or by the time period
available. This usually resulted in periods
of high economic activity followed by periods
of little or no economic activity.

There is a feeling, however, that the
adverse impacts are outweighed by the benefits,
and steps should be taken to reduce the less
desirable aspects. For example, Ferguson,
Morris, and Associates (1971) point out that,
in predominantly rural counties in the South¬
west, agriculture will not provide a basis for
economic growth, and manufacturing and mineral
exploitation are dependent upon a number of
physical and economic factors not available in
many areas. They feel that, in many cases, the
greatest potential for economic growth lies in
developing tourism and recreation; they recom¬
mend developing summer and retirement homesites,
as well as tourist and recreation services,
to improve local economic conditions.

AN EXAMPLE

Gila County, located in central Arizona,

is an excellent example of the effects of
dispersed vacation home developments on rural
communities. Most of the economic activity —
ranching and mining — is concentrated in the
southern part of the country around the popula¬
tion centers of Globe, Miami, Hayden, and
Winkleman. The northern part lies along the
Mogollon Rim in the forested transition zone
between the high Colorado Plateau and the
lower hill country; it contains but a few small,
unincorporated communities. Roosevelt Lake
lies between the two areas.

The resident population of Gila County
increased from 25,745 in 1960 to 29,225 in
1970; an increase of 14 percent as compared to
36 percent for the State of Arizona (U.S.

Bureau of the Census 1973). However, the
assessed value of private lands and improve¬
ments in the county increased 93 percent in the
10 years between 1962 and 1972 (Table 1) . This
value growth is even more interesting when
various school districts are compared. In the
Miami and Globe school districts, where most of
the county's population is concentrated, the
assessed valuation increased 35 percent and
153 percent, respectively. In the northern
part of the county, where populations are small
and development is primarily recreation oriented,
the assessed value increased 357 percent in the
Pine school district and 422 percent in the
Payson school district. Valuation in the Payson
school district, which was less than half that
of Globe in 1962, is now almost equal to that
of Globe.

The major reason for this increase in
assessed value seems to be the great number of
vacation home developments. Thompson and Lewis

Table 1. Assessed valuation in all Gila County
and in selected school districts in
Gila County, Arizona, 1962 and 1972.

School Dists.

Assessed

valuation

Increase

1962

1972

in value

Thousand

dollars

Percent

So. Gila Co.
Miami

Globe

24,997

4,087

33,646

10,351

35

153

No. Gila Co.
Payson

Pine

1,815

522

9,468

2,387

422

357

All Gila Co.

47,033

90,645

93

116

(1973) found a total of 20,000 acres of privately
owned land in the Forest Service's Mogollon Rim
Planning Area. Almost 20 percent of this land
had been dedicated to subdivision in 1972. At
that time, there were 95 individual developments
containing 10,314 lots around the communities
of Pine, Payson, and Youngs (Table 2). Individ¬
uals had purchased 8,167 lots in these develop¬
ments, but only about 16 percent had been pur¬
chased by people in the Mogollon Rim area
(Table 3) . Over two-thirds of the lots had
been purchased by people from the Phoenix metro¬
politan area, and over 10 percent were owned by
people whose primary residence was outside of
Arizona.

This type of recreation development, with
its absentee ownerships and increased property
values, certainly has the potential for improv¬
ing benefits to the county. The predominance
of people from the Phoenix area within 100 miles
insures a more or less year-round use. There is
some seasonality, however: the greatest use

comes in summer as the metropolitan population
tries to escape the heat, but winter usage is
quite high too.

The local economy benefits considerably.
Data for Gila County are not available at
present. However, if the information from the
work by Adams et al. (1973) is adjusted for
conditions in Gila County and for the lower
lot ownership by county residents along the
Mogollon Rim, some values can be estimated.
Assuming a daily expenditure of $2.53 per
visitor per day, family units of 4 people, and
17 weeks of annual usage of vacation homes,
the 8,167 lot owners in northern Gila County
can be expected to spend about $9.8 million per
year. If a multiplier of 2 is assumed, total
economic activity can be estimated at $19.7
million .

The county cost aspects are more difficult
to quantify. Discussions with county officials
indicate differing opinions as to the actual

Table 2. — Rural subdivisions in the Mogollon Rim area of Gila County, Arizona
by location, size, number, and sales transacted, 1972.

Location by
county and

townships

Total

private

land

Total land
in

subdivisions

Number

of

subdivisions

Total lots
in

subdivisions

Average
size of

lot

Proportion

of

lots sold

Acres

Acres

Number

Number

Acres

Percent

12

_

8

1,025

1,004

23

2,864

0.35

66

12

-

9

1,358

227

3

440

.51

60

12

-

10

558

102

2

196

.53

2/ 100

12

-

11

160

32

1

63

.57

— 114

llh

-

10

239

231

3

832

.28

77

11%

_

12

228

24

1

89

.27

—^101

11

-

10

518

647

15

2,439

.27

88

11

-

11

343

50

3

161

.31

75

11

-

12

417

100

5

452

.23

92

11

“

13

255

18

2

145

.12

97

10%

-

14

226

199

4

410

.48

92

10

-

10

2,650

832

26

1,784

.47

94

10

-

11

170

85

2

235

.36

8

10

-

13

854

25

1

63

.39

100

9

13

638

196

1

44

4.45

9

9

-

14

6,639

136

3

97

1.40

44

16,278

3,908

95

10,314

.38

79

— Includes only those townships in which subdivisions were located in 1972.

2/

— Some of the original lots were divided into smaller lots by purchasers.

117

costs created specifically by vacation home
developments, and the relationships of these
costs to revenues generated. The major point
of conflict between vacation home owners and
the county government is over the level of
road maintenance. The Gila County develop¬
ments are, for the most part, widely dispersed
so the miles of road per dwelling unit or lot
is relatively high. Thus maintenance costs
are also high. This is especially true as the
lot owners seem to want a higher level of main¬
tenance — smoother roads, better drainage, and
more rapid snow removal — than was requested by
the previous landowners. As a result, Gila
County officials feel that road costs in north¬
ern Gila County are so high that the road taxes
paid by vacation home residents do not cover
the expenses. However, county regulations
provide a formula distribution of all revenues,
so taxes paid by vacation homeowners help sup¬
port all county services. The lot owners in
northern Gila County may receive a dispropor¬
tionate share of road maintenance costs, but
they also may pay a disproportionate part of
the school district costs.

It is apparent that vacation home develop¬
ments are creating benefits in the northern
part of Gila County. They are improving the
tax base by enhancing land values, and are in¬
creasing economic activity in the Mogollon Rim
area. They are, at least, providing an alter¬
native to the slow decay that was evident in
the small communities of the area.

THE CONCEPT

In general, dispersed vacation home devel¬
opments have been beneficial to local govern¬
ments and local economics. The increased costs
of new developments to local governments are
covered by increased revenues, and the increases
in economic activity can be handled by the
existing commercial infrastructure and the
present labor force. There are few severe
strains placed on the existing institutions,
and there is no increase in the need for county
social and welfare systems. The establishment
of vacation home developments can be justified
by county officials as indicated earlier.

Table 3. — Lots purchased in subdivisions in Mogollon Rim area of Gila County, Arizona,
by location of lot and primary residence of owners, 1972.

(Number of Lots)

Location by

Total

Primary residence of purchaser

county and

I lots ;

! ! '. Other !

Other

townships

. . Phoenix

. Rim area . Tucson . Arizona . California

United States

12

-

8

1,868

1,388

212

14

83

93

78

12

-

9

266

196

32

0

6

17

15

12

-

10

196

162

14

4

1

5

10

12

-

11

72

59

7

0

1

3

2

11%

-

10

641

513

20

2

32

51

23

11%

_

12

90

81

1

0

3

3

2

11

-

10

2,162

1,509

297

23

95

90

148

11

-

11

121

60

44

1

6

2

8

11

-

12

416

338

29

9

11

13

16

11

-

13

142

113

22

0

1

5

1

10%

-

14

374

312

10

2

19

10

21

10

-

10

1,690

768

617

3

85

73

144

10

-

11

19

15

4

0

0

0

0

10

-

13

63

51

6

0

1

2

3

9

-

13

4

4

0

0

0

0

0

9

-

14

43

22

1

0

4

0

16

TOTAL

8,167

5,591

1,316

58

348

367

487

1/

Includes only those townships in which subdivisions were located in 1972.

118

As these vacation home developments mature
and become established, there is good reason
to believe that the basic conditions can change
and the justifications may no longer be valid.

It is highly possible that there is a life cycle
in vacation home developments which, by leading
to permanent residential subdivision status or
to a decaying community, can create unplanned
stress on local governments and nearby rural
communities. These changes occur when:

1. Lot owners in a vacation home develop¬
ment become permanent, year-round residents
or other than recreational visitors. In
Arizona and New Mexico, there are examples
of developments gradually making this con¬
version as lot owners retire and move into
the development from their primary resi¬
dences. This type of resident creates a
greater demand for improved access and
better medical facilities, and local govern¬
mental costs go up. Because most of the
improvements were made before the lot
owner retired and moved in, the land value
does not increase so tax rates must be
increased — a move that most land owners
will resist strongly.

2. The improvements in the road system
that are made when vacation home develop¬
ments are created attract a number of
families who move into the developments as
permanent residents. These families are
gainfully employed and commute to work,
but they place a strain on local govern¬
ments as they usually add to school enroll¬
ments and request social services not used
by recreationists or retirees. School
costs are the primary expenses of any local
government, and are the major causes of
deficits in county budgets (Adams et al.
1973). In fact, a typical lower priced
residential development in Illinois created
an annual deficit to the local government
of $1,150 per dwelling unit (Stuart and
Teska 1971) .

3. The developments grow to such a size
that recreational industries are attracted
to the area. The region then begins to
develop the urban attributes that are found
around ski areas, mountain resorts, and
ocean beaches, and the developments cease
to be dispersed vacation home subdivisions.
The problems faced by local governments
change, and the organization of these
governments often must change to meet them.

Thus dispersed recreation-oriented vacation
home developments can change into solidly based
urban or suburban developments that become a
part of the local community. While the matur¬
ing, if you will, of these developments creates
additional problems for local governments, it
also brings assets to the area.

On the other hand, there have been develop¬
ments in Arizona and elsewhere which have not
created the desired benefits as they matured
into definite communities. Many lots in these
developments were purchased for investment
purposes or for speculative gains; these lots
were used very little, and almost no improve¬
ments, they may reduce the value of adjacent
lots and the general esthetic appeal of the
area (Tillson et al. 1972). Also, the absentee
ownership may cause problems with tax delin¬
quency or in forming development districts for
sewer, water, and roads, which could slow
further development and encourage decay.

Vacation home developments are beneficial
in utilizing the recreation resource potential
in predominantly rural area. They offer a
means for increasing land values and expanding
local economic activity. County tax revenues
increase more rapidly than county costs, so
local governments benefit. The benefits and
the needs of these vacation home developments
change over time, however, so planning by devel¬
opers and by local government officials must be
designed to direct and take advantage of the
maturing of the developments as they move from
transient seasonal use to permanent residential
communities .

References

Adams, Ronald G., Robert B. Fischer, David E.

Gallo, and Michael Perelman.

1973. Alternative land uses in the Feather
Falls area and their effect on Butte County
cost and revenue streams. Pub. No. 72-28,
Center for Business and Economic Research,
Calif. State Univ., Chico, Calif. 88 p.

Bleck, Erik K.

1972. Merchandising remote subdivision lots
in southern Arizona. Ariz. Rev. 21: (8-9):
10-15.

Brown, Richard N. , Jr.

1970. Economic impact of second home commu¬
nities — a case study of Lakebatonka, Penn.
U. S. Dep. Agric. Econ. Res. Serv., ERS-452,
Wash. , D. C. 55 p.

Ferguson, Morris, and Associates.

1971. General development plan, Gila County,

Arizona, 1971. 2641 East Buckeye Road,

Phoenix, Ariz. 150 p.

Hansen, David E.

1972. The identification and measurement of
economic impacts of selected remote recrea¬
tional subdivisions on county government
finances. Unpublished progress report,

Dep. Agric. Econ., Univ. of Calif., Davis,
Calif.

119

Johnson, E. L.

1973. The effect of second home development
on Ludlow, Vermont. Unpublished report for
the South Windsor City Regional Planning and
Development Committee, Springfield, Vt.

67 p.

Richey, Clyde W.

1972. Value and property taxes of a second
home subdivision. Land Econ. 48(4):

387-392.

Robert R. Nathan Associates, Inc.

1966. Recreation as an industry. Appalachian
Res. Rep. No. 2. Appalachian Regional Comm.
Wash . , D . C . 131 p .

Stuart, Darwin G. , and Robert B. Teska

1971. Who pays for what? A cost-revenue
analysis of suburban land use alternatives.
Urban Land 30(3): 3-16.

THK Associates, Inc.

1974. The impacts of alternative development

patterns for the Snowmass Corp. properties.
Unpublished report prepared for the Pitkin
County Commissioners and the Snowmass Corp.

Thompson, James C., and Gordon D. Lewis.

1973. Rural residential development on
private land in the Mogollon Rim area of
Arizona. Comprehensive Land Use Plan for
the Mogollon Rim. Region 3, U. S. For.
Serv. , Albuquerque, N. Mex.: 88-104.

Tillson , Gregory D., Russell C. Youmans, and

Marion D. Thomas.

1972. Local tax impact on recreation sub¬
divisions. Sp. Rep. 365, Extn. Serv.

Oregon State Univ. , Corvallis, Ore. 10 p.

U. S. Bureau of the Census

1973. Census of Population, 1970. Vol. 1,
Characteristics of the Population, Part 4,
Arizona. U. S. Dep. Comm., Wash, p q
807 p.

120

Community and Regional Implications of Large-Scale
Resort Developments: Big Sky of Montana1

David G. Stuart^/

Abstract. The MSU-NSF Gallatin Canyon Study_/ was a
before and after study of the impacts of a large-scale re¬
creational development upon a semi-primitive environment.
Accepted research methodologies in some fourteen disciplines
were used. It was found that careful site selection, plan¬
ning, and application of best available technology could
control many on-site impacts of the resort upon the bio¬
physical environment but that implementation of comprehensive
land use planning and controls is required to minimize im¬
pacts of the resort and peripheral development upon the
bio-physical and socio-economic (lifestyle) environment of
the immediately surrounding region.

INTRODUCTION

The announcement in February, 1970 by Chet
Huntley that a large-scale recreational resort
was to be built in the West Fork of the Galla¬
tin River produced a reaction of concern and
speculation regarding potential impacts the
development might have on the social, economic,
and bio-physical environments of the area. The
introduction of a development of such magnitude
into a semi-primitive setting provided a unique

_/ Paper presented at the symposium on Man,
Leisure, and Wildlands: A Complex Interaction,
Vail, Colorado, Sept. 14-19, 1975.

David G. Stuart, Associate Professor
of Microbiology, Principal Investigator of the
MSU-NSF Gallatin Canyon Study, Director of the
Institute of Applied Research, Montana State
University, Bozeman, Montana 59715.

Anne S. Williams, Assistant Professor of
Rural Sociology, MSU, and John Reuss, Director
of the Montana Environmental Quality Council
provided valuable input into the preparation
of this paper.

o

_/ Work supported by the National Science
Foundation RANN Program under grants GI-38, GI-
29908x, GI-29908xl, and GI-39592.

research opportunity for such impacts to be
assessed based on measurements before, during,
and at the completion of the development.

(Delays in the development schedule of Big Sky
precluded at-completion measurements.) Early
in the summer of 1970, a multi-disciplinary
team of Montana State University scientists
initiated a socio-economic-ecological study of
the Gallatin Canyon area with supporting funds
from the National Science Foundation IRRPOS and
then RANN programs. The purpose of studying
the "Impacts of a Large Recreational Develop¬
ment Upon a Semi-Primitive Environment" (pro¬
ject title) was to determine the degree of
environmental compatability of the develop¬
ment and to establish guidelines for the plan¬
ning of similar future developments.

Although this paper comes under the sympos¬
ium heading of "Community and Regional Benefit"
we have found that benefit is "in the eye of
the beholder" and have chosen to present a very
brief summary of project findings from the point
of view of regional implications of resorts such
as Big Sky of Montana, Inc. and leave the value
judgements up to the reader.

121

Regional Clustering of Recreational
Developments and National ParksV

The community and regional implications of
large-scale recreational developments are affect¬
ed by the clustering of these developments along -
with National Parks and other large-scale re¬
creational opportunities such as National Monu¬
ments and State Parks in the Rocky Mountain
West. This clustering phenomenon becomes appar¬
ent in Figure 1. Were the map extended north¬
ward, a similar situation would be observed with
regard to the Canadian National Parks. There¬
fore many of the considerations, such as trans¬
portation system needs, seasonal population and
business fluctuations, associated with resorts
such as Big Sky must be viewed in terms of their
interactions with similar impacts of other re¬
creation attractions in the area and the result¬
ing cumulative impacts.

A / Wyoming

i <b <? ur

--._u Tah

"i - - - i_

I : o

i . • o* •"

I

COLORADO

Figure 1. — Clustering of recreation attractions
in the Rocky Mountain West. State boundaries

( - ), National Park boundaries ( - ),

ski areas on U.S. Forest Service Lands (•),
ski areas on private lands ( ■ ) , proposed
ski areas (A).

Conceptual Framework of the Process
of the Development of Big Sky

time. A systems analysis of the study produced
a conceptual framework upon which problem areas,
data, and interpretations could be organized.

A much abbreviated representation of this
conceptual framework is shown in Figure 2.

NATIONAL AND

Figure 2. — A diagram depicting the interrela¬
tionships of the major components of the pro¬
cess of the Big Sky development.

The components of this cyclical represent¬
ation of the system, or process, of the develop¬
ment of a resort such as Big Sky will be the
focus of the rest of this paper.

SOME IMPACTS ASSOCIATED WITH THE DEVELOPMENT
Land Acquisition^/

Land grants to the railroads in the late
1800's resulted in a checkerboard pattern of
private land ownership within what are now nat¬
ional park and national forest lands. The
management difficulties imposed on both private
and public owners by this situation led to Con¬
gressional action which allowed the Secretary
of Agriculture to consolidate public lands by
exchanging public for private lands. Although
much of the Big Sky property was purchased from
private owners, such land exchanges between the
Forest Service and Burlington Northern Railroad
made it possible for Big Sky to purchase land
essential to the development. Two of these
exchanges which had not been completed prior to

It soon became difficult, if not impossible,
to grasp or visualize all the facets of the

V Concept and figure from unpublished
manuscript of final report of the MSU-NSF
Gallatin Canyon Study.

5/ A detailed discussion of the land
acquisition decision-making process may be
found in the forthcoming MSU-NSF Gallatin Can¬
yon Study Monograph #17, "Analysis of Major
Public Policy Decisions Affecting the Big Sky
of Montana, Inc. Resort Development."

122

the announcement of the Big Sky resort develop¬
ment were the subjects of considerable public
comment and were eventually contested in court.

The successful negotiation of the land
exchanges left only small portions of ski runs
to come under special use permits from the For¬
est Service thus removing the majority of dev¬
elopment from Forest Service management.

The established policy and precedents for
consolidation of these public and private lands
have tremendous land use implications for the
region due to the vast amount of similar land
in the West and its potential for development.

Construction of Facilities

Construction of facilities on the Big Sky
site has resulted in sizable economic impacts.^/
For example, some 60 million dollars have been
expended to date resulting in the taxable value
in the local school district increasing from
$321,512 in 1970 to $1,555,866 in 1974. The
result of this was that while the school dis¬
trict was deficit spending during the first few
years of development (Stuart, et al., 1974), the
1974-75 revenues resulted in approximately
$36,000 going from the school district to the
state. Project findings indicate that tax
revenue from the development over the long term
will be in excess of total public expenditures
for increased services.

Construction of the U.S. Highway 191 Spur
road to the resort has also been a controversial
issue and the subject of litigation due to the
question of using public funds. ~[j Delays in

upgrading and paving the road have resulted in
increased costs to both the developer and to the
public, especially if public funds are used when
the road is finally built. Undoubtedly, the
active participation of the public in these
decision-making processes concerning the land
exchanges and spur road funding via the environ¬
mental impact statement requirements of the
National Environmental Policy Act has had im¬
pacts upon the governmental decision-making
processes involved.

Bio-physical impacts of construction have
been minimal. There were periods of increased

£/ More details of the economic impact
may be found in the forthcoming final report
on the MSU-NSF Gallatin Canyon Study.

]_/ The details of this controversy may be
found in the forthcoming NSU-NSF Gallatin Can¬
yon Study Monograph #17. "Analysis of Major
Public Policy Decisions Affecting the Big Sky
of Montana, Inc. Resort Development."

sediment during heavy construction resulting in
complaints to state agencies. Data indicate
some degradation of air quality during heavy
construction periods also. No trends toward
decreasing air or water quality have been obser¬
ved to date, however. Little change has been
seen in the wildlife of the Big Sky area. Log¬
ging had previously occurred on much of the Big
Sky land and new construction activity was
started before the land had regained its origi¬
nal habitat potential.

Use of Facilities

Although the Big Sky resort was not yet
fully operational at the time that data gather¬
ing stopped, projections have been made on the
basis of what has been observed. While project
findings indicate that use of the resort by the
planned number of people is not likely to lead
to uncontrollable bio-physical problems on site
changes are occurring as a result of the influx
of people.

Recreation in the Canyon is destined to
change considerably as a result of the use of
facilities at Big Sky and peripheral develop¬
ment. Conflicts between different recreational
land uses and between recreationists are prob¬
ably more real than conflicts between the resort
and the environment. For example, conflicts
between big game hunters and residents have led
to a request to ban hunting in the Canyon. If
this request were honored, a myriad of environ¬
mental problems could result from overpopulation
of big game animals. Forest Service campground
use has been observed to follow Yellowstone Nat-
tional Park use with Big Sky having little
effect. Big Sky has had little impact on fish¬
ing so far. Peripheral development where there
is private land along the river shoreline will
probably compromise blue-ribbon fishing stream
criteria (access, aesthetics, use, and product¬
ivity) if not controlled. Much of the river
shoreline is publicly owned along certain
reaches of the stream and these should not be
affected. Skiing has gone from virtually no
skiing to 94,000 skier days in 1974-75 and an
expected 765,000 skier days in 1991.

In order to transport that number of
people, airport travel at Gallatin Field (Boze¬
man) is expected to go from 68,000 travelers in
1973 to 427,000 by 1985 with 56 percent of these
travelers being Big Sky visitors. Facilities
at Gallatin Field (jet port near Bozeman) are
currently being expanded considerably in re¬
sponse to these increases in use. Historically,
levels of traffic have been high in the Gallatin
Canyon during the summer reflecting tourist use
of Yellowstone National Park. The traffic im¬
pact of Big Sky has been mainly in the winter

123

having the effect of keeping traffic levels
from dropping off during the winter. Long-term
traffic increases on U.S. Highway 191 generated
by increased development will require upgrading
of the highway or development of a mass trans¬
portation system. Improved transportation will
undoubtedly encourage secondary light industry
that relies on effective transportation, which
will in turn stimulate more development.

There have been changes in the rural char¬
acter of the area as community development has
taken place with the coming of Big Sky. The
Canyon now has a good telephone system, a min¬
ister, fire protection equipment, a volunteer-
fire-fighting force, and a larger school, with
more classrooms and teachers. A logical con¬
sequence of community growth is the need for
more electrical power which necessitates the
building of larger powerlines across the area.
Rather serious consideration has also been
given to constructing a highway through Big
Sky and over the mountain range to connect the
Gallatin Canyon with the Madison River valley
at Ennis.

Although development peripheral to Big
Sky is proceeding rather rapidly in terms of
planning and platting subdivisions, construction
is progressing more slowly than some people
expected which is leading to a complacency
about the need for land use control in the Can¬
yon .

Regulation and Control

There has been a history of unsuccessful
attempts to establish land use planning in the
Canyon. Even though 76 to 78 percent of the
Canyon residents answering questionnaires
indicated that they were in favor of land use
planning, no plan has been accepted or imple¬
mented by the Canyon people.

Regulation and control of land use in the
Canyon is largely in the hands of the Forest
Service since 67 percent of the land in the
Canyon is in public ownership. In the private
sector, Burlington Northern owns 18 percent of
the Canyon land and interacts with land uses on
public lands. Counties are granted permissive
power over subdivision activity but in the
absence of a comprehensive plan guiding overall
development such authority is rarely exercised.
The only controls available at the state level
are those requiring the Water Quality Bureau of
the Department of Health and Environmental
Sciences to certify the ability of the proposed
subdivision to make available an adequate water
supply, and to provide adequate sewage and
solid waste disposal facilities prior to
remvoing sanitary restrictions.

Interest groups have attempted to control
or regulate development in the Canyon by court
injunctions and other legal means made possible
by the environmental impact statement require¬
ments of national and state environmental policy
acts .

GENERALIZATIONS THAT CAN BE MADE FROM
THE BIG SKY EXPERIENCE

Local residents will oppose land use
planning. Opposition to land use planning and
its implementation by local residents arises
from two basic causes. First, increasing land
values and economic opportunities in areas
peripheral to large-scale recreational develop¬
ments make local landowners reluctant to have
limits imposed with regard to what they can and
cannot do with their land. Secondly, there is
a strong commitment to private property rights
and individualism that makes collective action
difficult .

Environmental groups will interfere with
the development of large-scale recreational and
second home resorts at every procedural point.
Their involvements have taken the form of legal
maneuvers, which, although they function as a
kind of "watchdog" of public interests over the
actions of the private developer, they also
cause numerous delays in the overall develop¬
ment schedules which in turn are extremely
costly to the developer and often to the public.
Developers are going to be more cautious and
selective in siting and building large-scale
resorts. The overall results of this will
probably be fewer developments and more costly
developments .

Public decision-makers are going to be more
cautious. There appears to be a reluctance by
the Forest Service and the B.N. Railroad to
engage in further land exchanges, for example.
These forces operate with the result that public
decision-makers will go "strictly by the book"
as much as possible. Under these conditions
it is likely that highly sophisticated appro¬
aches using engineering problem-solving as a
basis of approval will be relied on more and
more. This again will increase the cost of
developments .

COMMUNITY AND REGIONAL IMPLICATIONS OF
LARGE-SCALE RESORT DEVELOPMENTS

Project findings indicate that the Big Sky
Resort was located on the best site in the
whole Canyon in order to minimize environmental
impacts. Although it is not to be taken for
granted nor treated lightly, and is expensive
to achieve, it would appear from the work of

124

the MSU-NSF Gallatin Canyon Study that with
adequate planning, careful site selection and
application of the best available technology,
large-scale recreation and second home resorts
can be made to be compatible with the bio-phys-
ical environment of the region. If this be the
case, the problem then becomes a socio-economic
consideration of the most appropriate use of a
limited and valuable natural resource. There
is no longer an expanding frontier and it must
be decided what is to be done with what we have
of the Rocky Mountain West under the pressures
of increasing population, leisure time, and
affluence.

Based on the Gallatin Canyon experience,
large-scale developments appear to bring pros¬
perity to the area, and along with it, a pro¬
found change in lifestyle. What was once a
semi-primitive natural setting with a rural
society becomes a more urbanized area. In
describing this phenomenon of large numbers of
people coming to the mountains to recreate and
to live, A.B. Guthrie, Jr. states: "They come
to get away from it all and, in coming, bring
it all with them."^/ There appears to be a
growing consensus that the real issues being
contested regarding resource use are not the
disruption of basic ecological interrelation¬
ships which concerned Carson, Commoner, and
Erlich, but are socio-economic parameters.

This appears to be true regarding both the
recreation-second home development in the
mountains and the strip mining of coal on the
plains of Montana. "Ecological factors are
important but the most vociferous and emotional
aspects of the opposition to resource develop¬
ment and use are concerned with threats to
aesthetic values and lifestyles."^/ An indic¬
ation of the current emphasis of the socio¬
economic component of public imput to decision¬
making through the environmental impact process
is the recent Montana District Court decision
in Montana Wilderness Association vs. Board of
Health and Environmental Sciences holding that
the Montana Department of Health and Environ¬
mental Sciences must re-impose sanitary restric¬
tions on the Beaver Creek South subdivision in
the Gallatin Canyon because the socio-economic
portion of the environmental impact statement
on the project was inadequate.

g

_/ A.B. Guthrie, Jr. in the film "Voices
of Land Use" produced by the Institute of
Applied Research, Montana State University,
Bozeman, MT.

9

_/ Roy E. Huffman in "Montana at High
Noon: Conservation and Use of Montana's Energy
Resources." Presented to the Montana State¬
wide Energy Education Conference, 1975. Fair¬
mont Hot Springs, MT.

Traditionally, decisions to undertake large
projects were carried out project by project on
the basis of the benefit-cost ratio which gen¬
erally neglected to adequately take into account
such considerations as environmental impacts
and lifestyles. There was also no effective
mechanism for public input into the decision¬
making process. The benefit-cost ratio has
been replaced by the environmental impact state¬
ment as required by section 102 of the National
Environmental Policy Act and similar state laws.
While this process emphasizes the environment
and opens governmental decision-making up for
public scrutiny and input, it is still a pro¬
ject by project approach which is leading to a
changing of the rules once a project is started
which is causing high costs to developers and
the public alike. (The delays of the land
exchanges and the blocking of the federal fund¬
ing of the building the the U.S. Highway 191
Spur road are examples.)

In a region like the Rocky Mountain West
with its peculiar land ownership problems,
clustered large-scale recreational- real estate
developments, National Park complexes, and large
public ownership of land, a more efficient
regional approach to natural resources use
decision making is needed. This might take
the form of regional land use planning which
is already being worked with by such agencies
as the National Forest Service and The National
Park Service. Land use planning on public lands
alone will not accomplish the task because of
the interrelationships between large public
facilities and large private developments.

Who makes the decisions as to whether or
not a large-scale recreational-real estate
development will be placed in a semi-primitive
valley? The history of the Gallatin Canyon
(Malone, 1973) shows that most land use decisions
came from outside the Canyon. Consideration
must be given as to who should make the decis¬
ions; how much weight should the desires of
the regional resident have compared to the
wishes of John Doe living in Chicago or New
York City, and what mechanisms might be used
to obtain and balance these inputs into the
decision-making process.

Why the failure to formulate land use
policy at any level? As described by Brittan
and Brittan (1974) the roots of the problem
are at least three-fold: technological, instit¬
utional, and philosophical-legal. First, even
though many technical studies have been carried
out, there is still much we do not know. Sec¬
ond, there is considerable institutional
uncertainty as to who is to formulate and imple¬
ment land use policy. There is much talk that
local governments are responsible and should

125

do it amidst just as much talk that local gov¬
ernments are incapable of doing it. Third, and
what I think is the real basis of the problem,
"there are inherent conflicts in our concepts
of private rights and public interest and in
the values associated with them." (Brittan and
Brittan, 1974) Our land ethic and associated
laws are predicated on outmoded concepts, all
of which need to be re-evaluated.

Given that the Rocky Mountain West offers
a finite recreational resource, we must formu¬
late and implement land use planning for the
region, i.e., make the decisions and lay down
the ground rules with appropriate public imput
ahead of time so that the rules don't change
after large developments are underway. More
emphasis must be placed on the process by which
the ultimate decisions are to be made rather
than on the implications of decisions already
made .

In the words of John Reuss, "Regional
assessments of any kind of large-scale develop¬
ment need to begin with a picture of the limit¬
ations and the alternative resource uses of
the existing natural and human environment...

In the absence of good information, responsive
institutions, and equitable regulations, the

people who are to be affected by large-scale
developments are going to be deprived of an
opportunity to guide change." u/

_ / John Reuss in the film "Voices of Land

Use" produced by the Institute of Applied
Research, Montana State University, Bozeman,

MT.

LITERATURE CITED

Brittan, Gordon G. and Vanessa Brittan

1974. Our Changing Philosophy of Land Use.
Montana Business Quarterly. 12: 36-44.

Malone, Michael P.

1973. The Gallatin Canyon. . .and the Tides
of History. Gallatin Canyon Study Mono¬
graph #4, Institute of Applied Research,
Montana State University, Bozeman, MT.

17 P.

Stuart, David G.

1974. Impacts of Large Recreational Develop¬
ments Upon Semi-Primitive Environments:

The Gallatin Case Study. Montana Agricul¬
tural Experiment Station Research Report
#66. Montana State University, Bozeman,

MT. 113 p.

126

/

Colorado’s Winter Resource Management Plan:

The State’s Responsibility for Comprehensive Planning1

<r

2

James M. Ohi /

Abstract. A review of Federal and State laws and
regulations establishes the central role that the State
must assume if we are to balance the competing needs of
environmental protection, resource development and social-
economic growth and attain a wide sharing of life's
amenities. The State of Colorado is beginning to assume
the central role by preparing a Winter Resource Manage¬
ment Plan.

According to our brochure, the sponsors
of the Symposium have brought us together to
discuss ways to minimize "the adverse impacts
of leisure developments on wildland environ¬
ments." The topic of the Symposium, Man,
Leisure and Wildlands: A Complex Interaction,

is an interesting one because it points out
man's homeless status in nature's oikos, or
house (from which the term ecology is derived) .
Man, as wise, intelligent primate mammal
(Merriam-Webster) , as featherless biped with
broad, flat nails (Plato), or as the quin¬
tessence of dust (Hamlet) causes severe and
often irreversible impacts on nature's house
even in his leisure activities. However,
the increasing availability of "leisure time"
and the increasing visitation of wildlands by
man may heighten our awareness of the complex
and fragile interrelationship of the air, land,
water, biotic and socio-economic resources
upon which we impose our leisure. I think
this symposium will have served its purpose
if what we do here helps to remind us that
our word, school, is derived from the Greek
schole, which means leisure.

In Colorado, development of downhill ski¬
ing facilities has brought this interaction
of man, leisure and wildlands into sharp focus.
A very fortunate combination of topography,
climate and vegetation found in the Southern

_/ Paper presented at the symposium on
Man, Leisure, and Wildlands: A Complex
Interaction, Vail, Colorado, Sept. 14-19, 1975.

2/ Resource Management Planner, Colorado
Land Use Commission, 1845 Sherman Street,

Rm. 600, Denver, Colorado 80203.

Rocky Mountain physiographic province (Fenneman
1931:92), quality facilities, active promotion
and advertising, public infrastructure invest¬
ments and the continuing urban character of
population and economic growth in Colorado have
helped our skiing industry record a 205% in¬
crease in the number of lift tickets sold from
the 1966-67 season to the 1973-74 season (Goeld-
ner and Dirks 1975:3). The number of lift
tickets issued by Colorado ski areas rose from
175,000 in 1950 to over 4.3 million for 1973-74
season (Goeldner and Dirks 1975:66). The rapid
and sustained growth has, of course, profoundly
affected Colorado's economy, particularly in
those "ski counties." A recent study prepared
for Colorado Ski Country USA concludes that
skiing "has brought new prosperity to Colorado's
Western Slope" and that "each ski county examined
[Eagle, Grand, Gunnison, Pitkin, Routt, Summit]

. . .has shown major improvements in socio¬
economic conditions over the past decade"

(Dabney 1974:6). In contrast, however, an in-
depth study of one of the most rapidly growing
ski counties, Summit, concludes that increased
environmental and aesthetic deterioration can
be expected if present development trends there
continue (Ulman, 1975:ix).

The issue, of course, is not a simple matter
of weighing economic benefits against environ¬
mental costs. The complexity of this inter¬
action is multiplied when we necessarily involve
our needs, desires and values in determining
how to manage our wildlands for the leisure
benefits of man. The competition of needs,
desires and values among different segments of
our society was highlighted recently when the
U.S. Forest Service proposed to designate 3,000
acres of the public domain at Beaver Creek
near Avon, Colorado, for a winter sports site.

127

I am sure that most of us are familiar with the
arguments over the air and water quality impacts
of the Beaver Creek proposal. These arguments
center around technical matters such as modeling
assumptions and sampling procedures. What fol¬
lows are comments that illustrate the less
technical but perhaps more complex factors
involved in making a decision on how we as a
society should manage our wildland resources.

The Beaver Creek site, like Vail, will
help meet National, as well as Inter¬
national, demand for skiing.

(U.S. Forest Service 1974:24)

The impact of Vail in 1962 has caused
a shift from an internal change pro¬
cess, which made life predictable
and productive, to an external change
process where change forces are put
in motion by outsiders.

(FUND 1975:4)

The proposed new employment base [at
Beaver Creek]. . .would provide job
continuity and security for the local
labor force. In turn, this would
directly contribute to the stability
of Minturn and Redcliff. It would
favorably affect the stability of
family life which is a primary value
in the maintenance of the social
structure and culture of these com¬
munities.

(U.S. Forest Service 1974:22)

Although the potential for employment
stability in the resort industry is
anchored to the residents of the Upper
Eagle Valley, the present and predict¬
able employment policies of developers
and new business owners are systemat¬
ically undermining that same employ¬
ment base. . .The Upper Eagle Valley
residents have been recruited for the
low paying jobs, such as maids and
janitors, while recruitment for better
positions has been conducted in out¬
side areas such as Denver. . .The new
industry forced residents into a sur¬
vival existence rather than providing
opportunities for growth and affluence.

In addition, the employment demands
are causing the disorganization of
natural family growth and survival
mechanisms.

(FUND 1975:9-10)

Economic indicators, such as unemployment

rates, retail sales receipts, assessed valuation
and so forth, give us only one dimension of the
impact of "leisure developments." On the com¬
munity and neighborhood level, there are poten¬
tially severe dislocations of cultural values
and patterns of life, particularly in communities
such as Minturn where "survival mechanisms" are
based on an extended family structure rather than
in a town governmental structure (FUND 1975:3).

To those concerns on meeting recreational needs
while maintaining community stability quoted
above, we must add the following declaration of
the 48th General Assembly of the Colorado Legis¬
lature:

A more even and practical geographic
distribution of industrial growth and
governmental activity would reduce the
continued concentration of industry and
would stimulate the growth and develop¬
ment of less heavily populated sections
of our state, thereby encouraging a
more diversified and better balanced
distribution of our inhabitants, and
facilitating the restoration and pro¬
tection of the quality of our environ¬
ment, thus enhancing and enriching the
lives of all Coloradoans.

(Senate Joint Resolution No. 24)

From a statewide perspective, leisure develop¬
ments offer an opportunity to alter Colorado's
unbalanced population and economic growth trends
that find sprawling growth along the Front Range
even as 32 of our 63 counties declined in both
population and business activity between 1950
and 1970 (Colorado Rural Development Commission
1972:11).

It was to achieve this delicate balance
among competing needs, desires and values that
Governor Richard Lamm issued an Executive Order
on May 20, 1975, directing preparation of the
Colorado Winter Resource Management Plan. The
Executive Order directed the Colorado Division
of Planning, "with the assistance of other State
agencies and in cooperation with Federal and
local agencies and private organizations," to
formulate:

1. State guidelines for impact analysis
of winter recreation development;

2. Alternative policies for the develop¬
ment and conservation of the State's
winter resources; and

3. Alternative management policies for
the State's natural resources, eco¬
nomic growth and human settlement
patterns.

(Lamm 1975)

128

By the same Executive Order, Governor Lamm
created a Citizen Advisory Board and a Technical
Working Group to help the Division of Planning
develop the guidelines and management policies
for our winter resources. The Board, which is
chaired by Penny Lewis of Copper Mountain,
provides a forum for public input, but more
importantly, brings together the diverse
expertise and viewpoints of nineteen citizens
who have witnessed the remarkable growth of the
skiing industry in Colorado. Some of the Board
members have directed and some have opposed
this growth, but all share a concern that we
achieve a sensible balance between utilization
and conservation of our resources, between
economic growth and community stability, between
local prerogatives and statewide concerns. The
Technical Working Group is made up of representa¬
tives from seventeen State agencies, four Federal
agencies, and twelve local (regional, county and
municipal) planning agencies and will assist
the Division of Planning on the technical aspects
of the Plan.

I will not describe the Plan further because
detailed information on the Plan is readily
available from the Division of Planning. My con¬
cern, rather, is to establish that the effort
we are expending to prepare a Winter Resource
Management Plan for Colorado is a legitimate
exercise of State responsibility. What follows
are my personal views on the State's role and
responsibility in the management of our natural
and socio-economic resources as it relates to
the winter recreation industry. It was to the
surprise of the U.S. Forest Service and to the
dismay and suspicion of private industry and
local government that, first, former Governor
Vanderhoof and, later, Governor Lamm opposed
the designation of Beaver Creek as a winter
sports site. To put it simply, Colorado was not
willing to accept without questions the creation
of another Vail in the Upper Eagle Valley, even
though this business-as-usual decision by the
U.S. Forest Service was promoted by an environ¬
mental impact statement. After the initial
impasse, we have met with representatives of the
other three parties involved in the Beaver Creek
controversy (the U.S. Forest Service, Vail
Associates and Eagle County) and have made some
progress on resolving these differences. The
preparation of the Winter Resource Management
Plan was initiated by Governor Lamm to provide
the basic framework of policies, criteria and
procedures by which the State of Colorado will
assess and respond to major winter recreation
development proposals, such as Beaver Creek, in
the future.

When the State became involved in the Beaver
Creek fracas, the surprise was due to our so-
called 11th hour entry; the suspicion, however,
runs to the deeper issue of governmental relation¬

ships and prerogatives. I think that the "late
entry" charge recedes in memory and diminishes
in importance as we discover serious unresolved
questions on whether or not the identified
impacts of the proposal can be satisfactorily
mitigated. For example, the "planned measure"
identified in the final environmental statement
(Forest Service 1975:61) to preserve a 1,000
acre elk winter range area through cooperative
agreement among the Forest Service, the Bureau of
Land Management, the Colorado Division of Wild¬
life, and private land owners was found in the
course of our discussions to be without con¬
tractual obligations and terminable by any party
with 30 days notice. In passing, I would like
to point out that the Forest Service was notified
eight months before designation was made, in
April 1974, by the State Clearinghouse that the
draft environmental statement for the Meadow
Mountain Planning Unit (which includes the
Beaver Creek Management Unit) was seriously
deficient and that the decision to designate a
winter sports site at Beaver Creek deserved
reconsideration.

The suspicion that State government in
responding vigorously to the Beaver Creek
proposal and in preparing a Winter Resource
Management Plan is infringing upon the pre¬
rogatives of local government and private indus¬
try deserves more extensive discussion. My
effort to allay this suspicion will be based on
three premises:

1. There is not only specific authority
but a clear obligation in Federal
laws and regulations for the State
to respond to such proposals as
Beaver Creek;

2. Under Federal law there is a specific
charge to the State to protect its
water and air quality which neces¬
sarily involves land use planning
and regulation;

3. There is clear mandate from the
Colorado Legislature for the State
to involve itself in matters such
as those raised by the Beaver Creek
proposal and to plan for the manage¬
ment of its resources as we are
attempting to do with the Winter
Resource Management Plan.

The Federal laws mandating State response
to such matters as Beaver Creek are the Inter¬
governmental Cooperation Act of 1968 and the
National Environmental Policy Act of 1969.

Title IV, Section 401 (a), of the Intergovern¬
mental Cooperation Act authorized the President
to "establish rules and regulations governing
the formulation, evaluation, and review of Federal

129

programs and projects having significant impact
on area and community development" and establish¬
ed basic objectives for Federal programs. These
objectives include "wise development and con¬
servation of natural resources, including land,
water, minerals, wildlife, and others; balanced
transportation systems. . . ; protection of areas
of unique natural beauty, historical and scien¬
tific interest; properly planned community
facilities, including utilities for the supply
of power, water and communication. . ." The
attainment of balanced transportation systems,
the wise development and conservation of land,
water, mineral and wildlife resources, and
proper planning for power, water and communica¬
tion facilities clearly requires and active
State role in the review and evaluation of
Federal programs. On November 8, 1968,

President Nixon delegated the authority granted
to him in Section 401 (a) to the Bureau of the
Budget (later Office of Management and Budget)
which resulted in the promulgation of the now-
famous Circular A-95.

Among the provisions of Circular A-95 (re¬
vised November 13, 1973) are the responsibili¬
ties of clearinghouses in reviewing proposed
Federal or federally assisted projects. The
State Clearinghouse is to comment and make
recommendations on, among other things, "the
extent to which the project is consistent with
or contributes to the fulfillment of compre¬
hensive planning for the State" and on the
"extent to which the project contributes to
the achievement of State, areawide, and local
objectives and priorities relating to natural
and human resources and economic and community
development, as specified in Section 401 of the
Intergovernmental Cooperation Act of 1968
(Part I, 5 (a) (c)). The need for comprehensive
State planning for resource development is
clearly implied in both the Act and the Circular.

The National Environmental Policy Act of
1969, more often referred to as NEPA, estab¬
lished national environmental policies to
achieve and maintain "productive harmony"
between man and nature (Title I, Section 101
(a)). To help implement these policies,

NEPA requires each agency of the Federal
government to prepare an environmental impact
statement for all "major Federal actions sig¬
nificantly affecting the quality of the human
environment" that it proposes to undertake
(Section 102 (2) (c)). By Executive Order,
President Nixon directed the Council on Environ-
mentmental Quality (CEQ) to issue guidelines
to Federal agencies on the preparation of
environmental impact statements. CEQ guidelines
stipulate that "each agency shall interpret the
provisions of the Act [NEPA] as a supplement
to its existing authority and as a mandate to
view traditional policies and missions in the

light of the Act's national environmental
objectives" (Federal Register 38:20551). This
directive from the CEQ, authorized by Executive
Order of the President, broadens the responsibil¬
ities of all Federal agencies by requiring them
to recognize the "critical importance of restor¬
ing and maintaining environmental quality to the
overall welfare and development of man" (NEPA,
Sec. 101 (a)). In Colorado, where over one-
third of our total land area is in the public
domain, we are particularly concerned with the
application of NEPA to the traditional land
management programs of the U.S. Forest Service
and the Bureau of Land Management, which together
manage over 38 million acres in our state
(Ulman 1975: 13). The two agencies have
responded very positively to NEPA and are
engaged in extensive and intensive environ¬
mental resource inventory and planning. The
accelerated planning activities of the Forest
Service and the BLM make it essential for the
State to develop its own policies on resource
and environmental management so that we can
participate in and benefit from Federal planning,
but also so that we can clearly delineate those
State interests and concerns that should not
be overlooked and overwhelmed by "overriding
national interests." To cite just two examples,
the State is developing policies on energy
resource management through the Energy Policy
Council in the Governor's Cabinet and on winter
recreation through the Winter Resource Manage¬
ment Plan.

The Federal mandate for State responsibility
in air and water quality management planning
is quite specific and requires active involve¬
ment of the State in land use, social, and
economic planning. In air quality control,
the charge is clearly stated in Section 107 (a)
of the Clean Air Act (42 U.S.C. 1857 et seq.):

Each state shall have the primary
responsibility for assuring air quality
within the entire geographic area
comprising such state by submitting an
implementation plan for such state which
will specify the manner in which national
primary and secondary ambient air
quality standards will be achieved and
maintained within each air quality
control region in such state.

Furthermore, Section 110 (a) of the Act requires
that the State implementation plan include
"measures as may be necessary to insure attain¬
ment and maintenance of such primary or secondary
standard, including, but not limited to, land-
use and transportation controls." The Clean
Air Act clearly establishes State responsibility
in developing and enforcing land-use and trans¬
portation control measures to achieve and main¬
tain air quality standards.

130

As with other environmental legislation,
the emphasis in implementing the Clean Air Act
has been to bring problem areas into compliance
with Federal standards. The State Clearinghouse
found that environmental impact statements
prepared for development proposals in areas
exceeding Federal air quality standards con¬
veniently ignored the obvious fact that these
standards were established to improve air quality
in problem areas and were not intended to be
permissible pollution levels to be attained in
areas enjoying clean air. The matter is succint-
ly stated in the "non-degradation clause" of
Colorado's Air Quality Implementation Plan,
which was submitted to the Environmental Protec¬
tion Agency on January 26, 1972:

It is hereby declared to be the policy
of the State of Colorado that in those
areas where existing air quality is
better than ambient air quality stan¬
dards, such existing air quality will
be protected, and significant deteriora¬
tion of Colorado's air resource will
be prevented.

(Colorado Department of Health 1972:47)

Recently, the focus of attention in the
Clean Air Act has shifted to the more subtle
and complex issues of indirect source control
and prevention of significant deterioration.
Regulations promulgated by EPA in both areas
will require consolidation of land use and
transportation planning with air quality control
and maintenance programs. Of the two, however,
prevention of significant deterioration is more
immediately relevant to our discussion. In
response to a court order (Sierra Club v.
Ruckelshaus, District Court, District of Columbia,
affirmed by the U.S. Supreme Court) EPA dis¬
approved all State implementation plans (Federal
Register 37:23836) to the extent that these
plans did not specifically address the problem
of permitting or preventing significant
deterioration of air quality in any portion
of the State where the existing air quality is
better than one or more of the secondary
standards. Subsequently, EPA promulgated
regulations (Federal Register 39:42510) which
establishes a regulatory framework through
which the States can determine what constitutes
significant deterioration.

EPA regulations on prevention of signifi¬
cant deterioration establish "three 'classes'
of different levels of allowable incremental
increase in total suspended particulate matter
(TSP) and sulfur dioxide (S02)" (EPA 1975: i):

Class I applies to areas in which
practically any change in
air quality would be con¬

sidered significant;

Class II applies to areas in which

deterioration normally accom¬
panying moderate, well-
controlled growth would be
considered insignificant;

Class III applies to those areas in
which deterioration up to
the national standard would
be considered insignificant.

(EPA 1975: i)

As of January 6, 1975, all areas of the
country were designated as Class II areas with
the provision that states (as well as Federal
Land Managers and Indian governing bodies) may
request redesignation to Class I or Class III.
These regulations are particularly relevant to
the future of winter recreation in Colorado
since most of our existing and potential new
ski developments are located in areas which
qualify for Class I redesignation. Indeed,
pristine air quality is a necessary concommitant
to a quality skiing experience. It is in the
implementation of these regulations that the
cutting edge between State resource management
planning and local land use regulation may well
be found as one study shows that Colorado
mountain valleys are "10 times as more sensitive
to air quality impact as Denver" (Reeser and
Kirkpatrick n.d.).

To redesignate an area, the State must
consider:

(1) growth anticipated in the area;

(2) the social, environmental and
economic effects of such redesigna¬
tion upon the area being proposed
for redesignation and upon other
areas and States; and

(3) any impacts of such proposed
redesignation upon regional or
national interest (Federal
Register 39:42515).

EPA guidelines on redesignation encourage a
statewide classification approach to allow the
most complete impact analysis of redesignation
(EPA 1975:35). Further, the guidelines stipulate
that the states must weigh "different and some¬
times competing state/regional/local interests"
and that "it is the role of the states to balance
varying needs and to decide which factors are
most critical in each area" (EPA 1975:36). In
preparing the Winter Resource Management Plan,
we will identify the critical social, environ¬
mental and economic factors which are relevant

131

to winter resource management and, in doing so,
will help establish criteria for redesignation.

In water quality control. Federal law
also mandates a strong central role for the
states. Again as a result of a court order,

EPA has promulgated proposed regulations
(Federal Register 40:29882) to implement
Section 303 (e) of the Federal Water Pollution
Control Act, as amended (33 U.S.C. 1251 et seq.),
which requires that each state prepare a plan¬
ning process which provides for, among other
things, "the coordination of the state's water
quality management planning with related
Federal, state, interests, and local compre¬
hensive, functional, and other developmental
planning activities, including land use and
other natural resource planning activities
. . ." (Federal Register 40:29884). As with
air quality, Colorado's Water Quality Standards
contain an explicit antidegradation provision:

Waters of the state, whose quality
exceeds the limits set in these
standards, shall be maintained at
existing quality unless and until
it can be demonstrated to the State
that a change in quality is justified
to provide necessary economic or
social development.

(Colorado Water Quality Control Commission

1974:2)

Although criteria to determine when a "change
in quality is justified" have not been estab¬
lished, proposed EPA regulations require that
"Statewide antidegradation policy and methods
for implementing such policy" (Federal Register
40:29889) be included in the State water quality
management plan which must be submitted to EPA
for "pre-adoption review" no later than July 1,
1978 (Federal Register 40:29888). Again, as
with air quality, the State, after full public
participation and close intergovernmental
coordination, must strike a delicate balance
between economic and social development and
water quality in our mountains, where pristine
streams provide both impetus and constraints
to such development.

Federal air and water quality laws
clearly require a central State role, par¬
ticularly in relating air and water quality
management to land use planning and economic
and social development. Another important
Federal law that thrusts the State into its
central planning role is the Housing and
Community Development Act of 1974, particularly
in its amendments to Section 701 of the Housing
Act of 1954, which, of course, provides for
comprehensive planning assistance. Department
of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) regula¬

tions to implement these amendments place
emphasis on coordinated intergovernmental
planning within states. The regulations spe¬
cifically require that states "submit a single
application (Overall Program Design) which shall
include sections for statewide planning and for
all substate applicant categories (large city
and urban county, metropolitan, nonmetropolitan
and locality)" (Federal Register 39:43384).

The central role that HUD has placed upon states
is clear and unequivocal:

It is HUD's intent to give States major
responsibility and discretion, in consul¬
tation with substate applicants, for
administering a program of planning and
management assistance for substate
applicants required, or electing to
apply, to the State and providing
comments to HUD on substate appli¬
cations submitted directly to HUD.

(Federal Register 39:43385)

The new HUD regulations also require each
recipient to prepare a comprehensive plan which
"shall include, as a minimum, a housing element
and a land use element ..." (Federal Register
39:43382). No grant will be made to any appli¬
cant after August 22, 1977, unless the two
required elements are completed. All substate
recipients must include, among other things,
the following items as part of the land use
element within the State's overall program
design :

Long and short term policies .. .where
growth should and should not take place;

The type, intensity and timing of growth;

Studies, criteria, standards and imple¬
menting procedures necessary for effec¬
tively guiding and controlling major
decisions as to where growth shall and
shall not take place.

(Federal Register 39:43383-43384)

Finally, the new regulations require each sub¬
state applicant applying directly to HUD to
"submit a copy of its Overall Program Design
[OPD] to the Governor ... to provide the Governor
(or his designee) an opportunity to comment on
the relationship of the applicants' OPD to the
policies and objectives in the applicable
section of the State OPD" (Federal Register
39:43386-43387).

Preparation of the Winter Resource Manage¬
ment Plan will help Colorado meet some of its
obligations under Federal environmental quality
regulations and planning assistance programs.
There is also clear mandate in the statutory
law of Colorado for the kind of resource

132

management planning that we have undertaken.

The Division of Planning is specifically author¬
ized to:

Make studies and inquiries relevant
to State Planning of the resources
of the State and of the problems
of agriculture, industry, commerce,
as well as population and urban
growth, local government, and
related matters affecting the
development of the State.

(Colorado Revised Statutes 24-32-203
(l)(e)1973, as amended.)

Furthermore, in the legislative declaration
creating the Colorado Land Use Commission,
we find the following statement:

It is the intent of the General
Assembly that land use, land use
planning, and quality of develop¬
ment are matters in which the
State has responsibility for the
health, welfare and safety of the
people of the State and for the
protection of the environment of
the state.

(C.P.S. 24-65-102(2), 1973, as
amended. )

State law also establishes that the prevention,
abatement and control of air and water pollu¬
tion are matters of statewide concern. I refer
you to C.R.S. 25-7-102 and 25-8-102, 1973, as
amended .

I think it is safe to conclude that
Federal and State law not only mandate that
Colorado take a strong central role in land
use and environmental planning, but also that
we take a comprehensive and intergovernmental
approach. Environmental protection, resource
development and social-economic growth can no
longer be addressed separately but must be
incorporated into comprehensive planning pro¬
cesses and implementation programs. The
Winter Resource Management Plan is a pilot pro¬
gram to develop a process that will enable
Colorado to guide the development of a large
portion of the State whose physical and social
environment is extremely delicate.

LITERATURE CITED

Colorado Department of Health

1972. Air quality implementation plan for
State of Colorado, Denver.

Colorado Rural Development Commission
1972. Report of the Rural Development
Commission, Denver

Colorado Water Quality Control Commission

1974. Water quality standards and stream
classification, Denver

Dabney, Page.

1974. An impact study — the Colorado ski
industry upon the economies of selected
mountain counties and communities. Pre¬
pared for Colorado Ski Country USA, Denver.

EPA (Environmental Protection Agency)

1975. Guidelines for reclassification:
Prevention of significant deterioration
of air quality program - NSD #6, Office
of Air and Waste Management, Washington,

D.C.

Fenneman, Nevin M.

1931. Physiography of Western United States,

New York and London

FUND (Foundation for Urban and Neighborhood

Development , Inc . )

1975. Social/cultural impact study of the
upper Eagle valley. Eagle County, Colorado,
Denver.

Goeldner, Charles R. and Laura M. Dirks.

1975. Colorado ski and winter recreation
statistics, 1974, Boulder, Business
Research Division, University of Colorado.

Lamm, Richard D.

1975. Executive Order, May 20, 1975.

Denver.

Reeser, Warner K. , Jr. and Lane W. Kirkpatrick.

n.d. The air pollution carrying capacities
of selected Colorado mountain valley ski
communities. Unpublished study prepared
for the Air Pollution Control Division,
Colorado Department of Health, Denver.

Ulman, Wilbert J.

1975. Mountain recreational communities

and land use: "The Summit County Experience."
Prepared for the Colorado Land Use
Commission, Second printing. Denver.

United States Forest Service

1974. Final environmental statement for
Meadow Mountain. White River National
Forest, Glenwood Springs, Colorado.

133

Procedures for Improving Public Involvement in u
Land Use Planning and Decision-Making1

JOHN M. OSTHEIMER— ^

Abstract . --This project began as a question¬
naire-based study of public involvement techniques
employed by the Coconino National Forest. More
effective public involvement procedures were the
intended result. The paper describes the original
project, deals with issues arising from a decision
not to allow the questionnaire, and ends with a
description of the current, revised study.

INTRODUCTION

As I understood the Forest Service's in¬
tentions regarding my project, they were to
recruit a social scientist from outside the
agency to study, to evaluate, and if possible
to improve upon, the public involvement mecha¬
nism the Service employs. Accordingly, my
first task as an Eisenhower Consortium Fellow
was to review Forest Service public involve¬
ment practices. I studied them using two tech¬
niques: (1) analysis of all pertinent agency

literature on both the management-oriented
"how to involve the public" problem, and also
of the research-on-public-attitudes variety;
and (2) observation of the experience of the
Coconino National Forest. I had participated
as an interested citizen in certain public
involvement experiences concerning that forest,
and had served as a member of its Multiple-Use
Guide Review Committee. Informed in March.
1974, that I had a good chance to receive a
Fellowship, I began this review process.

My conclusions, stated in a Project State¬
ment in June, 1974, when the Fellowship commen¬
ced, justified the approach to the project that
I felt was most appropriate. They were as fol¬
lows; I was impressed by the seriousness with
which the Service had taken the growing

l

/ Paper presented at a symposium on Man,
Leisure, and Wildlands; A Complex inter-action,
Vail, Colorado, Sept. 14-19, 1975

2/ Associate Professor of Political Science
Box 6023, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff,
Arizona, 86001.

necessity of dealing with the public during the
process of decision-making. Our political
system had changed dramatically during the 1960
moving away from the indirect, delegation-of-
authority type of politics, in which a passive
public waits for an electoral opportunity to
change policy directions. The concept of
involving the citizenry, particularly empha¬
sizing the ongoing process of public consul¬
tation, had enroached heavily by 1970 on the
traditional, indirect style of American demo¬
cratic government. (Milbrath, 1965; Bowman and
Boynton, 1974; Parry, 1972; Cobb and Elder,
1972; Barber, 1972; Verba and Nie, 1972). 3/

The Forest Service, like other land manage
ment agencies, has been confronted by this
change in the style of our democracy. The pro¬
blem facing the Forest Service has been summar¬
ized as follows:

Most administrators are suspicious of
politics, so they try to transform a
political or policy decision into a
professional, technical decision. This

_/ The study of political participation,
as represented by these works, does not mean
the same thing as "participatory democracy,"
a pet theme in New Left literature. The
latter theory advocates decision-making from
the bottom up, a situation which is, to say
the least, hard to conceive of in advanced,
high-technology societies. A sample is Ben-
ello and Rousopoulos (1971).

134

tactic ensures that the political dec¬
ision will be poorly made...

Actually most decisions have, components
of both Professional and Policy Deci¬
sions; the task is to isolate them and
behave appropriately for each part of
the decision. (Behan, no date:49-51).

CURRENT FOREST SERVICE PUBLIC
INVOLVEMENT PROCESS

Forest Service documents indicate that
the agency had committed itself firmly to
facing the political aspects of public involve¬
ment. (USDA, Forest Service, 1971:1).

National Forest administrators have attempted
varied techniques and used several media for
involving elements of the public that are
concerned with decisions affecting the manage¬
ment of National Forest resources. Yet, in
my view, there is no concensus that the cur¬
rently existing procedures for public involve¬
ment are satisfactory to the public, or to the
Forest Service. Hence, there is no apparent
confidence that unexpected controversies and
expost facto confrontations over important
issues of forest management can be avoided by
procedures for public input that would ensure
politically viable decisions. (Hendee et_ al . ,
1973:13)

Unfortunately, there is some evidence
that in spite of their efforts, the Forest
Service has been involved in confrontations
that might have been muted by better public
consultation. The Forest Service's multiple-
use management charge entwines the agency in
resource allocation arguments it cannot avoid,
but must try to moderate so that wise manage¬
ment decisions emerge. Nationally, the contro¬
versy over Mineral King development, the clear-
cutting issue in Bitterroot and other Western
Forests, and the continuing battles over
primitive area inclusions into the Wilderness
category, are just a few of the examples one
can cite to show the completeness of the
agency's immersion into politics.

On the local level, I concluded that the
Coconino National Forest has tried hard to
carry out effective public involvement, but
has sometimes not succeeded. It is probable
that earlier and more systematic public in¬
volvement could have defused the emotional
debate over resort development on the San
Francisco Peaks. More public involvement
might have produced stronger support for
Sycamore Canyon Wilderness, and for the 10-year
timber cut, as well as public condemnation of
the decision to keep the forest open during
1973's disastrous fall fire season. Most
vividly, widespread public involvement in the

fall of 1971 when all the elaborate planning
for the Mormon Lake Road improvement was
finalized could have alleviated a painful and
costly false start when the roadway became an
issue during its construction in 1972.

Thus, my first conclusion was that the
Forest Service is not confident in the effective¬
ness of its public involvement procedures, and
that events have often justified their concern.

My second finding was that the techniques for
involving those members who happened to have
been identified, or who had stepped forward as
interested in an issue, were far more advanced
than were the methods of identifying who was
actually concerned.

Much ink had been spilled developing tech¬
niques for involving people after they had been
identified. Forest Service manuals on the topic
of involving the public describe a variety of
techniques ranging from mass oriented to selec¬
tive in their assumptions about which publics
are to be involved. These techniques employ
three basic communications formats; mass^raedia,
face-to-face contact and written inputs. / The
first of these formats includes procedures such
as formal press conferences, less formal appear¬
ances by Forest Service administrators on news
or local talk-type shows, and press releases.

The mass vs. select distinction of which type
of audience the agency's message impacts is
not an important distinction with this format.

Face-to-face contact formats, the second
type, are more clearly divisible along the
"mass or leaders" spectrum. Formal Public
Hearings and Open Public Meetings are opport¬
unities to injest mass attitudes as well as
elite views. Institutional group discussions
and workshops are more often controlled-access
(by invitation), and likely to be more inter¬
est group-leader oriented. This is also
true with Ad Hoc Committees to consider specific
issues, with show-me trips to view problem
areas, and with private consultations with
community leaders in which the line-officer
deals with key personnel around the affected
community. Advisory councils are also vehicles
for face-to-face public input that have been
used in the past. But as with any formal public
committees or hearings, their use is now tightly
controlled by the provisions of PL 92-463, the
Federal Advisory Committee Act.

— Hendee et aj_ (1973) list eleven collec¬
tion techniques. U.S.D.A Forest Service (1974)
lists 18. For a discussion of public consult¬
ation techniques that is very similar, but from
outside the government, see Beech (1974).

57 Wager and Folkman (1974) strongly advo¬
cate this format for consultation.

135

The third format, written input, also
ranges along the mass-select scale. The Forest
Service has used standardized questionnaires,
based on random samples, collected both by
personal interview and by mail.^_/ Response
forms attached to informational brochures and
letter requests for general comments on a
management problem have been directed at speci¬
fic target groups rather than random sampled.^/

Forest service officials are given no
specific instruction as to when each of these
techniques should be used. They do receive
very explicit guidance as to the pros and cons
of each technique, but are then told that with
most management problems that appear to require
public involvement, "several information pro¬
cesses" should be used. These methods for pub¬
lic input should be "chosen to best fit the
situation." And, "all media should be consid¬
ered." (U.S.D.A. Forest Service, 1974a: 13;
Hendee et. a_l, 1974: 16). In one sense, this
is as it should be, because issues differ
greatly, and the line officer who must make the
decision must have latitude to employ flexibly
his knowledge of the variety of procedures.

But this situation also places a heavy burden
on that decision maker. Which sections of the
public should be involved? How? When?

It is possible that the absence of specific
instructions about "what to do and when" stems
from deeper problems regarding the purpose of
public involvement. First, there is some evi¬
dent confusion about the goal of public invol¬
vement in the official statements and intra¬
agency research reports on the topic. On the
one hand, a feeling exists that there is some¬
thing unfair about using public involvement to
ward off political controversy; that there is
something cynical about such a motive. Hendee
et al reported that to "develop support for
current Forest Service plans" for roadless areas
was only a "ringer" item on their questionnaire.
They stated, "we do not regard (developing sup¬
port for current Forest Service plans) as a
legitimate objective for Forest Service public
involvement." (Hendee et. al^, 1973: 16) But later
the authors state "more involvement can result
in better acceptance of a final decision, be¬
cause fewer people will feel they were excluded.
More involvement lends credibility to the whole
effort." (Hendee £t. al_, 1973: 24) £/ Is this
not the development of support? Such confusion

— Bultena and Rogers (1974) make a very
strong case for this technique.

'/ Hendee, Clark and Stankey (1974) extoll
written formats for public involvement.

8/ See also the argument that the Forest
Service must not abdicate its responsibility
for good decisions by overemphasizing public
input (Nelson, no date).

is surely unnecessary. The molding of a favor¬
able climate for public policies is certainly
a valid function for public involvement. One
of the rationales underlying this project was
that more effective public participation will
result in greater public acceptance of the
compromises that multiple-use management requ¬
ires, and thus in greater legitimacy for that
administrative service in the public mind.

A second type of confusion thrives on the
question of whether the information and involve¬
ment program should concentrate on those citizens
who are highly articulate, and therefore can
be expected to make their views known, or
whether the program should be more geared
toward quantitative weighing of public views.

The disagreement over which role the techni¬
que of content analysis might play serves as
an example: In placing this technique into
perspective, the editor of A Guide to Public
Involvement in Decision Making stated that,

"The quality and validity of the comments are
much more important than the number of people
who offer them." (U.S.D.A. Forest Service,

1971: 20). But, contrast this view with:

the committee often heard officers
say, "We want quality not quantity."

We disagree with this. We want
quality and quantity in public
involvement. There is no inherent
reason why the quality of public
input needs to go down as the number
of participants increases. (Hendee
et al , 1973: 24)9/

Thus, there are ambivalent feelings over:

(1) whether the Forest Service should be elici¬
ting public comment that may change decisions,
or molding a support sector for decisions that
are already set, and (2) whether the comments
of the articulate few are more valuable than
numerical counts of mass viewpoints. These
are joined by a third ambivalence: many Forest
Service officers are not sure whether they
should be involving everyone whom they think
might be affected, or just those people already
concerned. It is this researcher's impression
that the Information and Education functions
of the Forest Service have not been clearly
differentiated from the activities of Inform
and Involve Programs. Public Involvement and
the Forest Service, an administrative study
by the Forest Service, calls on the agency to:

Increase efforts to identify disadvan¬
taged groups and explore how national
forest resources can benefit them.

Make special efforts to obtain their

9/ A very negative view of the "numbers
game" is found in Nelson (no date)#

136

views on issues that affect them.

Recruit more members of minorities
to help in these contacts. (Hendee
et al, 1973: 79 )„

Certainly, Information and Education
(I and E) programs are essential ways of
molding public understanding and acceptance
for administrative decisions. Through such
programs the sections of the general public
who know something of the activities of the
agency are broadened to include groups who
had not previously been aware of the Forest
Service's role. Such I and E programs also
have the desirable feature of generating feed¬
back so that the agency can, in turn, serve a
broader public in the future. For the Forest
Service, for example, I and E efforts have
concentrated recently on involving urban people,
particularly racial minorities, in possibili¬
ties for recreation and environmental education
that employ national forest resources. Thus,
a basic precept of I and E programs is that
"the Forest Service should strive to involve
as many citizens as possible who are potent¬
ially affected by a resource decision or
interested in it" (Hendee £t^ a_l, 1973:24).

The problem is that Information and
Education Programs are not adequately dis¬
tinguished from the purposes of Inform and
Involve, a program designed to bring already
concerned elements of the public in on current
decisions. The Forest Service line officer's
choice of whether to use a mass-oriented or
leader-oriented approach to an issue (whether
to use a random sample survey or consultations
with concerned interest group leaders) is
closely related to this third confusion.

My research project was directed at
improvement of Inform and Involve techniques.

It was not directly concerned with Information
and Education Programs per se: e.g. with the
involvement of groups that have been described
as "less interested in the national forests
than they ought to be." Naturally, I agree
with the statement that "the more people that
are involved, the better." (Hendee et al
1973: 23). However, my project was to concen¬
trate on sectors of the public that are already
involved. The practical side of readiness for
politically important issues as they arise
should be directed toward those members of
the public who already care.

Thus, to summarize my findings as I
reviewed the agency's public involvement
practices and prepared to commence my own
study, the agency has taken public involvement
seriously, but has not, by any means, construc¬
ted a system that can be counted on to allay
controversies; that the major gaps occur in
the area of identifying who should be involved;

and, finally, part of the problem may stem
from confusion within the public involvement
concept .

ORIGINAL METHODOLOGY PLANNED
FOR THIS PROJECT

My solution for the state of affairs descr¬
ibed above was to propose a more systematic
technique for pre- identifying those people
who would be likely to react to controversial
decisions. By February, 1975 I had arrived
at a methodology that was mutually agreeable
to the Rocky Mountain Forest and Range Experi¬
ment Station officials.

This methodology was based on the premise
that if the National Forest Administrative
officer could systematically identify those
people who are likely to be concerned with
forest management problems "at the earliest
possible stage of (U.S.D.A. Forest Service,
1974a: 5) disputed management issues, and then
contact and work with those individuals on
compatible solutions to the problem, serious
disputes and criticisms of the decisions
would be softened. More politically compatible
solutions would result. I assumed that truly
constructive and vigorous public input would
come from those members of the public for
whom such issues have high saliance.

It seems obvious that a major reason for
the surprises the Forest Service receives (in
the form of public clamor over a decision that
was supposedly subjected to public scrutiny)
is that some of the concerned public were not
heard from. These people may have desired to
offer input, but did not hear of the impending
decision in time to make their views known,
or did not hear enough about it to realize
that it affected them. The only way to ensure
an environment in which final decisions can
be confidently announced is to know that the
most exhaustive process for recruiting public
input has been carried out.

I developed an interview schedule that
evaluated saliance of forest resource manage¬
ment issues for the respondents. As a member
of what I called the "Concerned Citizens file,"
each respondent's interest in forest management
problems (relative to other issue-categories)
was to have been recorded, as well as the
respondent's level of interest in certain
categories of Forest management problems over
others. Basically, the Forest Service has
been waiting until a management decision comes
up, then deciding how to go about public
consultation. With a more sophisticated
"concerned citizens file" already prepared,
the Forest Service would have a greater chance
of going to the right people, rather than

137

hoping that somehow the people who genuinely
care about an issue would become aware of it,
and would respond.

I knew that there were dangers in any
inform and involve procedure that were worth
watching. First, there was the danger of
over-working the public. (Nelson, No date: 4) .
Using the concept of saliance, the "concerned
citizen file" should have had a built-in pro¬
tection against this danger in the prior ident¬
ification of genuine interest in the issues.

It has been popular to assume that Americans
are not very politically minded, are ill-
informed, and that they can be easily alienated
by over- involvement . However, some political
scientists have argued that the public is not
as politically irresponsible or disinterested
as we have tended to assume. New research
indicates that "many more Americans have true
attitudes on issues of public policy than
previously had been concluded." (Pierce and
Rose, 1974: 646). It may be, as Pierce and
Rose argue, that earlier measures of public
information levels and participation were
faulty, and failed to measure the real levels
of political knowledge and caring. Or, it is
possible that (as defenders of the earlier
measures retort) "the voter has been rehabilita¬
ting himself," e . g. , people are simply better
informed in the 1970 's than they were before.
Whatever the reason, genuinely interested and
informed citizens will be harder to alienate
with overexposure. (Converse, 1974:660).

My questionnaire was designed to assemble
data on three subfiles of concerned citizens:
commercial users, recreational users, and
concerned non-users. If previous accumulated
evidence concerning political behaviour was
any guide, the first direction in which to
search in order to identify systematically
members of the public for whom forest management
issues would have high saliance was actual
usage of the forest's resources. "Users" of
varied types would compose a high proportion
of the concerned public for any particular
national forest. Not all people who use the
resources will be politically active in public
issues that arise, for many people lack the
sense of citizen competence that is necessary
for public involvement. Their only political
act is (possibly) voting. But, surely the
first place to look for people who are directly
affected is among commercial "users." An
identification list of the forest's varied users
was to be compiled through the commercial use
permit system. For the Coconino, a computer
printout was available that lists active
commercial use permits. These number about
800, but elimination of double or multiple
entries reduced the number of individual
commercial users to less than 500. The

questionnaire would have provided data on the
type of permit and its relative importance to
the permittee's total economic activity.

A list of recreational users would have
been more difficult to compile. The campground
fee system would provide identification when
registrations were dropped into collection
boxes. I had intended to add day-users to the
list with license number checks at high day-use
areas. Finally, those in charge of group recre¬
ational use programs (scouts, churches, etc.)
would be contacted. As with the commercial
users, the compilation of this subfile was
to proceed on the basis of a universe of all
recreational users of Coconino National Forest.
All registrants in the Coconino National Forest's
23 campgrounds and a sample of day-users were
to be sent the questionnaire.

Concerned non-users would compose the
third subfile that were to be included in the
concerned citizen file. In one sense, of course,
the person who cares about wilderness (though
unable to visit it), is a consumer of forest
values. (Darling and Eichhorn, 1970). The
problem was to identify them from the general
public. First, civic organizations, environ¬
mental groups and sportsmen's organizations
were to be visited by the researcher and infor¬
med of the opportunity for concerned citizens
to make their interest known. They would
receive the questionnaire. The basic purpose
of these procedures was to ensure that interes¬
ted people who are not users would have been
added to the file. Assuming that those people
who have participated in past deliberations
over forest resource problems would still be
concerned, anyone who had served on Ad Hoc
Committees or attended past meetings would be
contacted .

Up to this point, the subfile descriptions
were not based on sampling, but rather on a
population: the probable source groups for most
concerned citizens. A stratified random sample
from Flagstaff and other communities adjacent
to Coconino National Forest (Payson, Williams,
Sedona, Winslow), was to be used to identify
sectors of the population that might produce
concerned citizens who were being missed by
the above methods. The basic technique was to
be a mail survey. This sample of approximately
400 was crucial to the study's potential to
draw statistical inference pertaining to the
unique qualities of concerned citizens as a
part of the general public that inhabits the
Coconino National Forest's immediate surround¬
ings. It was also the only way to draw con¬
clusions about the general public's evaluation
of methods the Forest Service has been using in
the past to contact the public. The question¬
naire would have allowed an evaluation, through

138

this sample, of how the general public of the
area rated various public consultation tech¬
niques. The final step in surveying the general
public was to be a formal request, through the
media and through civic organizations, to the
effect that "anyone interested enough in the
forest management issues to want to be consulted,
but who has not as yet been contacted through
the questionnaires distributed to users, should
get in touch with the director of the survey."
Those who responded to this notice, would be
sent the questionnaire, and their response
data added to the concerned citizens file.

The questionnaire summarized necessary
background information for identifying the
personal characteristics of the respondents:
their educational, occupational, social and
familial status. Other questions identified
vacation preferences and gave an indication of
the recreational importance the Coconino
National Forest for the respondent, on leisure
time preferences in the Coconino, and on econ¬
omic use. These categorization potentials
were necessary in order to select for public
involvement (from the data file that resulted)
the appropriate group of citizens for a forth¬
coming issue. Other parts of the question¬
naire gave data evaluating the public consult¬
ation methods used by Coconino National Forest
in the past, and indicated preferences of the
respondents who were about to be consulted
for various consultation formats.

The three subfiles described above were
to be combined (with their separate identities
retrievable when necessary) into the Concerned
Citizen File, with the data punched onto card
input that could be manipulated with existing
statistical program packages. The subfiles
would be ready when an issue of political
importance arose. A set of instructions was
to have been compiled so that the Forest Service
staff officer could easily use the file on a
computer or by hand. For example, an issue
dealing with predator control would call for
consultation with those who indicated an in¬
terest in the topic. The answers of that same
group might also have indicated a clear prefer¬
ence for certain among the formats for carry¬
ing out public consultation. (Those who are
interested in predator control problems may
also have perf erred the open meeting format;
say, by a 4-1 margin). Forest Supervisor's
offices in more remote areas could handle the
information through a variant of "Codinvolve , "
an information classifying and retrieving
system now being disseminated within the Forest
Service, which uses manual techniques of sort¬
ing.

The concerned citizen file was to be in
easily intelligible form, readily accessible
to the public, in conformity with the Decem¬

ber 31, 1974 Invasion of Privacy Act. A distinct
advantage of the Computerized Concerned Citizens
file as a way of consulting the public was the
system's "traceability." According to the Forest
Service's own research social scientists:

Public involvement must also be
traceable so that an independent
second party can determine how input
was collected, analyzed, and evalu¬
ated ... Decisions based on some in¬
tuitive "feel" for public sentiment
are unacceptable because they are not
susceptible to public review. (Hendee
et al, 1974:63).

Users who stated that they were unconcerned and
did not wish to be bothered would be placed in
an "inactive file." It may be that quite a
proportion of the recreational users would
wind up in this category. This file could be
useful in the event that decisions arise which
seem to be extraordinary significance. In such
a case, a communication to the "non-concerned
user" group might turn up valuable input despite
what that group earlier stated as their negative
feelings about involvement.

The "concerned citizens" file would not
be used only one, but would continue to exist
as a system that could regularly be updated,
and at far less expense than the original file
construction represented. "Sorting out" into
the inactive file would occur when respondents
failed to answer several invitations to partici¬
pate, having indicated previously that they
were very interested in doing so. As I saw it,
the benefits of this system would be consider¬
able: avoidance of serious cases of non-communi¬
cation between Forest Service and the public
would produce greater legitimacy for the agency.
Another long-range attribute of the "Concerned
User" file method would be the collection,
through assembling sets of data from the indi¬
vidual forests into a national or regional
file, of valuable data on the concerns held by
the public toward forest management in the
broader context.

In summary, high quality participation
and input will not come from the general public,
but rather from those who are specifically
concerned. To attempt to consult with people
outside of this category is to spread administ¬
rative resources too thin. To consult fewer
than those who are concerned is equally un¬
desirable, if there is any way it can be avoided.
The Concerned Citizens file left less to the
intuition of the Forest Service officer and
was therefore desirable.

139

The Questionnaire's Fate

The final project methodology was forwarded
from the Fort Collins Station to the Washington
Office, for, a questionnaire being included,
ultimate approval by the Office of Management
and Budget (O.M.B.) was required. In April,
we were informed by the Director of Forest
Environment Research (WO) that Statistical
Reporting Service had advised the Forest En¬
vironment Research Section not to submit the
questionnaire to O.M.B. Obviously, I have had
to revise my approach to the project since
April and will report on my current activities
in the final section of this paper. At this
point, given my experience, I think it is
important to devote some attention to the situa¬
tion which was uncovered by the decision from
WO regarding my questionnaire.

CURRENT INVASION-OF- PRIVACY LEGISLATION
AND ITS EFFECT ON FOREST SERVICE PUBLIC
INVOLVEMENT ACTIVITIES

On the last day of 1974, President Ford
signed into law the Invasion of Privacy Act
(PL 93-579). Two weeks later, an O.M.B. memo
brought the major provisions of the new law to
the attention of all Federal agencies. The
purpose of the act, as I interpret them, were
to (1) make agency records on citizens retrieva¬
ble and correctable by citizens themselves, (2)
establish machinery for arbitrating disputes
when a citizen has trouble "correcting" in¬
accurate records, (3) control access to records
by preventing their sale to third parties, etc.,
(4) establish a Commission to pursue the study
of Privacy problems further. Clearly, the
emphasis of the legislation was summarized by
a statement of Senator Ervin that "all federal
data banks (should) be fully and accurately
reported to the Congress and the American people."
(Congressional Quarterly, September 28,1974:

2613). The intent of Congress was to establish
public control over data collected by federal
agencies. Congress did not intend to stop
federal government from collecting information
that is useful in carrying out policy. President
Nixon, who had established the Domestic Council
Committee on Privacy early in 1974, argued "If
you can't justify it (data collection), stop
it!" (Congressional Quarterly, March 16,1974:

683). We should note that his statement could
also be read - "If your agency needs the data
to carry out its job, don ' t stop it!"

In one provision (e,7), PL 93-579 prohibits
agencies from maintaining any public record

describing how any individual exerci¬
ses rights guaranteed by the First

Amendment unless expressly author¬
ized by statute or by the individual
about whom the record is maintained
or unless pertinent to and with-in
the scope of an authorized law en¬
forcement activity. (O.M.B. 1975:28965).

My impression is that WO reasons for disapprov¬
ing my questionnaire rested heavily on this
statute. I think the decision deserves some
serious examination, for it threatens even the
degree of public involvement in which the Forest
Service presently engages. To argue that PL
93-579 prevents the collection of data on rele¬
vant attitudes of citizens concerned with man¬
agement of forest resources is, by logical
extension, to disallow the present retention
of a public record of open meetings, to require
the destruction of letters written by citizens
to a Forest Supervisor, and to mean dissolution
of even the incomplete "contact files" most
Supervisors' offices now keep (showing names
and addresses of citizens who have shown interest
in past problems).

I believe such interpretations are far
from the Congressional intention of PL 93-579.
Using the wording of the provision cited above
(e,7), it is, to be sure, hard to find specific
mention in Forest Service authorizing laws, of
the necessity to maintain public records. But
the provision (e,7) goes on to imply that such
records are acceptable if they are essential
to the agency's job. I suggest that there are
previous laws which serve as evidence of a long¬
standing assumption that the Forest Service's
role cannot be carried out without some system
of recall for public views on management prob¬
lems. For example, it is implied in NEPA
(PL 90-190) Sections 101a, 102c and d that the
Forest Service consult the public in order to
conform its forest management decision to stand¬
ards of environmental quality. Also, the
Multiple-Use Sustained Yield Act of 1960, part¬
icularly in its inclusion of recreation values,
implies consultation and analysis of public
input. (U.S.D.A. Forest Service, 1974 b).

A more complete interpretation of the 1974
Invasion of Privacy Act became available on
July 9, 1975, when O.M.B. released a statement
on guidelines and responsibilities of federal
agencies under the new law. This is the major
document for clarifying questions that Forest
Service officials may have developed about the
impact of the law on public involvement activ¬
ities. In the first place, it seems clear that
the vast majority of current public involvement
activity i_s seriously affected if PL 93-579 is
taken literally. Generally, the Law's focus
limits "systems of records", which are defined
as any information about individuals, in any
form, that is retrievable "by reference to an

140

individual name or some other personal identi¬
fier." (O.M.B. 1975:28952). This would exclude
the vast bulk of letters to forest supervisors,
statements at public meetings, and references
in the press to concerned individuals: these
inputs are, indeed, retained in Supervisors'
offices, but they are filed under the issue
concerned rather than under the citizens' names.
Unfortunately, however, when the O.M.B. guide¬
lines discuss Subsection e,7 of the Law, affect¬
ing peoples’ First Amendment rights, the term
"record" is used. (O.M.B. 1975: 28965). Thus,
regardless of how the input is filed, a citizen's
view on a problem of national forest manage¬
ment is not retainable for consideration in
decision-making unless "the individual expressly
authorized it."

In my opinion, we have here an interesting,
though hardly unusual, political phenomenon:
Congress has passed legislation designed not
to stop the workings of government, but to
limit pernicious uses of data on individuals.
O.M.B. has, in my view, overstated the impact
of PL 93-579 on everyday agency activities.

For example, the legislation also states that
agency functioning ought not to be adversely
affected. Subsection e,l of the Law acknow¬
ledges that agencies should maintain "only
such information about an individual as is rele¬
vant and necessary to accomplish a purpose of
the agency required to be accomplished by
statute..." O.M.B. then goes on to admit, in
the guidelines, that agencies need to maintain
information about individuals to discharge
their responsibilities effectively. (O.M.B.

1975: 28960).

To summarize my views on the matter, I
do not think the Forest Service should stand
in awe of the Invasion of Privacy Act. If I
read correctly the intentions of Congress and
of the people, the agency should surely be
careful to use public input only in the ways
that are made necessary by its forest resource
management functions. The Service should be
ready to show an individual what records per¬
taining to that person have been retained, be
willing to correct any error in the record
that individual brings to the agency's attent¬
ion, refrain from selling to other organizations
(for example, sporting goods companies) lists
of people who use forest resources, inform
Congress and O.M.B. about what records are
being maintained, and refrain (if the occa¬
sion should arise) from treating a citizen
who refuses to provide his Social Security
number differently from a citizen who does so.

But I do not think the Law prevents keeping
records on public interests and inputs if the
Forest Service feels they are necessary. Mean¬
while, it might be wise for the agency to ask
Congress for legislation defining clearly its
public consultation powers.

THE PROJECT AS REVISED

My revised project description was filed
June 1, 1975. I plan to investigate in as
much detail as possible the recent history of
public consultation on the Coconino. The main
function of such an investigation is to sharpen
the intuitive aspects of preparing for decision¬
making: the process must ( necessarily, given
current restrictions on more systematic tech¬
niques) remain highly intuitive.

The Coconino's experience in dealing with
the public has been rich and varied, though
no nationally-known controversies have resulted.
I am reviewing this experience in its entirety
for at least the past 15 years; a period cover¬
ing the beginnings, development, and flowering
of the current public-participation era. A
preliminary survey of the issues that have
resulted in some degree of public interest and
controversy includes controversies in the area
of recreation, inter-forest boundary reorganiz¬
ation, road development, timber resource mana¬
gement, grasslands management, water resource
management, fire prevention campaigns and fire-
caused closures, land exchange problems, land
use plans, wilderness inclusions, wildlife,
woodcutting, stumpwood and naval stores, and
relations with city government of Flagstaff.

The study procedure is to evaluate each
case in terms of its success or failure as
an exercise in public involvement, and to try
to find patterns in the conditions associated
with successful cases. Other patterns will
be identified whenever possible: What cate¬
gories of citizens show interest in various
types of issues? Do those categories seem
more at home with particular media for public
involvement? Unfortunately for the purpose of
this paper, my revised research has just begun,
and it is too early to report substantive
conclusions .

LITERATURE CITED
Barber, James D.

1972. Citizen Politics. Chicago; Markham. 224pp.
Beach, P. F.

1974. Public Access to Policy Making in the
United States. Morristown, NJ: General
Learning Press, 26 pp.

Behan, R.W.

No date. Participation and Politics. in
Forest Service, Preparing for Public
Involvement. Portland. 49-51.

Benello, C. G. and D. Rousopoulos.

1971. The Case for Participatory Democracy.

New York: Viking Press. 212pp.

Bowman, L. and G. R. Boynton, Political Behavior
1974. Political Behavior and Public Opinion.
Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall. 422 pp

141

Bultena, G.L. and D. L. Rogers.

1974. Considerations in Determining the Pub¬
lic Interest. J. Water and Soil Cons. 29
(4): 168-173.

Caputo, D. A.

1973. The Citizen Component of Policy Evalu¬
ation. Policy Studies J. 2(2):92-96.

Cobb, R. W. and C. D. Elder.

1972. Participation in American Politics.
Boston: Allyn and Bacon. 182 pp.

Congressional Quarterly Weekly Report.

1974a. Privacy: Committees Probe Ways to
Curb Data Use. March 16: 683-684.

Congressional Quarterly Weekly Report.

1974b. Privacy: Congress Expected to vote
Controls. September 28: 2611-2614.

Converse, P. E.

1974. Comment: The Status of Non-attitudes.
Amer. Pol. Sci. R. 68 (2): 650-661.

Darling, F. F. and N. D. Eichhorn.

1970. Man and Nature in the National Parks,
in W. Anderson (ed) Politics and Environ¬
ment. Pacific Palisades, CA: Goodyear.
206-235.

Hendee, J. C. , R. C. Lucas, R. H. Tracy, Jr. T.

Staed, R. N. Clark, G. H. Stankey, and R. A.

Yarnell .

1973. Public involvement and the Forest Ser¬
vice: Experience, Effectiveness and Sug¬
gested Direction. A Report from the United
States Forest Service Administrative Study
of Public Involvement. U. S. Forest Ser¬
vice, Washington, D. C. 163 pp.

Hendee, J. C. , R. N. Clark and G. H. Stankey.

1974. A Framework for Agency Use of Public

Input in Water Resource Decision-Making.

J. Soil and Water Cons. 29 (2): 60-66.

Milbrath, L. W.

1965. Political. Participation: How and Why
Do People Get Involved in Politics. Chicago
Rand McNally. 195pp.

Nelson, T. C.

no date. Public Involvement in Forest Service
Decision-Making. Washington, D. C. : U. S.
Forest Service. 5 pp.

O.M.B. (Office of Management and Budget).

1975. Privacy Act Implementation: Guidelines
and Responsibilities. Federal Register.

40 (132): 28947-28978.

Parry, G.

1972. Participation and Politics. Manchester
U. K. : University Press. 340pp.

Pierce, J. C. and C. D. Rose.

1974. Non- Attitudes and American Public
Opinion. Am. Pol. Sci. R. 68 (2): 626-649.
U.S.D.A. Forest Service.

1971. A guide to Public Involvement in Deci¬
sion-Making. Washington, D. C. 20 pp.

U.S.D.A. Forest Service.

1974a. A Guide to Public Involvement in Deci¬
sion-Making. Washington, D. C. 22 pp.
U.S.D.A. Forest Service.

1974b. The Principal Laws Relating to Forest
Service Activities. Washington, D.C. 265pp.
Verba, S. and N. Nie.

1972. Participation in America. New York:
Harper and Row. 428 pp .

Wager, J. A. and W. S. Folkman.

1974. Public Participation in Forest Manage¬
ment Decisions. J. For. 72 (7): 405-409.

142

Development of Land Use Planning and Transportation
Planning Systems for National Forests1

Reuben N. Weisz and Ross Carde

2/

Abstract. — This paper describes how emerging computer-
aided planning support systems can be made operational. Some
existing systems, linkages between systems and interfaces
between systems and the U.S.D.A. Forest Service planning and
decision-making process are examined. Current systems develop¬
ment problems are surveyed. A few solutions are suggested.

INTRODUCTION

This paper gives an overview of the current
state of development of social and environmen¬
tal planning systems for National Forests.

While most of the papers presented at this
symposium focus specifically on leisure home
and resort development examples, this paper
addresses the topic of "man, leisure and wild¬
lands" at a more general level. Since all of
the key words in the title of this paper have
broad, general meanings, the point of departure
for this discussion will be a definition of the
key words .

National Forests

The National Forest System consists of
approximately 187 million acres of federally
owned forest, range and related lands that are
managed and protected by the U. S. Forest
Service. Approximately 40,000 U. S. F. S.
personnel are engaged in one or more aspects of
managing timber, water, range, wildlife habitat,
and recreation resources; protecting these
resources from fires, insects, diseases, and
pollution; utilizing wood resources through the
development of improved production, marketing
and engineering methods; and surveying the

— Paper presented at the symposium on
Man, Leisure, and Wildlands: A Complex
Interaction, Vail, Colorado, Sept. 14-19, 1975.

ZJ Assistant Professor, Department of
Agricultural Economics, University of Arizona,
Tucson, Arizona; Research Engineer, Rocky
Mountain Forest and Range Experiment Station,
U.S.D.A. Forest Service, Flagstaff, Arizona.
This work was partially funded by the Eisen¬
hower Consortium.

capability, suitability, and feasibility of
alternative means of employing the above resources
within the structure of the existing and future
socio-economic-environmental systems. U. S.

Forest Service sponsored research provides a
scientific base for all federal, state, and
private parties engaging in the above activities,
as well as cooperating with state and private
owners of an additional 574 million acres of
forest related land.

Systems

The National Environmental Policy Act of
1969 states that all agencies of the federal
government, shall "... utilize a systematic,
interdisciplinary approach which will insure the
integrated use of the natural and social
sciences and the environmental design arts in
planning and decision-making which may have
an impact on man's environment..." This
view is reflected in the letter and spirit of
the Forest and Rangeland Renewable Resources
Planning Act of 1974.

The dictionary (Woolf, 1973) defines a
system as "a regularly interacting or inter¬
dependent group of items forming a united
whole." The systems portrayed in this paper
are related primarily to resource analysis,
simulation or planning utilizing computer
analysis and support techniques. They are
conceived, developed or being adopted for use
by the Forest Service.

Land Use Planning and Transportation Planning

Natural resources planning involves the
development of goals, policies and procedures

143

for an organized approach to exploiting, con¬
serving and preserving the materials and
capacities supplied by nature.

A number of important sounding, popular
phrases essentially describe the same process.
These include, but are not limited to, the
following buzz-words — water resources planning,
environmental planning and energy planning.

Two related, relevant concepts for national
forest environments are land use planning and
transportation planning. In land use planning,
natural resource problems are placed within the
context of the spatial pattern, mode and timing
of land use activities. In transportation
planning, natural resource problems are
examined in the context of developing, main¬
taining, and regulating the use of multipurpose,
multimodal transportation systems. In the
National Forests, both public land use and
access are regulated by the same organization,
making a simultaneous land-use-transportation
planning process feasible. And, since both
land use planning and transportation planning
are undertaken in the pursuit of the same
objectives, merging these processes will have
a synergistic effect on the overall problem
solving capabilities of National Forest
planners and decision makers.

UNIFIED PLANNING AND DECISION
MAKING (UP & D)

Definition

Unified Planning and Decisionmaking :

A Conceptual Framework for Forest Service

Management by Carder and Oglesby (1973)
documents current Forest Service thinking
concerning the conduct of natural resource
planning. (Ibid, p. 2):

"...imagine the Forest Service
operating in such a way that all
its major decisions combine to
bring about the effective use of
the resources it controls, and that
these are consistent with the in¬
tent and spirit of pertinent laws,
directives, and other external
constraints. Imagine further that
the processes by which these
decisions are reached are systematic,
and are characterized as open, inter¬
active, sequential, adaptive, and
interdisciplinary. Also, imagine
that these major decisions are
made from a composite overall per¬
spective that is multiobjective,
multifunctional, multi res our ce ,
and multiyear. Finally, imagine

that this decision making process
is facilitated by advanced means
of generating and communicating
information. Such an approach
places major emphasis on public
interaction and inter-unit
negotiation in all phases of
planning and decision making,
with the aim of achieving full
participation and strong commitment
— at all levels — to courses of
action that reflect both top-
level policies and priorities,
and grass-roots needs and
capabilities . "

The Problem

The UP&D process necessitates efficient
and effective means of acquiring/receiving ,
interpreting, displaying and transmitting
information to planners and decision makers.

The complexity and magnitude of the problem
can be legitimately reduced to manageable
proportions by sensibly employing sophisticated
systems analysis techniques throughout the
planning process.

The Chief of the Forest Service has
stated (McGuire, 1972) that the UP&D concept
"...provides a single frame of reference for
the designers of systems and procedures to
relate to and obtain guidance from throughout
their development efforts." The purpose of
this paper is to place the development of land
use planning and transportation planning
systems within this frame of reference.

EXISTING SYSTEMS

In the UP&D process, the primary focus
of attention in the development of natural

resource planning systems has shifted from

developing and testing new systems to making

selected existing systems fully operational

and available for widespread use. Table 1
contains a partial listing of existing
natural resource planning systems that is
based on Row and Schmelling's (1971) cata¬
logue of computerized systems in the U.S.

Forest Service.

Row and Schmelling classified these
systems into the following five categories:

A. Resource Information, Collection and
Analysis Systems,

B. Resource Storage, Retrieval and
Display Systems,

C. Resource Response Simulation Systems,

D. Resource Facility Design and Operation
Planning Systems, and

144

Table 1. SOME OF THE EXISTING AND/OR DEVELOPING NATURAL RESOURCE PLANNING SYSTEMS.

A. RESOURCE INFORMATION COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS SYSTEMS

1. INFORM — Information for Management: a) Lands, b) Range, c) Recreation (RIM — Recreation
Information Management) , d) Timber, e) Transportation.

2. Forest Survey and Timber Management Inventories.

3. Compartment Examination and Inventory Systems.

4. STX — Individual Tree Measurement Samples.

5. Interpretation of Range Condition Trend Data.

6. Soil Resources Inventory.

7. Barometer Watershed Program.

8. Beaver Creek Hydrologic Data Processing System.

9. Streamflow Data Processing System.

10. Automated Weather Information System.

11. Precipitation Data Processing System.

12. Fuel Inventory System.

13. Dam Management System.

B. RESOURCE STORAGE, RETRIEVAL, AND DISPLAY SYSTEMS

1. FS-GIM — Generalized Information Management System.

2. GELO — Geographic Locator.

3. WRIS — Wildland Resource Information System.

4. TRIS — Total Resource Information System.

5. MIADS2 — Map Information Assembly and Display System.

6. R3MAP2 — Map Overlay and Display System.

7. AUTOMAP — Automatic Mapper.

8. IGEMS — Integrated Graphic Engineering Mapping System.

9. TOPAS — Topographic Analysis System.

10. CISC — Continuous Inventory of Stand Condition.

11. DRS — Data Retrieval System.

C. RESOURCE RESPONSE SIMULATION SYSTEMS

1. Timber Stand Growth and Management Simulation Models: a) PIPO TIMBERMAN (Ponderosa Pine
Timber Growth and Management Simulator, b) PROGNOSIS (Model for Stand Development),

c) TEVAP2 (Computerized Preparation of Timber Management Plans, d) TIMADS (Timber Manage¬
ment), e) TRAS (Timber Resource Analysis System).

2. Hydrologic Analysis Methods: a) ECOSIM — Ecosystem Component Simulation Models (General
Terrestrial Water Balance and Yield, Surface Erosion, and Water and Sediment Routing),

b) RCS — Resource Capability System (soil, water, and climatic event models), c) Subalpine
Water Balance Model.

3. National Fire Danger Rating System.

4. Forest Insect Population Models.

D. RESOURCE FACILITY DESIGN AND OPERATION PLANNING SYSTEMS

1. RDS — Road Design System.

2. OPTLOC — Optimal Location (of roads).

3. Computer Design for Skyline Logging.

4. VIEWIT — Landscape View Delineation.

5. FOCUS — Fire Operational Characteristics Using Simulation.

E. MULTIPLE-USE AND ENVIRONMENTAL PLANNING AND DECISION SYSTEMS

1. RAM — Resource Allocation Model.

2. FRES — Forest Range Environmental Study.

3. RCS — Resource Capability System (Resource Allocation Analysis Package) .

4. Economic Evaluation of Watersheds in the Southwest.

5. SNAFOR — Simulated National Forest Game.

6. MULTIPLOY — Forest Investment Simulation Language.

7. TAG — Transportation Analysis Group Models.

8. Scheduling Construction for Optimum Multiresource Allocation.

9. River Basin Planning.

145

E. Multiple-Use and Environmental
Planning Decision Systems.

LAND USE PLANNING AND
TRANSPORTATION PLANNING SYSTEMS

These categories are discussed in the following
paragraphs .

Resource Information, Collection
and Analysis Systems

These systems acquire information from air
photos, ground surveys and sensing devices.

The data is converted into a form that is
suitable for computer storage and retrieval
through keypunching, editing and other trans¬
formations. Information may subsequently be
summarized, tabulated and displayed.

Resource Storage, Retrieval,
and Display Systems

These systems may be used to process,
store, retrieve, update, display, overlay and
merge data in map form as well as summarize
and tabulate data in report form.

Resource Response Simulation Systems

These systems project the state of a
resource at some future time, or during some
future time periods, based on a description
of the resource state in the initial time
period, and additional information on the
rates of change of the state due to specific
treatments and/or other stimuli that affect
the resource.

Resource Facility Design and
Operation Planning Systems

These systems may be used to plan and
design facilities and operations for a
single function or resource.

Multiple-Use and Environmental Planning
and Decision Systems

These systems may be used to determine
the "best" combinations of resource activities
that are required to achieve stated goals and
objectives for a given set of planning
constraints.

An examination of Table 1 indicates that
land use planning and transportation planning
systems are really subsets of the total set
of natural resource planning systems. Tables
2 and 3 give a more detailed description of
some of the conceived, existing and/or
developing land use and transportation plan¬
ning systems.

LINKAGES BETWEEN SYSTEMS

Land use and transportation planning
systems can be created by linking together
separate, but related, subsystems from one
or more of the major categories of natural
resource planning systems. Figure 1, adapted
from the Management Sciences Staff's Report
II (MaSS, 1974b, p. 193), illustrates some
of the potential interfaces between natural
resource planning systems, land use planning
systems and transportation planning systems.

In this figure, the outputs of the
systems listed horizontally can provide inputs
to the systems listed vertically wherever a
black dot indicates a linkage. While some
of the Interfaces utilize direct linkages
between computer programs, others require
human intervention.

r

-£► INPUT

Timber Transp
Recreation Macro
Recreation Micro
Road Inventory
Traffic Surveillance
Recreation Int
Maintenance Fund
Vehicle Operating
One Lane Sim
Investment Strategy
Fire Sta Loc
Road Design
Timber RAM
Range RAM
RCS Allocation
FOCUS
TRI

GELO/WRIS
RCS Resource Sim

Figure 1. — Linkages between systems.

146

Table 2. AN OUTLINE OF SOME OF THE EXISTING LAND USE PLANNING SYSTEMS

CO CO

rH

1 — 1

rH

4-1

G

G

G

o

e

X

X

X

G

o

O

o

X

X

X

X

X

G

00

00

CO

CO

CO

CO

CO

CO

o

G

o

1 — i

i — 1

' — 1

CO

CO

CO

rH

00

rH

rH

x

•H

X

G

G

G

1 — 1

' — 1

> — 1

G

G

G

G

G

o

a

X

X

X

X

•H

•rH

•H

X

•H

CO

X

X

a

O

o

o

O

o

o

O

X

O

O

O

CO

G

X

a

X

X

CO

CO

CO

X

G

Cl

X

X

G

x

G

1

1

1

G

x

o

00

00

u

u

u

CJ

u

o

o

X

G

G

cj

o

G

o

G

•H

•H

•H

•H

•H

•H

•H

X

O

•H

•H

G

X

X

00

00

00

00

00

00

00

G

•H

00

00

G

CQ

X

G

o

o

o

o

o

o

o

x

O

rH

CO

O

o

rH

a

M

r— 1

1 — 1

1 — 1

1 — 1

rH

1 — 1

rH

•H

•H

G

CO

rH

rH

rH

G

x

o

o

o

o

O

o

O

X

X

*H

G

O

O

G

X

G

X

u

x

x

x

u

u

x

o

G

CJ

X

x

X

CJ

00

G

G

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

•H

G

G

00 X

X

CO

o

G

X

>>

X

X

Cl

G

•H

X

*H

•H

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

w

CO

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

G

•

G

G

•H

X

CO

X

•H

4H

X

Cl

X

•

00

4-J

O

o

E

CO

G

G

CO

rH

o

•H

3

O

X

X

4-J

•

G

•H

G

X

>

CO

U

U

o

3

00

CO

X

X

G

X

•H

4-J

4-J

G

X

G

X

G

CO

G

G

4->

G

CO

CO

•U

G

G

•H

G

£

rH

G

G

4-1

CJ

N

o

G

G

CJ

»H

4-J

CJ

O

X

X

G

G

•H

CJ

O

4-4

E

3

o

i — 1

X

G

u

G

E

CJ

O

G

O

X

4H

3

E

E

4-J

•H

CO

4-J

•

4-J

X

X

E

CO

•H

G

G

•

G

X

3

X

4H

4-1

X

•

G

CO

G

G

4->

•H

00

CO

4H

G

G

G

G

O

O

x

CO

G

a

X

G

X

•

G

G

G

G

o

E

E

•H

O

o

G

E

G

G

X

rH

G

X

G

•

X

X

G

00

•

G

E

X

G

C

£

C

CO

X

G

3

G

O

4-1

X

X

G

G

G

G

G

CO

00

4-1

O

O

G

•H

CO

00

G

X

E

•H

CO

£

•H

>

4-J

E

X

O

E

G

G

•H

•H

a

rH

G

O

00

CO

CO

X

O

•H

O

•H

G

G

X

X

00

4-J

X

G

G

CO

X

•H

£

O

CO

CO

CO

CO

G

G

4-1

i — 1

G

i-i

G

G

G

G

x

X

CO

X

O

O

O

X

G

G

G

CO

O

4-1

X

G

X

E

rH

•H

G

O X
•H O

EGO)

CO

' — I I — I

•H X

O G O

CO G CO

X CO
3 G
Cl

E §
O G
cj G

G
>-. rH
G G
rH >
CL CL)
CO

CO

X G
G -H

e-H

G «H
G G
X G
X
X

G -

X

•

X

CO

X

c

•H

e

i — 1

G

X

X

00

G

G

•H

X

•H

X

•H

X

00

G

CO

G

E

G

*H

G

•H

3

1 — 1

X

00

G

X

•

X

X

E

•H

X

G

X

X

E

G

G

E

G

G

G

X

s

G

E

X

•

G

O

G

G

a

CO

G

G

•H

X

G

G

4H

o

•H

•H

G

X

X

G

a

•H

G

G

CO

•H

•H

•

G

>

G

G

00

X

X

3

CJ

CJ

O

G

X

00

c

X

G

00

G

•H

G

i — 1

*rj

CO

G

O

G

X

X

G

O

X

X

o

G

O

•H

G

O

00

N

O

00

O

o

O

S

X

X

E

X

•H

O

3

•H

O

>% X

00

o

G

CO

CO

X

X

O

i — 1

G

G

4-1

o

•

•H

o

•H

X

•H

CO

O

CO

G

X

G

i — 1

X

•H

rH

G

o

X

X

•H

G-

•H

rH

O

O

O

rH

G

4-1

X

4-J

Cl

X

CO

tH

G

i — 1

G

G

G

CJ

G

CO

1 — 1

X

CJ

X

4-1

i — 1

G

X

G

•H

•H

o

G

X

G

G

0)

co

G

O

•H

X

U

rH

G

O

O

3

X

O

CO

O

G

X

G

X

X

G

G

rH

rH

4-1

rH

•H

3

G

O

G

O

G

•H

CJ

X

00

CO

X

•H

a

u

00 rH

G

G

O

3

X

G

3

4-»

3

G

3

oo

00

X

G

CO

X

rH

X

G

o

G

X

G

rO

•H

3

O

G

3

i — 1

G

G

a

G

E

G

a

G

G

X

•

G

rH

X

•N

o

X

1

G

G

X

X

a

X

•H

x

G

G

G

X

G

X

E

H

X

•H

G

4-1

CO

X

*H

<

X

X

CJ

X

X

r-i-1

•H

G

G

X

E

CO

G

x

3

X

X

>

E

X

o

E

o

G

O

G

c

u

O

G

G

a)

G

G

G

§

X

X

X

X

•

3

•H

G

o

O

S

CO

V-/

G

G

4-1

G

4H

00

4H

U

G

G

X

G

X

C/l

X

X

G

G

O

G

G

G

CO

4-4

i — l

X

4H

CO

o

G

00

•H

00

G

X

G

o

G

3

G

U

G

X

?

X

X

rH

£

X

4H

O

G

X

G

CJ

o

G

G

co

G

G

G

G

G

CO

rH

a

o

X

CJ

X

X

S

X

•

O

CO

rO

o

3

CO

CO

O

>

X

G

G

X

CJ

3

G

E

•H

G

•H

G

•H

X

•H

G

•H

X

X

G

G

X

E

CO

G

G

CO

rH

•H

G

G

G

G

E

S

G

x

U

00

•H

X

CO

3

CO

CO

CO

•H

G

•

4-1

X

3

CO

3

G

X

X

G

E

X

CO

CO

CO

CO

G

rH

G

o

O

G

o

G

CO

cr

G

G

X

CO

X

X

O

G

X

G

rH

X

CO

rH

X

G

>

G

4-J

4-J

X

X

3

>

G

< — l

X

rH

4-4

X

X

•H

CO

X

X

G

G

G

rH

X

G

G

X

CL

O

G

x

O

09

G

CO

G

CO

•H

x

•H

X

o

3

G

G

1 — 1

3

3

1 — 1

X

U

X

rH

3

rH

3

X

X

CO

•H

CO

X

X

G

X

•H

00

•H

X

•H

X

CQ

G

X

X

X

G

X

G

X

G

X

X

•H

o

o

•H

G

CJ

G

Q*

G

•H

X

X

X

CO

g

CO

B

CO

G

G

G

s

X

X

G

X

£

X

a

X

£

E

§

o

1 — 1

E

X

rH

X

£

G

X

CO

rH

G

X

X

E

X

CQ

G

CQ

•H

CQ

G

G

G

o

G

CO

G

o

X

G

o

o

o

•H

rH

rH

•H

O

G

o

o

G

G

CQ

3

•H

G

G

•H

G

<

x

<3

X

<

i — 1

X

O

cj

G

X

3

X

CJ

w

X

a

CJ

CJ

CO

X

<

i — 1

a

CJ

X

CJ

O

G

<

E

P4

G

C

X

G

/-S

G

G

E

O

G

O

G

•H

O

•H

X

CO

X

•H

X

CO

G

G

X

G

G

rH

G

CJ

cn

•rH

3

CJ

O

rH

co B

O

rH

G

•H *H

rH

rH

X

X

co in

rH

<

•H

-H

c

rH

X 3

rH G

G

•H

O O

G co

G

a

X

S

CJ

X

G

G

< o

X

3

Cl

S G

Cl

3

O

G

G CJ

a CO

o

CO

O

X -H

•H G

CO

G

Px 00

§ P4

G

o4

G

o

O

(04

N— ✓

O

00 rH

G G

CO

•H

CO

CJ

04

rH

G

O

X

G

G

X

rH

0

*3

3

G

*H

O

•H

X

G

CO

CO

O

G

•H

•H

04

X

X

X

G

G

G

X

X CO

O

2

G

CO rH

O

<r

X

EJ

O

rH

Pm

0

1

X O

« — 1

X

co

2

CO

P4

CO

G H

<J

X

x

Pd

H

M

O

H

04

<5

H

G

G

G

CJ

CO

P4

H

^ co

W

p2

p4

CO

G

X

s

CO

§

o

w

P4

CO £3

H

0

03

-H

O

G

E

M

P4

J2j

M

' >

<3

w

G co

X

00

•H

G

PH

CO

W

O

Q

S O

£

Q

rH

3

G

EH

O

CL rH

O

X

•H

CO G

CO

O

00

X

•

•

•

•

•

• •

•

•

•

G

G

G

G

X

u

X

G

4H

00 X

•H

•«“)

Q <

04

PX

•H

O

X

O

G

rH

<r

m

O

o4

3

Q

147

MULTIPLOY Assists in formulation and evaluation Simulation Language

of forestry investments and management regimes for
forest tracts or stands.

Table 3. AN OUTLINE OF SOME OF THE EXISTING TRANSPORTATION PLANNING SYSTEMS.

G G
O CJ
•H G

M

G

O

G

rH

G

•H

O

•H

G

G

a

J-i

42

G

•H

•H

G

•H

ij

•H

o

rH

G

4-1

>

rH

G

G

S

G

•H

G

J-i

Td

r— 1

G

4-1

44

00

rH

G

o

G

G

O

•H

G

o

G

G

O

a

B

G

hJ

O

J-I

•H

<

rH

G

•H

Pi

<3

G

G

U

•H

B

4-1

G

a

a

G

G

G

J-i

J-4

G

G

o

G

0^

a

a

G

o

J-i

4-1

■M

G

i — 1

•H

•H

G

4-1

00

G

a

O

G

X

4-1

G

CJ

G

>>

G

J-4

G

G

G

•H

G

pi

CO

Pm

CJ

<

a

W

hO

IH

a
o
00
< — I

<d

42

-u

g

cm

a

3

■S 6

G 42

I I

O O

a a

P-i CM

CO

a

• G

a G
O G

G

42

CO G
CD >
G

- O
CO 4->

I U rH
a G *H
CO G 0
G &

> 3 G
G

£

o

G

1

O

•

G

G

r£

G

G

G

G

G

G

■M

CU

G

G

4H

4-J

O

>

G

O

G

G

42

G

G

G

•H

G

G

G

G

•H

•H

4-J

U

4-»

1

G

G

O

J-i

•H

G

•

< — 1

>>

G

4-»

JJ

G

J-i

3

J-i

G

Td

•H

4-»

00

J-i

4-4

G

G

42

J-i

4-1

G

U

42

O

00

O

G

G

G

O

G

4-1

•H

4-1

O

G

3

O

G

o

G

G

4-J

4-1

G

J-i

rX

42

a

G

O

G

G

J-i

s— ^

G

Td

G

4-1

O

4-»

•H

J-l

*H

J-I

a

G

•H

i — 1

O

O

G

G

•H

Td

4-1

Td

4-1

M

G

G

rH

00

o

•H

3

G

4-J

3

•H

G

CJ

G

>

G

G

G

G

M

a

G

3

G

s

M

rH

' — 1

G

Cu

4-J

•

a

M

•H

>

•H

a

G

G

a

■M

G

G

•H

G

G

•H

4-»

1

G

G

4-1

O

G

G

o

G

4-1

•H

Td

J-i

cu

a

•H

Td

J-4

G

42

M

G

44

>

G

J-4

Cu

G

C

j-i

G

G

M

G

G

G

•H

o

B

-

4-1

G

CJ

G

J-i

G

O

J-i

•H

4-1

G

•H

CJ

•H

CU

J-i

4-»

•H

42

G

>

*

G

O

J-I

CU

G

U

00

O

U

G

•H

4-»

G

X

CJ

G

J-I

*H

CJ

i — 1

G

£

Td

G

G

00

G

•H

G

CU

G

J-i

G

J-4

Td

o

G

O

O

4-1

•H

G

O

4-J

G

42

G

J-i

J-i

J-4

4-J

a

4-1

4-1

G

4-J

3

G

G

J-I

G

•H

4-4

CJ

4-1

G

•H

G

G

a

G

G

O

G

o

o

4-1

4-1

4-1

a

a

4-J

G

'4-i

4-J

G

•H

J-i

\ — 1

4-1

•H

U

G

G

G

4-1

G

3

•H

O

G

G

J-i

G

G

G

1

G

a

4-1

O

J-i

G

J-i

•H

O

rO

J-i

G

M

G

M

J-I

•H

M

G

G

a

0)

O

G

G

4-1

42

G

•H

4-1

>

•H

G

• 4-J

■M

J-I

O

M

42

G

o

4-1

•H

U

42

O

4-1

J-i

•H

G

4->

•H

G G

G

O

*H

G

CJ

a

4-1
CO

-X a
G O
•H *H •
rH > CO
G G
O 42 G

a £ a
G G
O G

a

G G
G O
cr -h

4-)

G
42 G
o

d H LI
G CO
> G
G G a
a a O

4d

G G 4-1
■Mi — I O
G G
00 CM £
GOO
4 (XH
00 4-1

oo a

G O CO
a G

CO 4-1 M

CO

CO

O •

H ^
U CO
G ^
C

CO *H

X

4-1 G

G

G CJ
U -H
O Td
» — I G
rH J-I
<2 Pi

G
G 42

O Td
G O
a *H *H
G >
40 G G
0H,C
G 00 G
G C rO
•H

G CO rH
00 G
a G >
G G
« — I O J— i
M -M
G G

mi G

§3

G M
cr -h

G

M Td
G G
00 -u
G G
U O
G 00 O
00 i — I
G

G
B G

G

G co

O CO 0s *H
■M W G Q

•H G
•U O
G *H
G M
•H G
M 4-»

CO a
G O _

G PG 4^ C4

CO

a

■M O
CO -H
G Td
a G
O U

G

a
G

CO

G

Td Ml

G G

a CO

o w

CO CO
Cl, G
•H O
a -H
U 4-J

G

G G
00 -H
•H M
CO CO
CO G

<3 Td

CO G
G a
•H

Ml G
•H O

r— )

•H Td
40 G
G CO
40 G
O 40
U

CM CO

G

G O
G -H

4-1 -M

G G
•H G
G -H

O 4-J
rH G
G G
U Td

P G H
•H G
a Td G

4-1 G
O 42

a

G

'S
G
G

G

X G

rH -M fd 4-4

G

■H 4-»
00 G
•H 42
5-4 4J

O

G

- G
G B
C4 G
■H G

d 3

G
G

CJ Td

•H

4-4 Td

G

G Td

G

P 4J H
O G rH

m a G

CM -H £
4-1

G G O
•H W G

G

G

rH G
00 -H
G 42

*H 4J
G -H

G

a

G O
Cu 4-J

o a

a
G G
40 -H

a G

•H G
M G

00

G G
•H B
M -H
G 4-1
Cl,

a Td

S 3

G •*
•H G
G

G O
M G
G G
•H 4-»
G G
CO -H
<£ Td

J-4

G G

G G

4-J CM

G

a

a

•H
G -M
O

G

G

G G
00 G
G

H £
•H 4-1
G

•v 4d

G

G 42
•H

J-4

~ G
Td 40

g a

G -H
3 4-1

00
G
•H

J-4

G
Td
•H

g 4-» : G
G Ml Td
O G 4-4 O
CJ (P O G

G 2

4-1
G G
J-i G
G 40 G

G

G

G

a

rH

G

rH

Td

rH

iH

Td

G

G

Td

i — 1

G

O

G

G

O

G rH

G

O

G

Td

a

Td

Td

a

Td g

O

a

Td

o

O

o

G Td

•H

o

r — i

a

G

a

rH

a

G

G O

a

rH

a

G

O

G

O

cu a

a

G

Td

G

•H

G

Td

G

•H

G

o

>

G

o

O

a

O

o

O

a

Q

cu

G

o

a

*H

3

•H

a

*H

3

1 a

o

a

*H

rH

a

42

a

a

42

G *H

a

H

a

G

rH

G

G

*H

CJ

G

G

•H

O G

CM

CJ

Td

G

O

a

a

G

O

a

a

G 3

00

G

o

Td

*H

G

a

a

•H

G

a

G a

G

G

a

a

o

G

a

G

G

a

a

G

G

Td a

rH

•H

a

B

I

i — 1

G

G

•H

a

G

G

•H

G o

cu

a

a

a

G

CJ

o

n

<

CJ

O

Q

cu cu

B

3

<C

a

42

Td

O

1

1

1

O

|

1

6 cu

*H

O

1

o

3

o

< — 1

o

o

o

rH

O

O

H O

CO

H

o

cu

CO

a

*H

a

a

a

H

a

a

a

G

<3

u

a

CJ

<3

CJ

CJ

CJ

G

M

G

O

o

G

a

3

G

a

o

a

a

*H

*H

•H

a

G

a

G

H

j-i

a

*H

H

G

a

CJ

CJ

•H

G

G

G

•

•

•

•H

•

•

•

a

42

G

a

G

42

a

a

G

42

CJ

G

CM

J-4

42

CJ

a

G

•

•

*H

Pi

*H

(N

H

«H

<3

02

148

Phase II Sub-model Finds the least cost combination of investment in pro- Mixed Integer

jects (construction and maintenance costs) and haul gram

routes (operating costs) .

Phase III Sub-model Maximizes the total value of harvested timber minus Mixed Integer

the associated project investment and haul costs. gram

X

cu

CO

4-1

cu

X

X

X

cd

d

d

(U

d

60

d

r— 1

•H

60

cd

X

cd

d

o

CU

X

d

CO

d

CO

•H

|

•H

1

Pd

d

CQ <U

CL

eg cu

g

o

X

o

o

g

B x

S

S x

g

X

cd

Li

4-i

cd

3

cd d

o

cd d

cd

PL,

X

CL,

O

cd

X X

o

X X

x

d

CU

i — i

X

60 (U

60 CU

60

X

6

X

i — 1

Li

cd

60

o o

X

o o

O

cd

*H

o

cd

CU

d

O

X o

d

X o

X

o

CO

2

a

X

o

X

CL X

cd

CL X

CL B

•H

•H

B

X

P-,

CL

CL

X

X

60

Li

Li

4-J

60 d

X

X

X

CO x

X 4J

cd

d

CU

cu

cd

d S5

cd

a

CU X

o

S a> x

o

<U X

B

X

x

x

B

X

X

X cu

o

cd x cu

o

60 X

cu

g

d x

d

CU

B cu

d

3

d x

X

x d x

X

Cl) o

X

g

CL CU

CL

X

B 60

CL

cd

CL Cd

X

60 CL cd

X

X 60

X

cd

s x

a

4-J

cd Li

S

d

B x

d

o B X

d

d X

cd

Li

o o

o

cd

L, Cd

O

so

o <u

cd

X O (U

cd

M <3

2

60

CJ 2

cj

2

60 X

CJ

Q

cj cd

X

CL cj cd

X

X

l

>

60

cu

X

d

•

o

X

X

cd

d

rH

d

o

X

X

so

4-1

X

CO

X

CO

•H

d

CJ

cu

•H

d

CO

X

o

cu

i

X

cu

X

o

*H

i

B

X

X

cd

•H

d

CU

s

X

CO

CO

X

CJ

cd

•H

X

d

cu

cd

cd

4-i

d

•H

1 — 1

o

cd

CU

•*

(U

d

X

X

(U

•H

X

o

d

O

X

o

cd

d

X

4-i

X

X

X

cd

<u

a

>

cd

•H

X

•H

rH

d

X

X

X

cu

cu

cu

CO

i — i

CL

d

B

d

•

X

cd

4-i

rH

cu

X

X

a)

X

cd

S

CO

cu

CU

cd

o

X

o

cr

<u

CO

CO

a

o

CU

B

cd

cu

X

•H

•H

<U

CL

60

X

X

X

X

cu

CO

d

<u

•H

X

cu

cu

CJ

a

4-4

d

X

d

CO

d

CU

CO

cd

X

•H

cd

X

CO

B

O

60

X

d

CO

o

cr

o

X

X

d

d

o

CJ

X

So

cu

B

cd

CJ

d

4-i

cd

•H

<U

CJ

cd

d

o

o

X

d

<u

CL

X

X

d

cu

X

o

CO

d

60

X

X

a

•H

60

X

d

CL

CO

rH

cd

X

X

d

d

X

X

cd

X

X

d

X

o

X

CL

d

•H

So

cd

S

(U

cd

X

o

cd

u

X

cu

4-i

X

cd

X

CO

o

60

cu

CO

CJ

d

X

CU

CO JD

cu 6

4-1 d

X

Cd

O

a) x
> c

03 d

d

60 X

O X
4-i a)

x
co

60

cs

d

d

CO

X

•H

o

X

CU

•H

a)

d

•X

d

so

X

d

cu

O

<u

X

•H

d

o

CO

X

CO

X

cd

•H

X

•

-d

cd

cd

X

cu

X

X

<u

X

o

X

cd

CU

4-i

SO

o

60

60

x

CJ

rH

CO

>

•H

So

X

X

cd

•H

X

O

iH

CO

o

X

cd

CU

CO

cd

cd

CO

d

X

X

cd

•

X

a

CO

X

60

•H

cd

X

cd

X

X

cu

S

<U

o

o

60

CJ

x

B

X

cd

X

•H

d

d

4-i

d

d

o

60

o

X

cd

c

2

X

X

a

CO

<u

X

60

o

CJ

a)

•H

o

cd

X

d

X

CO

X

(U

X

o

CU

S

cd

o

4-i

CU

*H

X

X

•

•H

CJ

•H

o

X

6

X

d

d

X

CL

d

X

o

2

cd

d

X

CJ

d

o

X

X

cd

X

cd

a

•

CO

X

cd

3

cu

o

o

•

<u

60

X

X

•H

•H

X

4-i

X

a

X

x

cd

CO

CO

o

So X

i — i

•H

CO

X

60

d

CU

cd

•

60

4-i

o

cu

o

X

60

d

X

60

cu

X

so

<u

CL)

0)

X

X

cd

*r-i

d

X

CO

60

d

4-i

CO

d

s

CO

2

d

CL)

d

o

CO

d

>

cu

>

<u

>

cd

d

X

X

CO

•H

d

•H

CU

X

o

X

X

60

CL

•X

•H

o

•H

d

X

d

X

d

<u

CJ

•H

X

d

d

d

a

CO

•H

X

CO

•H

<u

<u

(U

•H

o

X

X

CJ

x

•H

d

o

d

X

o

cd

cd

o

•H

So

X

cd

x

cd

X

d

rH

d

CO

a

CJ

CJ

3

S

CO

d

X

X

B

CO

•H

4-i

rH

cu

•

B

CO

X

cd

60

CU

X

0)

d

(U

CU

CU

o

o

X

cu

CO

1 — 1

X

4-i

cd

X

X

o

CJ

d

d

<u

X

d

i — i

X

CJ

1 — 1

CJ

X

0k

X

•x

X

X

CO

X

a

X

cd

cd

d

X

o

X

B

60

o

o

*H

X

•

cd

cu

X

d

0)

d

CO

a

1 — 1

X

cd

d

CO

•H

cd

X

X

cd

cd

X

o

d

rH

•H

CO

X

cu

CO

CO

3

CO

cd

o

0)

cd

X

o

o

So

X

x

X

X

60

>

4-i

cu

•H

X

>

d

So

•

d

d

d

CJ

B

•H

B d

X

CJ

CO

CO

X

o

rH

cd

X

X

X

cd

cd

o

o

*H

cd

CO

d

o

cu

d

cu

4-1

x 3

•H

CL

d

cd

d

X

CO

X

CO

•

CO

X

X

X

i — 1

i — i

d

X

o

X

X

60

CO

o

CO

X

cd

X

X

CO

•H

CJ

X

cu

<u

•H

CO

(U

X

d

cd

a)

o

d

d

d

0)

•

CO

4-i

d

<u

cu

cu

d

d

•H

X

d

CO

r— 1

X

o

o

X

CO

X

•H

CO

rH

♦H

'0

•x

•X

X

cu

X

d

o

N

X

CO

X

cd

cd

CO

X

CO

cr

X

P<

cd

CL

cu

X

aj

X

X

cd

cd

X

cd

X

cd

CJ

X

•H

•x

X

X

*H

cj

X

X

CO

X

1 — 1

•H

o

3

X

CO

CO

CO

CO

(U

X

•*

X

CO

•H

B

CO

B

cd

CJ

d

CL>

X

a

o

cd

C0

X

CO

X

CO

(U

d

CU

o

X

d

d

o

X

d

cu

X

•H

X

•H

X

o

3

>

O

cd

•X

CO

X

X

•H

X

•H

>

X

1 — 1

o

60

d

cd

CJ

CL

X

i — i

S

d

CO

•H

X

CO

X

CL)

i — i

d

d

X

CJ

X

X

X

cd

cd

CD

CO

cd

CO

cd

CJ

(U

CJ

d

X

X

o

CL

X

cu

•H

o

eg

d

d

CO

d

CL

X

a)

o

d

O

CL

d

X

X

o

X

CO

X

CO

X

CU

CO

cd

X

P*4

X

fL

o

CJ

PS

X

CJ

-2

•H

3

<c

cd

O

<

X

o

•H

rH

O

3

H

a

X

X

<

CO

<

X

H

So

a;

d

O

O

>

So

3

s

CL

X

X

rH

X

60

d

s

CL

X

/-s

d

CU

o

X

cu

cu

cu

d

cd

X

CO

CO

X

X

CO

X

X

X

CO

B

cd

X

o

CO

cd

o

cd

d

CO

X

C

o

cd

cu

£

2

(U

rH

CJ

X

•H

So

cd

CO

o

PS

o

CJ

cu

d

d

X

cd

CO

o

X

X

PS

d

•H

iH

I — 1

cr

B

60

CO

S

PS

CO

d

X

l

3

>

CU

a)

*H

•H

d

d

So

X

d

CO

i — i

X

>

X

d

CO

X

X

X

60

X

X

cd

X

X

a>

cd

o

X

X

d

cd

•H

cd

cd

d

H

•H

X

X

2

CJ

X

cd

cu

o

CO

B

d

o

/— s

o-*'

<U

d

•

H

CU

cd

X

S

<u

•H

<

X

CO

>

X

✓— S

d

H

o

(U

X

p

X

X

X

CO

u

X

CU

o

Pi

CL

CO

60

d

cd

H

cu

d

d

(U

>

•H

CO

o

<u

d

X

o

X

X

CO

o

d

•H

X

•H

cu

>

•H

cd

d

X

u

L

X

d

X

a

CO

d

0)

d

X

o

o

X

o

CO

o

o

B

X

•H

cd

cu

>>

3

X

X

cd

PS

CJ X

cd

CO

CL

B

X

•H

3

cd

X

X

X

rH

X

CJ

X

X

a

CO

V— X

O X

X

a)

CO

(U

d

X

X

cu

d

X

o

cd

1

•H

<u

X cu

o

X

x cd

u

d

d

x

cu

X

60

X

o

CO

X

d

<u

X

X

cd x

X

d

CO

H a

o

cr

3

CO

>

cd

O

CJ

cj

X

CL

<

d

<u

o

o o

X

d

q

fL O

CL

X

L

So

d

X

X

<u

N— '

d

o

>

£

<

PL

2

O X

CO

d

H

CO

X

H

PL

PS

•H

CU

d

-d

CO

B

X

d

cd

a

X

•H

•H

•

•

•

•

•

•

u

cu

•

•

•

CU

<3

Pn

X

X

CM

CO

m

v£>

H

H

X

CM

CO

rH

X

cd

•

•

•

•

H

<J

Q

w

P-,

S x
a) cu

4-» S
CO X
So X
CO fL,

X 60
d d
a> *h

§ Hi

60 s

03

a §

S *H

CO

cd x
x a
cd <u
Q Q

149

METHODS FOR EVALUATING
INPUTS AND OUTPUTS

Land use and transportation planning
systems cannot be applied without some infor¬
mation on the costs and the benefits of system
inputs and outputs. Economists have struggled
for years to develop good systems for
evaluating quantifiable and priceable factor
inputs and outputs; yet, their studies still
conclude with the remark that "more conceptual
and empirical work needs to be done."

Some current research is devoted to
quantifying nonpriceable factors that were
formerly nonquantifiable — for example, the
method for measuring scenic beauty by Daniel
and Boster (1975). However, more work needs
to be done in this area, too.

Some factors can neither be priced nor
quantified. Methods for evaluating land
use and access alternatives in terms of non¬
priceable and nonquantifiable factors should
also be developed. Factor profile analysis
(Oglesby, Bishop, and Willeke, 1970) is one
technique that might be adapted for this
purpose .

RESOURCE RELATED ADMINISTRATIVE SYSTEMS

In addition to cataloguing natural resource
planning systems, Row and Schmelling also
identified a number of administrative systems
which should be closely coordinated with
resource planning. These systems include all
the program, budget, and reporting systems,
personnel and fiscal management systems, and
other planning and control systems involved
with the operational phases of resource manage¬
ment. For example, in timber management, these

include

the

1.

Timber Sale Accounting System

2.

Timber Statistics

3.

Timber Sale Accomplishment and
Allowable Cut

4.

Timber Management and Control

Report

5.

Quarterly Report of Timber Cut
Sold, and

and

6.

Regional Annual Reforestation
Stand Improvement Report.

and

A good example of an administrative system
is the set of computer programs called "DyAM",
for Dynamic Activity Management, that is
currently being developed. The system has
been described by Carder and Oglesby (1973,
p. 202):

Where implemented, it would provide
estimates of resources (funds and
personnel) needed to carry out planned
work programs, and it would auto¬
matically display comparisons of
resources needed and resources avail¬
able. It would provide means to
aggregate and disaggregate programs,
projects, and activities into packages
suitable for dialogue and decision
making at different levels. And it
would give managers at every level
the capability to continually track
and directly compare actual progress
with that planned, to pinpoint potential
problems, and to determine the needed
level of manpower or funds. This
would be done by project, by program,
by function, by division, or other
criterion so that schedules or
resource allocations can be adjusted
in a timely manner.

DyAM is an administrative system that is in¬
tended to be a part of a feedback control
model for planning and decision making on
national forests. This system is called
the ABC Depiction System since it provides
decision makers information on Actions,

Budgets and Controls (Suhr, 1973).

Just as various natural resource planning
systems can be linked together to form land
use and transportation planning systems,
natural resource planning systems and resource
related administrative systems can be linked
together to form a unified planning and
decision^- making system for National Forest
management. The Feedback Control Model in
Figure 2 illustrates the major linkages
required.

CURRENT NATIONAL FOREST MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS
DEVELOPMENT PROBLEMS

The Forest Service has identified the
following systems development and implementa¬
tion problem areas (Carder and Oglesby, 1973,

p. 61-62):

Almost all functional divisions and
many field units have been sponsoring
the development of computer-based
models and computer-aided systems for
a variety of purposes. Some have
been partially implemented and have
proven to be quite helpful. But as
things now stand, these various
innovative efforts are still widely
fragmented, with each functional
division and administrative unit
independently charting and pursuing
its own course in this area.

150

151

New system development efforts continue
to be initiated by many groups and
on many fronts with no mechanism for
learning about them, for coordinating
them with related ongoing efforts
elsewhere.

Duplications of effort are in
evidence, both in developing new
systems and in collecting data for
using them. There is no procedure
for evaluating their relative
potential merits or for deciding
which merit accelerated develop¬
ment and implementation and which
efforts should be terminated or
redirected.

For some applications, the in¬
tended user is faced often now
with an array of alternative
new tools and techniques without
a satisfactory basis for choosing
among them, and often lacking some
of the means for implementing any
of them.

Too little attention is devoted
to problems of implementing a new
tool or technique once it is
developed. Service-wide implementa¬
tion is often attempted without
fully assessing the impact on local
managers, the need for training,
and the wide diversity in manage¬
ment conditions and needs among
different areas.

Many individuals and groups through¬
out the organization, recognizing
the need, have developed their ideas
into tools and techniques intended
to assist with multiobjective, multi¬
functional, multiyear problem solving,
but find themselves frustrated as
they can find no framework or
machinery to push implementation of
the fruits of their labor.

CURRENT APPROACHES TO
SYSTEMS DEVELOPMENT PROBLEMS

Several different approaches to addressing
the systems development concerns of Forest
Service managers are currently in progress.

A few of the studies that should help define
the "sideboards" of future avenues of
research, development and implementation
will be identified in the following paragraphs.

Management Sciences Staff Analyses

The Management Sciences Staff of the
Forest Service is currently examining
existing computer support systems for
planning. Their first interim report (MaSS,
1974a, p. 1-2) states that the study objectives
are to determine:

1. The types of planning situations
for which existing systems are to
be used.

2. The utility of these systems.

3. The applicability and transferability
of these systems to a variety of
locations .

4. The gaps wherein no computer support
systems for planning exist or are
being developed, and priorities for
closing the gaps.

5. The criteria for managing systems
development including alternative
strategies for implementing systems
and requirements for training users.

Systems for Interfacing Systems

A strong effort is currently underway to
develop systems for interfacing systems.

The idea is to create a standardized set of
compatible component systems that could be
used individually, interchangeably, or in
combination with each other, depending on
the needs of forest users.

The software core for the consolidated,
integrated, standardized set of systems
includes, among other systems,

1. the Forest Service Generalized
Information Management System
(FS-GIM) for communicating numeric
and textual information through
user oriented statements,

2. the Geographic Locator System (GELO)
for managing mappable information,
and

3. the Self Generating Master System
(SELGEM) that all forest users can
utilize for gaining information on
all systems accessible to them
through a central computer center.

Systems for Encouraging the Use of Systems

Several studies are examining the problem
of how existing and developing systems can
be fit into the culture, and planning and
decision-making environment of the Forest
Service. The Lingwood and Morris

152

Table 4. SOME TRADITIONAL CRITERIA
FOR EVALUATING SYSTEMS

CRUSK Study of the Forest Service Research

Branch (1975) describes the research and
development environment of the Forest Service,
and the flow and use of knowledge that it
produces. The Lundeen and Dyrland "Proposal
for Accelerating the Use of Analytical
Techniques for Land Use Planning in the
Forest Service" (1974) contains some con¬
ceptual ideas on operational needs, such as
training strategies and organizational staff
requirements , for applying analytical tools
to the land use planning problem. Deterline
Associates' Design for the Transfer of
Technical Information (1974) presents strategies
for securing increased use of newly developed,
technologically advanced systems.

CRITERIA FOR EVALUATING SYSTEMS

The Management Sciences Staff has noted
that (MaSS, 1974b, p.5):

It is unfortunately not possible
to structure a complete decision table
by which a Forest Supervisor could
correlate the characteristics of his
forest and organization with model
features and characteristics so that
at the end of a number of check
points, the most suitable model
would emerge as is done, for
example, in a plant identification
encyclopaedia. The biological,
economic, administrative, and social
dimensions of a forest cannot be
sufficiently structured for such a
decision table.

Nevertheless, developers and users of
natural resource planning systems should be
aware of current thinking on relevant
criteria for evaluating systems. These
criteria can be divided into two groups.

First, there are the traditional criteria
that systems analysts deem important from a
strict systems point of view (see Table 4
for examples). Second, there is the emerging
set of criteria that appears to reflect the
current needs of systems users (see Table 5
for examples). But to effectively employ
such criteria in guiding future systems
development and interfacing will require
some rather extensive systems testing and
evaluation work. This will be necessary
in order to make such criteria operative.
Currently, no administrative machinery
has been identified within the Forest
Service that appears to be well suited
for directing or coordinating such work.
However, while it may be expensive, it
almost certainly will be far less expensive
than to do otherwise.

1. What is the purpose of the system?

2. What does it do?

3. What information does it produce?

4. How well does it perform?

(a) Is it accurate?

(b) Is it consistent?

(c) Can these be measured?

5. How much uncertainty is attached to the
use of the system?

6. How does the system compare with other
systems?

7. Is past research adequately documented?

8. What are its input requirements?

9. Can input requirements be satisfied by
available data?

10. How valid is the criterion used by the
system?

11. How does the system handle other criteria?

12. What is taken as "given" by the system?

13. Has the system been adequately tested?

14. Is it valid from a theoretical point of
view?

SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS

This paper has described the development
of land use planning and transportation
planning systems for National Forest manage¬
ment .

The main points that have been made in
this presentation of the state-of-the-art
include the following:

1. The complexity and magnitude of the
natural resources planning problem
necessitates a systematic approach
to planning and decision making.

2. Land use planning and transportation
planning must be conducted simultane¬
ously within the context of natural
resources planning.

3. Unified Planning and Decision making
provides a single frame of reference
for the designers of systems.

4. The primary focus of attention in

the development of systems has shifted
from creating new systems to making
existing systems fully operational
and available for widespread use.

5. For this reason, an examination of
existing systems is necessary.

153

Table 5. ADDITIONAL CRITERIA FOR EVALUATING FOREST SYSTEMS

1. If the decision were made to implement the system, what would be required
in the way of funds, personnel, equipment, technical assistance, training
and information?

2. Is the system consistent with the Unified Planning and Decision making con¬
cepts and compatible with the evolving "Model for Forest Service Management"
(Figure 2) and process for management of National Forests?

(a) At what stage in the process is this system applicable?

(b) What informational needs does the system satisfy at this stage?

3. How compatible is this system with other natural resource planning systems

and resource related administrative systems?

(a) Are there discontinuities in form, format, units, scale
and precision between this system and other systems?

(b) Does the new system fill in major gaps in the informa¬
tional coverage of existing systems?

(c) Do overlaps in coverage between this system and existing
systems require unnecessary, costly duplications of effort
in keeping all systems current?

4. How easy is it to add data items to, or manipulate data within, the system?

5. How easily can forest managers and users and other interest groups compre¬

hend the system, and the system's results?

6. How much did (or will) the system cost to develop and implement?

7. How cost-effective is the system?

8. Did the developer use existing forest management systems as a point of de¬
parture for developing this system?

9. Did forest managers and other potential system users have input into the
development of this system?

10. Has the system been tested in a real forest environment; if so, what are
the results?

11. Can potential system users trust the system?

(a) Is human intervention and control possible?

(b) Is the system being forced on the user by outsiders?

(c) What would be the political impacts of "overriding" the
system with the user's own decision?

(d) How can system outputs be blended with non-quantif iable
information to fit into the final decision process?

12. Does the system require maintenance; must it constantly be updated?

13. Is the system applicable to only one specific type of situation (geograph¬
ical region, functional problem, etc.)?

14. What improvements are necessary or desirable before the system can be used?

15. What questions remain to be answered before the system can be evaluated
properly?

154

6. This examination has revealed that
land use planning systems and trans¬
portation planning systems are sub¬
sets as well as aggregates of five
categories of existing natural
resource planning systems:

(a) Information Collection and
Analysis Systems,

(b) Data Storage, Retrieval and
Display Systems,

(c) Resource Response Simulation
Systems ,

(d) Facility Design and Operation
Planning Systems, and

(e) Multiple-Use and Environmental
Planning and Decision Systems.

7. Some necessary and potential linkages
between existing natural resource
planning systems have been described.

8. Better methods are needed for
evaluating land use and access alter¬
natives in terms of nonpriceable

and nonquantifiable factors.

9. Some necessary interfaces between
natural resource planning systems
and resource related administrative
systems have also been depicted.

10. Some current systems development
problems and solutions have been
pointed out.

11. A number of criteria for evaluating
systems have been identified.

12. Administrative machinery is needed
in order to effectively employ
such criteria in directing and
coordinating future systems
development and applications work.

This brief overview of the development
of land use planning and transportation
planning systems for National Forest manage¬
ment should be a useful point of departure
for potential future researchers, developers,
teachers, and users of such systems. Interested
readers are encouraged to explore the subject
further by examining the references in the
LITERATURE CITED section of this paper.

LITERATURE CITED

Carder, D. R. , and C. H. Oglesby.

1973. Unified planning and decisionmaking:
a conceptual framework for Forest Service
management. Program in Engineering-Economic
Planning, Report EEP-49. Stanford University
Stanford, Ca.

Daniel, T. C. , and R. S. Boster.

1975. Measuring scenic beauty; the S.B.E.
method. U.S.D.A. Forest Service (in press).
Rocky Mountain Forest and Range Exp. Stn.

Fort Collins, Colo.

Deterline Associates.

1974. Design for the transfer of technical
information. Report submitted to the U.S.D.A
Forest Service T.S.P.P. Engineering.

Berkeley, Ca.

Lingwood, D. A., and W. C. Morris.

1975. CRUSK. study of the Forest Service
research branch. Institute for Social
Research, University of Michigan, Ann
Arbor, Mich.

Lundeen, L. J., and R. D. Dyrland.

1974. Proposal for accelerating the use of
analytical techniques for land use plann¬
ing in the Forest Service. U.S.D.A.

Forest Service, Watershed Systems Develop¬
ment Unit. Berkeley, Ca.

MaSS.

1974a. Analysis of computer support systems
for multi-functional planning: report I.
U.S.D.A. Forest Service. Management
Sciences Staff, Berkeley, Ca.

MaSS.

1974b. Analysis of computer support systems
for multi-functional planning: report II.
U.S.D.A. Forest Service. Management
Sciences Staff, Berkeley, Ca.

McGuire, J. R.

1972. Plan to initiate implementation of
executive planning/decision making concept.
1310 Memorandum from Chief, U.S.D.A. Forest
Service. Washington, D. C.

Oglesby, C. H., B. Bishop, and G. E. Willeke.

1970. A method for decisions among freeway
location alternatives based on user and
community consequence. Highway Research
Record No . 305 . pp. 1-15. Transportation
Research Board, Washington, D.C.

155

Row, C. , and B. S chine 11 ing.

1971. Resource information and planning
systems: a catalogue of computerized

systems in the U.S. Forest Service. Un¬
published report. U.S.D.A. Forest
Service. Washington, D.C.

Suhr, L. D.

1973. Managing outcomes by systematic
depictions of actions, budgets, and
controls. Unpublished manuscript.
U.S.D.A. Forest Service. Ogden, Ut.

U. S. Congress.

1969. National environmental policy act.
91st Congress, 1st Session.

U. S. Congress.

1974. Forest and rangeland renewable
resources planning act. 93rd Congress,
2nd Session.

Woolf, H. B.

1973. Webster's new collegiate dictionary,
p. 1184. Springfield, Ma. : G. & C.
Merriam Co.

156

k >

Transportation System Planning for Wildland Areas1

Charles L. Burford and Tom W. Jones, III

2/

Abstract. — The drastic increase in visitation to wildland recrea¬
tion areas, which began in the sixties and continues today, has chal¬
lenged the Forest Service to seek ways to make more wildland areas
available to the public while preventing deterioration of such areas.
This paper reprots the investigation of possible applications of mass/
public transportation systems in wildland areas.

INTRODUCTION

Concern for the safe, efficient, and
least environmentally damaging movement of
people through a variety of wildland recrea¬
tional areas has been a concern of resource
planners and managers for many years. The
early road systems in the first national parks,
which were constructed prior to the widespread
availability of the private automobiles, were
designed for stage coaches and motor buses.

With the drastic increase in visitation
to wildland recreation areas, which began in
the early sixties and continues today, it be¬
came apparent to resource managers that com¬
prehensive transportation planning was needed
and that a search for ways to reduce the impact
of the large numbers of automobiles which were
filling wildland recreational areas was neces¬
sary. Urban planners recognized the necessity
of initiating work on various forms of mass
conveyance systems. Increasing concerns over
levels of air and noise pollution as well as a
greater public awareness of the many negative
aesthetic aspects of highway construction re¬
sulted in the passage of a wide range of federal
and state legislation to lessen environmental
stress and provide a higher quality visitor
experience. Many of these new experiences in

1/Paper presented at the symposium on
Man, Leisure, and Wildlands: A Complex Inter¬
action, Vail, Colorado, Sept. 14-19, 1975.

2/Charles L. Burford, Ph.D., Associate
Professor, Dept, of Industrial Engineering, and
Tom W. Jones, III, Graduate Research Assistant,
Departments of Park Administration and Indus¬
trial Engineering, Texas Tech University,
Lubbock, Texas.

transportation planning and visitor conveyance
are discussed in this report.

The National Forests are similar to the
National Parks and other wildland recreation
areas in many respects. The differences,
however, present major, but certainly not
insurmountable, challenges to forest land
resource planners and managers.

Management of the National Forests in¬
volves a host of resource activities which
include the harvesting and cultivation of
renewable resources. Outdoor recreation and
aesthetics are both products derived from the
sustained yield management of forest resources.
The forest transportation system is not similar
to the normal park circulation system, simply
responding to a single purpose type of use.
National forests are not restricted access
areas as are parks. Thus their road linkages
are open rather than closed or limited systems.
The conversion of these links to limited
vehicle use is more difficult than in parks
because of the range of vehicles required to
transport the products of the forest to mar¬
ket .

National forests are extremely diverse
resource areas. Many have unique areas and
aesthetic qualities that parallel or surpass
some of those found in park reservations.

Hence, they are extremely popular recreational
areas and attract large numbers of visitors.
Problems of crowding, traffic congestion,
noise, environmental stress, and declining
quality of the recreational experience con¬
front forest land managers in areas of heavy
use. At one time the pressure was for more
and larger road systems. Today it appears
that recreational users of forest areas are

157

beginning to press for solutions to transporta¬
tion problems which are less violent in terms
of their environmental impact, even though this
may require modifications in travel mode and
recreational life style.

The Problem

The Forest Service, like the Park Service
and other managing agencies who have witnessed
the burgeoning influx of private automobiles
in recreational areas, has become concerned
with developing appropriate management strategies
to deal with the problem. Rather than to con¬
tinue to build more roads into heretofore in¬
accessible areas and enlarge existing roadways
to accommodate more traffic generated by growing
recreational developments such as the winter
sports complexes, the Forest Service has begun
to look for new solutions. In addition to
problems associated with the tremendous number
of vehicles found within some forest areas a
host of related problems are associated with
the use of private automobiles as the principal
mode of conveyance. These include:

*Visual blight created by the indiscrimin¬
ate location and construction of forest
highways ;

*Hydrologic imbalance resulting from dis¬
ruption of natural drainage patterns;

•k

Eminent danger to forest wildlife parti¬
cularly where a high volume artery
bisects a major migration route;

k

Noise and air pollution which detract
from the quality of the recreational
experience as well as impace on plant
and animal life; and

&

Forest sprawl of campgrounds and other
recreational developments in areas where
they are under-utilized and expensive
to maintain.

Notwithstanding the Bureau of Outdoor Recrea¬
tion's (1) finding that driving for pleasure
represents one of the most popular forms of
outdoor recreation, it has become quite obvious
that trends in transportation planning suggest,
that in certain instances alternative modes
have the potential of being more desirable,
feasible, and gratifying the private automobile.
This study responds to that recognition.

The Study

The purpose of this study is to identify,
investigate, and evaluate the economic, environ¬
mental, and social implications of those tech¬
nically feasible mass conveyance systems which
could be utilized as a means of solving specific
visitor conveyance problems at recreational

developments in forest wildland areas.

Recreation and Transportation

Outdoor recreation, particularly, that
which takes place on state and federal con¬
trolled public lands is dependant on trans¬
portation, because the recreational base is
usually located some distance from the parti¬
cipant's residence. The National Recreation
Access Study of 1974 ( 2 ) states that an
estimated ninety to ninety-five percent of all
person - trips to significant outdoor recrea¬
tional areas are made in private vehicles.
Significant outdoor recreational areas were
defined as those which have 100,000 or more
visitors per year, and the majority of these
were found to have poor to non-existant public
transportation service. ( 2 )

Other studies (1,3) have indicated that
driving for pleasure appears to be the most
popular form of outdoor recreation, and that
as much as 18 percent of all trips made in
this country (accounting for 34 percent of all
vehicle mileage) have social or recreational
purposes .

United States Forest Service
Transportation Planning

The United States Forest Service, as an
example of a major governmental land manage¬
ment agency, operates under the concept of
multiple use. The Multiple Use-Sustained
Yield Act of 1960 Title 16 United States Code,
(Section 528-531) , enumerates the purposes of
National Forest Administration as "outdoor
recreation, range, timber, watershed, and
wildlife and fish purposes."

Initially, trails were the only means of
access to the Forest Reserves established in
the 1890' s. These trails gradually gave way
to roads, often located along the same route,
that would accommodate wheeled vehicles for
fire protection activities. In the mid-thirties
many roads were built in the National Forests
by the Civilian Conservation Corps to facili¬
tate a wide range of activities. The mid¬
fifties gave rise to roads planned, and
identified in terms of their primary use of
function, such as for timber management. This
approach proved to be unsatisfactory because
of the difficulty encountered in recognition
of and planning for transportation facility
influences on resource use. ( 4 )

Since the sixties, the Forest Service has
recognized the importance of improving its
comprehensive planning process in order to
more effectively respond to the growing and
changing demands the public exerts on the

158

resources under their administration. In¬
creased public interest in the environment
and the higher values the public now places
on its various elements has forced the Forest
Service to develop analytical tools and pro¬
cesses to deal with the planning complexities
now encountered. ( 4 )

In response to these kinds of concerns and
sensitivities the Transportation System Plan¬
ning Project (TSPP) was established by the
Forest Service in 1965. TSPP has concentrated
on developing, testing, and reviewing method¬
ologies needed to predict the consequences
of alternative transportation plans which are
influenced by the quality and cost of varying
modes. ( 5 ) The analysis tools and processes
TSPP is developing will be useful for all
modes of transportation, but initial emphasis
has been placed on the road transportation
mode, because of its present dominance as a
means of access to National Forests. A new
forest road constructed for access to some
part of a National Forest will serve several
purposes. Most forest roads constructed to
improve fire protection may also serve to ease
timber removal, open camping and scenic
driving opportunities, and facilitate improved
cattle grazing practices. This multifunctional,
multipurpose approach to transportation system
use in the National Forest complicates forest
road planning and economic analysis of pro¬
posals. Several problems are encountered,
"...foremost among these is the problem of
evaluating the aggregate benefit to be de¬
rived from the project" and "...a second
problem arising from multiple purpose projects
is the possibility for conflict of interest
between the purposes." ( 5 ) A road built
for timber harvesting can later be used for
fire protection and recreational use if it is
planned properly. The cost of the road can
be charged to the benefits derived from all
uses, if these can be quantified. Because of
the standardization of wheeled vehicles, the
one road can accommodate logging trucks, fire
trucks, private automobiles and other recrea¬
tional vehicles. With certain limitations on
road grade, width, and curve radius, the road
can be used by all wheeled vehicles regardless
of the planned short-range use.

Economic Evaluation of Alternatives
to the Private Automobile

Using the assumption that improvement of
wildland recreational transportation neces¬
sities a shift from almost exclusive reliance
on the private automobile to some alternative,
economic evaluation of alternatives becomes
very important. There are existing methodolo¬
gies for cost evaluation of some modifications

within the system. ( 6 ) For example, the
computer systems developed by the Forest
Service's Transportation Analysis Group (TAG)
to apply analytical techniques and planning
systems to transportation planning. TAG has
also developed and used Analysis Systems which
aid in displaying alternatives and differences
among alternatives; and Data Systems that pro¬
vide basic information needed in formulation
and evaluation of alternatives are being
developed, tested and used. ( 6 ) The work
done by TAG is directed towards the existing
specialized planning problems encountered
within existing transportation technology
application.

Although various researchers in recrea¬
tional transportation analysis have made con¬
siderable progress towards analysis of recrea¬
tional transportation, the techniques for
forecasting recreation travel are in their
infancy. ( 2 ) To arrive at some method of
evaluating the costs of alternative trans¬
portation systems requires careful analysis
of the individual problem. There are two
initial categories into which these pro¬
blems can be placed. These are: 1. Develop¬
ment of some form of access into an area
that does not presently have a circulation
system; 2. A change from the existing
transportation system to one with different
modal characteristics.

An example of the first category is the
proposed circulation system for Guadalupe
Mountains National Park, Texas. This 76,468
acre National Park which was established in
1972 "is totally lacking in the essentials
necessary for public use, ..." (_7_) Public
use of the park has been hampered by lack of
vehicle and other access to the fragile
natural resources located in the park.

Examples of the second category, that is
- a change from one transportation system to
another with different characteristics are
more common. In many recreation areas there
are problems associated with the use of the
private automobile that a shift to a different
transportation system would potentially solve.
Yosemite National Park is one of the more
frequently quoted examples of a switch from
one system to another with better character¬
istics .

Problem Formulation

If public transportation of people in a
wildland setting truly is the solution, the
planners must formulate and state the problem.
In an address to the American Automobile

159

Association, Joseph McKenna called rapid tran¬
sit a solution in search of a problem. ( 8 )
Speaking primarily about subway system, McKenna
stated that most American cities have none of
the conditions necessary to justify mass tran¬
sit systems, these conditions being high den¬
sity work, high density residency, and clearly
defined corridors between 'the two. Going even
further, he stated that public transit would
not turn people away from using private auto¬
mobiles because it is slower and more expensive.
If subways don't turn people away from private
automobiles then subways will not reduce pol¬
lutions or reduce the acreage in pavement.

In a wildland setting the problem is much
more difficult to formulate. The three condi¬
tions McKenna used for urban transit justifica¬
tion do not apply, and specific problem areas
such as pollution and paving of the landscape
are not the primary issues. Wildland planners
have been presented with somewhat more ambitious
statements of the problem such as "too many
cars," "degredation of aesthetic quality" and
so on. Wildland managers are charged with
protecting the environment so that the public
can derive numerous benefits from it. The
environment cannot be protected in a pristine
condition and be accessable too, without
massive economic expenditures and considerable
opportunity costs to society.

SYNTHESIS - THE LINK-VEHICLE CONCEPT

Wildland transportation planning is
usually done by the agency which is responsible
for the resource base. More often than not
the planning effort has been suggested or
brought about by some individual or group that
is concerned with one aspect of the existing
or proposed system. Identification of potential
users has been mentioned as an important element
of the planning process. To expand this ap¬
proach, once the users or beneficiaries of
the system have been identified, their trans¬
portation goals and objectives should be
identified .

Group Identification

Initially, all transportation systems on
public land affect and impact on a minimum of
four different groups of people. The groups
can be independently categorized as recognized
that a person may fit into each category, for
the sake of simplicity the following categories
may be identified: Operator, Administrator,
User, and Non-User.

The operator category is composed of the
group of people directly responsible for the
system, this group is the one concerned with
maintenance, operational safety, law enforce¬
ment, and so on. The user category is the

group of people who actually depend upon the
system for transportation. This group may be
broken into sub-groups to properly weight
their different transportation values for
different travel related activities. The
non-user is a category to charactorize the
"public" who do not actually utilize the system,
but pay taxes and are concerned with the
resource. The administrator category is defined
as the group that is ultimately responsible for
the system. This group is the one which must
be held accountable, and who operate within
the political frame of public land administra¬
tion .

Goals and Objectives

Transportation goals and their corres¬
ponding objectives can be identified for each
group for each transportation system.

In most existing wildland transportation
system wildland managers provide the road,
route, path or link on which area user supplied
vehicles operate. The links or routes may be
planned or they may have evolved from some
activity such as timber harvesting. The links
or routes may be high standard well maintained
highways or they may be nothing but a pair of
tracks that people travel in pursuit of a
recreational experience.

The primary user of these routes are the
people who are operating their privately owned
vehicles. The vehicles can be classified as
having some number of rubber tires that
support and power the vehicles. The vehicles
for the most part are multiple use, although
there are some highly specialized vehicles
designed to meet special user /owner needs.

The important concept about these vehicles
is that the purchase and operating costs are
the responsibility of the operator, and they
are used to transport the area user from his
residence, with his belongings (which may
include a number of recreational vehicles) to
the wildland area.

The existing situation in most wildland
areas is that some number .of users arrive at
the area boundaries in their vehicles and
continue on until they reach the point at
which they choose to stop. (Some users may
only be traveling through the area and may
not stop.) The point at which the users stop
may be entirely their own choice,
an area in proximity to something they wish to
see, or a place they wish to stay in for
several days. Most wildland users also have
the choice of stopping where others stop, or
at an isolated place where they can enjoy the
solitude of nature interrupted only by their
presence.

160

The problem is that there are too many
of these users competing for the limited
spacial resource. Part of this problem stems
from the spacial requirements of the vehicles
for parking and operation.

Link-Vehicle Concept

Utilization of link-vehicle categorization
method can identify the existing system in
a perspective that can yield certain assump¬
tions for planning and selection (of modifica¬
tion) of the system within the range of
options available.

(1) A "link" will be thought of as the
route or path used to get from one
point to the other.

(2) A "not supplied link" is the route
used by the public moving about in
the recreational area.

access route. Simply stated the existing link-
node concept is used for analysis of existing
network options. The link-vehicle concept

would be used to classify options whereby analysis
of the classification would indirectly yield
comparative data.

Obvious comparisons can be made immedi¬
ately. Economically the options can be ordered
from least to most expensive: (1) link pro¬
vided, vehicle not provided to (2) link pro¬
vided, vehicle provided. Environmentally the
options may be reversed when speaking of
degradation.

Alternatives to the Automobile

The old question of "which came first:
the chicken or the egg" seems to be quite
parallel to the question facing wildland area
managers in general and the National Park
Service in particular: "What is the problem:
too many people or too many cars?"

(3) A "supplied link" is the established
road, trail, track or path recogniz¬
able to the public as the route to
be used in getting from one point

to another.

(4) The "line not supplied, vehicle
not supplied" (LNVN) classification
would apply to the recreationist
who is on his own to travel into

an unmarked area.

(5) "Link not supplied, vehicle sup¬
plied" (LNVS) classification
would be applicable primarily when
a concessionaire provides a
vehicle (including snow shoes
cross-country skies, trail bikes, etc.)
to the recreationist who uses it

for "Off road" travel.

(6) "Link supplied, vehicle not sup¬
plied (LSVN) this is the classifi¬
cation that fits most existing
situations .

(7) The "link supplied, vehicle sup¬
plied" (LSVS) classification would
be applicable when both the node
and the route are provided to the
individual or passenger. Most of the
mass transportation systems would fit
this category.

The link-vehicle classification concept may
be an important method of analyzing trans¬
portation alternatives. The "Link Node"
network concept has been used for network
analysis to determine shortest routes for
areas where there is more than one possible

George B. Hartzog, Jr. , ( 9 ) former
Director of the National Park Service, respond¬
ed to the problem of overcrowding in the parks
was not yet at the critical stage. Mr. Hartzog
clarified this statement by saying that in some
parks, the overwhelming amount of paraphenalia
that people bring with them, including auto¬
mobiles, compers and so on is becoming a critical
concern. Instead of limiting the number of
people allowed in parks the approach would be
to limit automobile use, and provide alternative
transportation means.

Mode Selection Problems

Alternative transportation mode selection
is an extremely complex problem because of the
infinite number of alternatives available to
the decision maker. There is a limxced number
of general mode types available when all modes
are categorized by some characteristic, whether
it be the type propulsion system used, the type
activity the mode is usable for, or so on.

Within each category there are secondary charac¬
teristics that can complicate the selection pro¬
cess even further.

There are few instances in the modern
world where initial cost does not enter into
the selection of a transportation system for a
particular use. The decision making process
probably begins with an unconcious elimination
of ideas that seem completely without potential.
The rational for this statement is that planners
will eliminate or not even think of alternatives
that are absurd, and channel their efforts
towards evaluation of only feasible alternatives.
With existing transportation technology the
planner must first state some type of problem

161

that needs a solution and then eliminate
certain types of solutions. In most plan¬
ning situations there is, at some point,
the constraint of cost, among others. There
will always be a finite amount of money that
can be spent to reach the final solution.
Therefore, one approach to transportation
mode selection would be the initial categori¬
zation of alternatives by their expected cost
range. Under this category, there would be
subcategories to be used in narrowing the list
down to a limited number of system types that
could be used to solve the existing problem.

The primary problem with this methodology
is assigning the cost range to the individual
modes or mode types that will accurately
reflect the total system costs under different
application situations. Most transportation
systems reach their optimum performance level
when they have been selected for the specific
application. Another approach to mode selec¬
tion would be to initially categorize alter¬
natives by range of their potential success
in meeting application classification, then
utilize subclassifications to narrow the
selection to specific mode types that have
potential for problem solution with or without
modifications. It is important to the selec¬
tion process that alternatives be stated and
then evaluated. Without some type listing
of alternatives at a point in the process the
optimum selection is inherently doomed. The
decision-maker must have some type of evalua¬
tion of existing alternatives available either
to him or to the consultant who is charged
with the custom design of a system to meet
the stated heed. Using this approach to
justify the' need of some type of presentation
of existing alternatives, it must also be
made clear that no listing can accurately
present all alternatives available within any
type of categorization. The continued develop¬
ment and improvement of various transportation
mode concepts will outdate any type listing.

PRINCIPAL FINDINGS OF THIS STUDY

This study has revealed the following
factors which will affect the implementation
of mass/public wildland transportation systems:

1. Interest in transportation planning
for the development of workable solutions to
the problem of minimizing the environmental
impact of moving large numbers of people
through wildland areas appears widespread
among federal and state land managing agencies.

2. Development of transportation tech¬
nology and hardware for mass conveyance
systems is extensive and involves many of the
large diversified aerospace firms such as

Ling-Tempco Vought, Boeing Aircraft, General
Dynamics, and Lockheed Aircraft.

3. Much of the transportation planning
and hardware development which has come out
of the search for solutions to urban traffic
problems is not easily adaptable to the
unique problems and situations encountered in
wildland resource areas without substantial
modification.

4. To be effective most mass conveyance
systems require high volumes of riders travel¬
ing along routes where key facilities are
clustered, and where competing modes are
either restricted or eliminated.

5. Wildland recreational area transporta¬
tion requirements may fluctuate seasonally
while alternatives to the private automobile
require stable year round volumes to be
economically justifiable.

6. Existing wildland road networks (links)
have been developed at a considerable economic
and environmental cost. This maxes those
alternatives that can operate on existing
links more attractive than those requiring
special right of ways.

7. There appears to be a decrease in the
user's clamor for more roads throughout the
national forests. Attempts to construct
highways through national forests in recent
years have met bitter citizen resistance often
culminating in lengthy litigation.

8. Most heavily used recreational sites
are the most appropriate areas to consider
the switch to total or limited reliance on
mass conveyance. Many such areas are usually
major attractions which draw visitors on a
year-round basis.

9. The more exotic forms of mass con¬
veyance, such as tramways, automated people
movers, and similar systems, while creating
minimal environmental impact, are very ex¬
pensive to install and operate. These are
not considered feasible solutions in most
instances .

10. A forest circulation system, for the
most part, must be a multiple use system cap¬
able of moving people and resources. Only in
specific single purpose situations can an
exclusively recreational conveyance system be
considered .

11. The circulation system is a major
factor influencing land conversion and manage¬
ment on both public and private land. There
appears to be a move to integrate forest
transportation planning with local and regional

162

comprehensive planning.

References

12. Recreational attractions do not
exist in and of themselves. They must be
identified, designed, and developed for a
specific purpose, owned by a public or pri¬
vate body, and managed at some level. Access
to such attractions is a part of this process.
The circulation system plays a major role in
the comprehensive resource management plan for
a forest recreational area. This system can
be effectively used to allocate or ration
visitation within high impact areas which are
extremely fragile.

13. More knowledge concerning the social
and psychological factors involved in the
shift from exclusive reliance on the private
automobile to use of various forms of mass
conveyance systems is needed by planners.
Previous research dealing with characterizing
recreationists and developing socioeconomic
profiles of various user groups can be applied
to this area of transportation planning.

14. No data has been uncovered which
leads us to determine that the end of mass
reliance on the private automobile is immin¬
ent. Higher fuel costs and even limited
availability have only slightly dampened the
level of recreational travel in the United
States. This does not mean, however, that
there is not a very significant role for
certain applications of mass conveyance
technology to solve existing or prevent
future problems of environmental degradation.

CONCLUSIONS

Mass/public transportation systems can
be utilized in only very limited situations
within National Forests due to the multiple
uses — outdoor recreation, range, timber,
watershed, and wildlife and fish purposes —
expected of National Forests. Additionally,
the high-uniform number of users required to
sustain mass/public transportation systems
are to be found in wildland areas in only
limited situations, with extremely few such
situations existing in National Forests.

Wildland areas with high day use recrea¬
tional demands in close proximity to metro¬
politan areas and areas likely to develop
into such are considered likely candidates for
mass/public transportation systems and worthy
of further transportation related study and
planning .

1. United States Outdoor Recreation Resources

Review Commission. Study Report 19-The
National Recreation Survey. Washington.
1962.

2. United States Department of Transportation

and United States Department of Interior.
National Recreation Access Study. Vol. 1,
1975.

3. Houghton-Evans , W. and Miles, J. C. , "Week¬

end Recreational Motoring in the Country¬
side," Journal of the Town Planning
Institute, 1970.

4. United States Department of Agriculture.

Forest Service. Transportation System
Planning for Forest Resource Management:

Introduction to the Transportation System

Planning Project, by Ross Carder and
Conrad Mandt. Technical Report ETR-
7700-4a. Washington, D. C. : USDA,

Forest Service, 1971.

5. Fabrycky, W. J. and Mize, J. H. , ed.

Engineering Economy. Englewood Cliffs:
Prentice Hall, 1971.

6. United States Department of Agriculture.

Forest Service Management Sciences
Staff. Analysis of Computer Support
Systems for Multi-Functional Planning,
Report II.

7. United States Department of Interior.

National Park Service. Draft Environ¬
mental Statement-Master Plan: Guadalupe
Mountains National Park/Texas. Santa Fe,
New Mexico: National Park Service, 19/4.

8. McKenna, Joseph P. "Rapid Transit — A Solu¬

tion in Search of a Problem," Detroil, MI
September 12, 1972. (An address de¬
livered before the 70th Annual Meeting
of the American Automobile Association,
Detroit Hilton Hotel.)

9. "Changing the National Parks to Cope with

People — and Cars: Interview with
George B. Hartyog, Jr., Diretor, National
Park Service," U. S. News and Work Report
January 21, 1972.

163

Procedures for Analyzing Regional Environmental
Problems and Opportunities1

2

Raymond J. Supalla /

Abstract. — Three commonly used procedures for analyzing
regional environmental problems are evaluated with respect to
usefulness for management planning: environmental impact analyses,
ecological-economic input-output models and traditional simulation
models. It is concluded that each approach has major deficiencies,
but that simulation has the most potential to be an effective tool.
Suggestions for improving each approach are offered.

INTRODUCTION

In this paper it is assumed, perhaps in¬
correctly given the institutional realities
of modern society, that publicly supported
analyses of regional environmental issues
should be designed to further the public inter¬
est. Although currently popular analytical
procedures are usually directed at this objec¬
tive, it is my belief that they often fail to
provide useful results that are consistent with
the public interest. My purpose herein is to
identify why commonly used procedures often do
little to further the public interest and to
suggest appropriate modifications.

ROLE OF ANALYSIS

Analysis of regional environmental issues
can be considered successful only if they re¬
sult in improved decisions consistent with the
public interest. If this objective is to be met,
analytical procedures must efficiently provide
outputs that are useful to decision makers and
unbiased with respect to political interest
groups .

What is useful to decision makers depends,
of course, on who is making the decisions.
Resource management decisions are made by many
different groups, both public and private, but
the most powerful and influential decision
makers are politicians. Therefore, the use¬
fulness criterion for a good analyses demands
that the output of analytical procedures be
politically relevant. Politically revelant
outputs are those impacts associated with a

1/ Paper presented at the symposium on
Man, Leisure and Wildlands: A Complex Inter¬
action, Vail, Colorado, Sept. 14-19, 1975.

management alternative which are of concern
to politicians. Analysis of politically
irrelevant factors will have little impact on
resulting management decisions and thus are
a waste of research resources. Therefore, the
critical question becomes what are the politi¬
cally relevant variables to consider when
analyzing regional environmental management
issues.

Politicians are quite rightfully concerned
with the distribution of gains and losses asso¬
ciated with management alternatives as well as
with the aggregate impacts. This means that the
politically relevant variables to consider are
all factors which affect human welfare evaluated
in terms of who gains and who loses. In other
words, the ideal analysis would measure not only
aggregate impacts on such quality of life
variables as income, employment, aesthetics and
public safety, but also measure the distribu¬
tion of these effects in terms of political
interest groups. Politicians must know the
distributional effects of alternative policies
before they can intelligently invoke the value
judgments of society in making the necessary
decisions .

The second criterion for a good analysis
is that it must be unbiased with respect to
political interest groups. An unbiased
analysis can be defined as one which does not
exclude or deemphasize quality of life variables
which are important to some political interest
groups but not to others. Unfortunately

2 J The author is Assistant Professor of
Agricultural Economics, New Mexico State
University, Las Cruces, New Mexico.

164

analyses often focus on particular variables
and exclude others for at least three reasons:

1) the analyst emphasizes his area of expertise;

2) the analyst emphasizes variables consistent
with his personal preferences: and 3) the tools
are better defined for some variables than for
others.

The expertise of analysts presents a
problem because it is nearly impossible for
the individual trained in ecology to give
equal weight to economic variables or for the
economist to give equal weight to ecological
variables. To combat the problem the use of
multi-disciplinary study teams is essential.

More serious than bias due to expertise
is bias due to personal preferences. People
interested in studying regional environmental
management problems, be they economists,
ecologists, geologists or whatever, generally
have preferences distinctly different from
those of the population at large. The very
motivation for studying regional problems is
often an observation that resources are not
being used in a manner consistent with their
personal preferences. In recent years this
phenomenon has been most vividly illustrated
by increased environmental concern. The
people studying environmental problems are for
the most part those people who place a rela¬
tively high importance on variables such as
air quality, water quality and aesthetics and
less importance on economic variables such as
income, employment and low-cost timber. This
type of bias leads to analyses that have little
inpact on decisions because bias destroys the
credibility of an analysis or, worse yet, the
analyst succeeds in camouflaging his bias and
decisions inconsistent with the public interest
are rendered.

The third and final criterion for evalu¬
ating analytical procedures is that the proced¬
ure used should provide the desired outputs
as efficiently as possible. Given that the
objective of analyses is to evaluate manage¬
ment alternatives, efficiency demands that a
study focus on the most feasible alternatives
and the differences between them. Analyses of
alternatives that have no chance of implementa¬
tion for legal, political or economic reasons
is an exercise in futility. Similarily it is
inefficient to consider the impact of feasible
alternatives on a given variable if there is
no a priori reason to believe that the impacts
will be different. If, for example, one knows
beforehand that the impact of each alternative
on game animal populations will be similar,
it would be wasteful to measure the impact
because it will have no bearing on the manage¬
ment decision.

CURRENT STATE OF TflE ART

Procedures currently used for analyzing
regional environmental management alternatives
range from writing bureaucratic justification
statements to developing complex simulation
models. This section briefly evaluates three
commonly used approaches, given the criteria
discussed above. The three approaches con¬
sidered are: 1) environmental impact analyses;

2) ecological-economic input-output models;
and 3) simulation models.

Environmental Impact Analyses

The National Environmental Policy Act
(NEPA) of 1969 requires that environmental
impact statements be drafted for federal
programs. Environmental statements must include
discussions of : 1) the environmental impact of
the proposed action; 2) alternatives to the
proposed action; 3) any adverse environmental
effects which cannot be avoided should the pro¬
posal be implemented; 4) the relationship be¬
tween local short-term uses of man's environ¬
ment and the maintenance and enhancement of
long-term productivity; and 5) any irrevers¬
ible and irretrievable commitments of resources
which would be involved in the proposed action
should it be implemented (NEPA 1969) . Environ¬
mental impact statements are supposedly written
after tentative decisions regarding resource
use have been made, but nevertheless it has
become increasingly common to use an environ¬
mental impact statement approach in evaluating
management alternatives. How adequate is such
an approach given our established analytical
criteria?

Environmental impact statements have use¬
fully served to force consideration of ecolog¬
ical variables that have historically been
ignored. But, such statements focus on identi¬
fying impacts as opposed to evaluating trade-offs
and thus stop short of providing the ideal types
of information needed for management decisions.
Although alternatives (trade-offs) are consid¬
ered in environmental impact statements, the
alternatives considered are those which relate
to reducing adverse environmental impacts as
opposed to those which might contribute most
to a net gain in human welfare. For example,
the law requires that alternative construction
practices for reducing soil erosion from a
given project be evaluated in depth, but alter¬
natives to the project itself need only be
mentioned.

Environmental impact statements essentially
identify whether plans for a given program

165

are ecologically sound as opposed to whether
the program is the best feasible use of the
resources. Thus, the results of this approach
are not very useful to decision makers. Further¬
more the emphasis on ecological factors amounts
to a bias in favor of political interest groups
with unusually high preferences for environmental
products. Lastly, environmental impact state¬
ments are an extremely inefficient approach
because they traditionally include much more
detailed data than is necessary for efficient
decision making. For example, detailed inven¬
tories of vegetation and wildlife are frequently
made even when a priori knowledge indicates
that the impact on such resources will be
negligible. It is indeed clear that analytical
procedures which follow an environmental impact
statement framework facilitate meeting the
requirements of NEPA, but are of questionable
value in making resource management decisions.

Ecological-Economic Input-Output Models

Economists have for many years used input-
output models to evaluate the impact of policy
alternatives on economic variables. More
recently, Walter Issard and others have attempted
to link ecological and economic systems in an
input-output relationship (Issard 1968). The
essential elements of this approach are a
Leontief inverse of a traditional regional
input-output matrix and an environmental matrix
containing data on environmental pollutants per
dollar of gross output for each sector of the
input-output matrix. Implementation of the
model is achieved by multiplying the environ¬
mental matrix by the Leontief inverse. The
results show the cumulative effect on a local
environment of changes in area economic struc¬
ture and provides the basis for estimating the
environmental repercussions of different types
of economic activity. More specifically,
the model is capable of providing results such
as, how much air pollution and water pollution
would increase if the amount of mining activity
in the region were increased by a particular
amount.

Knowing how a change in one sector of the
economy affects all the other sectors and what
impacts such changes have on environmental
variables is necessary for analysis of manage¬
ment alternatives. However, knowledge of these
relationships alone does not enable one to
adequately evaluate management choices. There
are three major deficiencies associated with an
input-output approach: 1) it does not lend it¬
self very well to considering politically rele¬
vant quality of life variables; 2) it takes
input-output coefficients as given, as opposed
to treating them as variables to be influenced
by management alternatives; and 3) it is highly

inefficient .

The results of ecological input-output
analysis are economic activity and pollution
levels. Decision makers are rightfully more
interested in variables such as increased
incidence of health problems, local tax
revenue generated, employment increases by
skill levels, effect on wildlife populations,
etc. Although more politically relevant
results could be produced with input-output
models, linearity requirements and data avail¬
ability preclude much progress in this direction.

The second deficiency is more serious.

Many enviromental management issues involve
production technology alternatives as opposed
to alternative levels of economic activity.

For example, the question is often how to pro¬
duce more vacation homes with minimum impact
on recreational values, instead of how much
recreation and how many vacation homes to pro¬
duce. In using an input-output approach, one
essentially develops a set of production rela¬
tionships associated with given management
practices and thus, this approach has only
limited usefulness for evaluating management
alternatives.

The input-output approach tends to be
inefficient in the sense that such models are
complex and require large amounts of data, but
nevertheless yield results that are of only
limited usefulness.

The input-output approach does have the
advantage of yielding relatively unbiased
results. Research resources and data avail¬
ability are the prime determinants of model
structure and therefore personal preferences
and skills are less likely to be influential
in the selection of variables for analysis.

Traditional Simulation Models

It has been argued that all socio-economic
models are simulation, but much of the literature
suggests that simulation has certain unique
qualities and thus deserves recognition as a
separate analytical tool.

A simulation model of an economic system
describes how the system operates in an abstract
manner that lends itself to the manipulation
of parameters in order to assess to consequences
of policy alternatives. Construction of simula¬
tion models is more of an art than a science,
because there is no straightforward method of
reducing real world phenomena to abstract terms.
Nevertheless, it may be useful to describe some
of the less artistic but technical aspects of
this type of analytical modeling. Forrester

166

asserts that system models should have the
following characteristics (Forrester 1961) :

1. Be able to describe any cause-effect
relationship that may be significant.

2. Be simple in mathematical nature.

3. Be closely synonymous in nomenclature
to industrial, economic and social terminology.

4. Be extendable to large numbers of
variables without exceeding the practical limits
of digital computers.

5. Be able to handle "continuous" inter¬
actions in the sense that any artificial dis¬
continuities introduced by solution time inter¬
vals will not affect the results.

Simulation models which follow Forresters
guidelines are very useful analytical tools.

The emphasis is on relevant cause effect rela¬
tionships described as simply as possible, using
widely understood terminology, with maximum
flexibility for considering alternatives over
time. However, resource management systems are
extremely complex and thus difficult to model.
Both the potential and the difficulties of
simulation are clearly portrayed in a Eisen¬
hower Consortium study conducted by Mertes
and Carruthers (Mertes, et al, 1973).

Mertes and Carruthers developed a regional
resource use schematic for a relatively large
West Texas - Eastern New Mexico region. Their
schematic outlines the flow of both public and
private resources from production through vari¬
ous stages of processing to consumption. Re¬
source allocation is shown to occur through
the actions of public resource management agen¬
cies and a myraid of decisions within private
resource markets. The three general production
categories used in the framework are: public
production of goods and services (which might
include scenery, watershed areas, and wildlife),
public-private production involving the use of
both public and private resources (energy
production, mining, recreation, agriculture and
timber are examples of processes using resources
from both sectors) , and private production.

Public goods and services are shown to be
distributed through what is called a quasi¬
market; a market which may not be entirely
responsive to both supply and demand pressures
but operates to distribute goods and services
according to administrative rules or use
regulation. Energy and recreation, the output
of public-private production, are sometimes
distributed through a quasi-market to final
consumers. Some forms of energy, some of the

recreational services, and most of the mining,
agriculture, and timber products from public
lands are marketed either as immediate goods to
the private sector production or to final output
markets. Private production reaches consumers
through output markets which may or may not be
regulated by public agencies.

Consumer demand is characterized as being
public, private or for export. The level of
consumer demand is dependent upon social pres¬
sures, tastes and preferences, income levels
of individuals within the region, population
of the region, and the characteristics of the
population of the rest of the world. Provision
for regional consumers to elect to import some
goods and services from the rest of the world
is incorporated in the model.

Regional resource systems are clearly
very complex and thus difficult to simulate.
Carruthers and Mertes identify eight specific
problem areas where simulation is difficult
because of current limited understanding.

The eight problem areas are:

1. The dynamics of the resource management
decision process.

2. Procedures for making political and
administrative value judgments (related to
number one) .

3. Relationships between private produc¬
tion decisions and public investment in public
services and infrastructure items.

4. The quasi-market for public goods.

5. Relationship between resource use re¬
gulations and the allocation of resources.

6. Conflicts or interactions between the
production of different goods and services,
e.g., the development of second homes and its
impact on recreational values.

7. The relative effectiveness of alterna¬
tive policies or procedures for implementing
management plans.

8. The impact of private resource use
regulations on other regions.

The above are some of the more significant
problem areas, but the critical question is are
they worth solving. In other words, if these
problem areas were solved and the system
simulated, as described, would the results
satisfy the criterion for a good analysis.

167

Simulation has the potential to provide
efficient, useful and unbiased results. It
lends itself to considering all relevant out¬
puts, including publicly and privately provided
quality of life variables, and the full range
of alternatives for achieving desired results.
Like environmental impact analyses the possi¬
bilities of bias through selection of variables
for inclusion is present, but probably to a
lesser degree, because omissions are more
obvious with an analytical technique that
purports to be comprehensive. Perhaps the
greatest weakness of simulation is inefficiency
due to complexities of model construction and
the information deficiencies discussed above.

Although simulation has the potential to
be a very adequate tool, it should be pointed
out that simulation is subject to many of the
same pitfalls which characterize other analyti¬
cal techniques. Foremost among these is a
failure to consider the most politically rele¬
vant quality of life variables and inefficiency
due to needless complexity. A simulation
model can be as simple or complex as the sit¬
uation demands, but all to often they appear
to be designed to serve all possible purposes
instead of efficiently focusing on the important
management issues.

Suggestions

It is apparent from review of currently
popular types of analytical procedures that
much methodological work remains to be done.
Environmental impact analyses, ecological-eco¬
nomic imput-output models and simulation all
are deficient with respect to one or more of
the established criteria. Environmental impact
analyses which do not go beyond the requirements
of the National Environmental Policy Act fail
to meet any of the established criteria and
thus should not be used as a management tool.
Ecological-economic input-output models tend
to focus on the wrong variables and have
limited flexibility, but may be useful in
selected circumstances. Simulation models
are difficult to construct and often fail to
efficiently provide results which are useful
to decision makers, but appear to have the
potential to meet a wide range of resource
management needs.

Despite the general advantages of simula¬
tion models, the most appropriate analytical
procedure to use depends on the resource
management issues involved, the availability
of research resources, and the expertise of
the analyst. In selecting the analytical
procedure to use and in developing the subse¬
quent model it seems to me that it would be
useful to follow two general principles:

1) preceed all analyses with a diagnostic
investigation; and 2) emphasize the relation¬
ships which illuminate management choices.

It is essential for efficient use of
research resources that the first analytical
step consist of diagnostic investigation. A
suitable diagnostic investigation might involve
three elements: 1) interaction with decision
makers and political interest groups to identify
the quality of life variables which are of
concern; 2) interaction with resource management
specialists, both public and private, to
identify relevant policy issues; and 3) com¬
pilation of secondary descriptive resource data
to identify management alternatives that may be
relevant but unknown to management specialists.
Information gained from these processes could
then be used to bound the analysis and focus
attention on what matters to decision makers
and what the choices are. However, one will
gain useful information only if the proper
questions are asked. Thus, it might be useful
to discuss what is meant by "quality of life
variables" and "relevant management alternatives."

Relatively casual observation of decision
making processes indicates that oftentimes
what is most important is who is affected as
opposed to what is affected. For example,
who uses a recreation area, Texan's or New
Mexican's may be more important than how many
man-days of skiing are produced. Therefore,
it is extremely important that decision makers
be queried as to who as well as what.

Relevant management alternatives are the
policy choices available to resource managers
within the region. They include both direct
resource use alternatives, such as how much
public land to place in wilderness status,
and indirect alternatives such as what type
of private land use control policies to adopt.

Analyses which focus on correct quality
of life variables and the relevant management
alternatives will be most effective if emphasis
is given to those relationships which substan¬
tially illuminate management choices. Choices
are illuminated if and only if the estimated
impacts on quality of life variables are dif¬
ferent for a given set of alternatives. One
should not devote resources to detailed speci¬
fication of, for example, employment impacts
unless there is reason to believe that the
employment effects associated with two or more
alternatives will be significantly different.
Adopting this principle permits one to allocate
research resources to those aspects of a resource
management system where more information will
most likely lead to better decision making.

168

REFERENCES

Carruthers, G. E. , and W.R. Maki.

1971. "Simulation of Iowa's Public Outdoor
Recreation Sector: A Decision Oriented
Resource Management Model," Vol. I,

Regional Science Perspective.

Center for Real Estate and Urban Economics

Institute of Urban and Regional Development,
Jobs, People and Land: Bay Area Simulation

Study (BASS) , Berkeley, University of
California Printing Department, 1968.

Forrester, Jay W.

1961. Industrial Dynamics , published jointly
by the M. I.T. Press and John Wiley and Sons.

Halter, A.N. , and F.F. Miller.

1966. River Basin Planning: Simulation
Approach, Oregon Agricultural Experiment
Station Special Report, 224.

Issard, Walter, et al.

1968. "Some Notes on the Linkages of the
Ecologic and Economic Systems," Papers
of Regional Science Association, Vol. 21.

Issard, Walter.

1968. "Some Notes on the Linkages of the
Ecologic and Economic Systems," Papers
of Regional Science Association, Vol. 22,
European Congress: Budapest.

Mertes, J.D. , Carruthers, G.E. and K. Renner.
June, 1973. Regional Environmental Management
in West Texas and Eastern New Mexico:

Resource Problems and Resources Opportuni¬

ties, Preliminary draft of a study conducted
at Texas Tech University and New Mexico State
University in cooperation with the Eisenhower
Consortium for Western Environmental Forestry
Studies.

National Environmental Policy Act of 1969.

Approved January 1, 1970. Public Law 99-190.
Texas Water Development Board and Water Resource
Engineers, Inc.

May, 1970. System Simulation for Management
of a Total Water Resource, Report 118 of the
Texas Water Board.

Session II Discussion

Session II A

Edwin Clark (response to comment about
rural growth): You're all probably aware of
the interesting population trends that have
been occurring since 197 0, where rural popu¬
lation is growing faster than urban, faster
than the national growth rate. There is a high
correlation between the counties experiencing
the largest recreational development and the
counties experiencing the largest permanent
population increase. A lot of people now get¬
ting out of school are willing to take a sub¬
stantial cut in monetary or non -monetary in¬
come to live in a rural environment.

Another factor is that employment is
moving out of the cities into the suburbs, fol¬
lowing the workers.

Question: Here in Vail, the people seem
to be either quite affluent or relatively poor —
the workers. Do you see any long-term con¬
sequences of this situation?

Clark: It's my understanding that the
relatively low-income workers don' t live here

--they can't afford to. That's one of the prob¬
lems.

Alan Kneese, UNM: How did you com¬
pute the density for your cost -of -sprawl study?

Clark: Most of the conclusions from the
cost-of-sprawl study are based on what we
call community analysis, which had 10, 000
dwelling units on about 3, 300 acres.

William Welch, ASU: Is skiing more ex¬
pensive, in terms of resources, than boating?

Richard Walsh: I'm not certain. If you
take all boating - -sailing, canoeing, boating
with a very small mo tor- -I think you will find
that energy consumption is not very large.

For yachting, on the other hand, energy con¬
sumption must be quite substantial. Not only
for construction of the yacht, but its operation
and maintenance.

Question: Dr. Held, do you have any in¬
formation on the income and occupation of the
buyers in your study?

169

Burnell Held: There tended to be gener¬
ally a heavier representation in the upper in¬
come levels. There were a number of pro¬
fessional people and others; as a matter of
fact there were a handful of CSU faculty mem¬
bers in that group.

Question: You indicate that people who
own land adjacent to public land realize con¬
siderable benefit. How about taxing some of
this benefit?

Held: I would agree that these properties
are probably under -assessed in terms of their
real value; this again is a capture of public
value by private property. Probably the
easiest way would be through more realistic
assessment of these properties.

David Chase: A primary problem would
be: Who would do the assessing, and who
would pick up the revenue? The Forest Ser¬
vice is spending its money to support the sub¬
divisions in our area but I'm sure the proper¬
ty owners wouldn't stand for the Forest Ser¬
vice assessing them. In fact, some of the
residents of these properties feel that the
Fore s t Service has a responsibility to police
the area to keep people from trespassing on
their private property!

James Mertes, Texas Tech: How would
you handle the wipe -outs on property evalua¬
tion that occur when some of these environ¬
mental planning tools substantially depress
market values?

Chase: On the western slopes of the
San Francisco peaks, near Flagstaff, we've
had a very interesting case where the devel¬
oper has insisted he has some 2\ to 3 million
dollars invested in approximately 340 acres of
land, for the purpose of a high-density condo¬
minium and recreation-type village. There
were some very vociferous disagreements on
environmental concerns. In the end, the
Zoning Commission refused any preliminary
zone. It sent the proposals back and said no,
there is a 1 -year moratorium on development.
That moratorium has essentially taken away
the private development right. Currently,
there is extensive negotiation with the Forest
Service on a three-way land exchange pro¬
gram whereby the private land holder would
exchange with the State, who in turn would

exchange with the Fores t Service. A number
of other routes have been explore, but in
essence, the general public has looked to the
public agencies to pay for preventing something
they did not want to occur. What we have, in
effect, is a re -defining of what a private land
owner can do with his land.

Welch: How do you handle the problem of
raising taxes drastically for elderly, retired
people who have been living a planned, com¬
fortable retirement, but suddenly find them¬
selves "taxed out" of their homes because
recreational development has drastically in¬
creased their property value?

Loren Potter, UNM: I own property in
Minnesota, and am considering changing my
residence to Minnesota because they have a
law that once you're 65, the taxes are not
increased. We're assured of the same taxa¬
tion rates from age 65 on.

Comment: When I'm 7 5 years old, I
hope to make some sort of a note arrangement
with a banker, who will pay my taxes for me
at a fair rate. When I die, and the property
sells, the banker will be repaid those taxes
that he paid. It seems to me that private
individuals can handle this problem in a way
that it need not always be a social problem.

Section IIB

Raymond Supalla, NMSU: Gordon, you
contend, and I tend to agree that it's impor¬
tant that perhaps over time if we stick to
permanent housing development, tax revenue
may not be sufficient to cover public costs.

You also mentioned a comparable multiplier
effect associated with people who are becom¬
ing permanent residents. It seems to me that
when one moves into an area permanently, he
is going to induce considerable commercial
development. This, of course, will generate
additional tax revenue. Would you elaborate
on this multiplier effect?

Gordon Lewis: You're right in that addi¬
tional economic activity will create additional
tax revenue to the county. However, in most
rural counties, we're talking about a county
dependent on the property tax. Most counties
have not yet developed a procedure by which
they can establish a county sales tax, a county

170

severance tax, or the others without going
through a lengthy voting process, and quite
frequently they are voted down. Economic
activity that is generated by the permanent
residents quite frequently is a great benefit
to the State, and some of the feedback on sales
taxes and so forth. But the County officials
right now are not too enthusiastic about it.

Richard Walsh, CSU: Gordon, you re¬
marked that second-home communities do not
require expensive county services. For ex¬
ample, most of the county budget goes for the
schools. What about the impact of seasonal
workers, specifically construction workers
who would be available for repair of roofs
and gutters and things like that during the
summer season, but who shouldn't be evicted
in winter. Wouldn't these seasonal workers
who generally tend to be low-paid, be a county
problem, in terms of crime and social ser¬
vices and schools for their children?

Lewis : Perhaps, depending on the scale
and location of the development. In Gila
County, Arizona, where the vacation home
developments are fairly well dispersed, you
have a gradual growth, not a boom. In the
winter, construction slumps off. Some of
these people do go on county welfare rolls,
but not too many. Up there the pace of life is
easier; the maintenance people just work a
little harder when the summer people are in,
then ease back in the winter.

Question: Mr. Stuart, could you explain
a little further about the land exchange situa¬
tion at Big Sky? In most situations the U. S.
Forest Service maintains control of environ¬
mental quality of ski runs. What agency mon¬
itors environmental quality at Big Sky?

David Stuart: I really don't know how that
aspect of land exchanges is handled. Some
11, 000 acres of Big Sky is in private owner -
ship, and I imagine the Montana Department
of Health and Environmental Sciences is
responsible for monitoring water and air
quality. I doubt that the Forest Service has
any control over what's going on.

Section II C

William Welch, ASU: I'd like to ask Dr.
Supalla, or anyone else, if he has seen any
models that involve a capability where you can

establish goals within the model and then let
the model search around for value judgments?

Raymond Supalla: I haven't seen any that
do that successfully, in my opinion. People
who make the value judgments are ultimately
the politicians. Analysts, such as ourselves,
cannot list such judgments. All we can do is
define the impacts of certain things, in such
a fashion, consistent with what is important to
people. The decision-makers can then mesh
these impacts with the values and goals of
their constituency.

Rueben Weisz, U of A: There have been
some such systems developed. The latest one
is called Goal Programming. I can give you
some specific references later.

Peggy Spaw, Ariz. Land Dep. : Is there
any common vernacular being developed for
the average person who has to work with your
findings, or has to testify at a hearing on plan¬
ning or some environmental issue? We need
some common language so we can talk to each
other !

Weisz: I mentioned the central core sys -
terns the Forest Service is developing. One
of them involves developing a language that
appears to work like English- -to most people.
Another system is the "situation room" con¬
cept Terry Minger talked about last night.

Question : We've had considerable comment
about the apparent illegality of maintaining a
list of concerned citizens so that agencies
would be able to alert people about environ¬
mental issues and get public involvement.
Doesn't the National Environmental Policy Act
supercede the OMB restrictions and the In¬
vasion of Privacy Act?

John Ostheimer: Evidently not. Even
though such laws as the Multiple Use-Sus¬
tained Yield Act require public involvement,
they do not specifically authorize the collection
or retention of information about individuals.

Gordon Lewis, RMFRES: The Invasion of
Privacy Act of 1974 comes after NEPA, so
therefore this privacy act supercedes anything
in NEPA; there is a conflict. We are required
to have public participation, but we can only
announce meetings and hope that interested
people will come. It's illegal to keep lists.

171

172

SESSION III

ENVIRONMENTAL CONSEQUENCES OF DISPERSED AND
CONCENTRATED DEVELOPMENT, WITH EMPHASIS ON
OPPORTUNITIES FOR MITIGATION

Chairman: David B. Thorud, Director
School of Renewable Natural Resources
University of Arizona

A. WATER QUALITY IMPACTS

Coordinator: Loren Rotter
Department of Biology
University of New Mexico

B. AIR QUALITY IMPACTS

Coordinator: Robert J. McColloch , Dean
The Graduate School
University of Wyoming

Session III explores the various environmental impacts of
concentrated and dispersed developments in fragile environ¬
mental areas. Research dealing with approaches to mitigating
air and water quality impacts are presented. Speakers explore
ecological, engineering, and economic aspects of the problem.

173

Environmental Consequences of Dispersed and Concentrated
Development, with Emphasis on Opportunities for Mitigation1

Alfred L. Parker2/ and Allen V. Kneese3/

Abstract. — This paper indicates the scale of energy de¬
velopment which may occur in the Southwest Region. It furth¬
er traces the paths by which this energy development will
impact the environment including, among others, housing, rec¬
reational home development and recreational activities. It
identifies issues surrounding dispersed vs concentrated devel¬
opment and suggests some needed policy and institutional changes
to resolve them.

Planned and projected energy resource de¬
velopment in the Four Corners Region (now gen¬
erally defined to include all land within the
boundaries of the states of Arizona, Colorado,
New Mexico and Utah) and associated population
changes threaten to put extreme stress on the
regional environment. Since this continued
development will occur in highly fragile, arid,
semi-arid and alpine ecological systems common
to the area, the impact on scenic and environ¬
mentally critical areas, including wildlife
habitats, fragile slopes, and stream valleys,
would, in the absence of effective mitigation
measures, be severe.

It is the objective of this paper to ex¬
amine the nature and scope of the environmental
impact of energy related development activity
and to identify some positive policies and pro¬
grams that can help to maintain the environment
of the region.

As evidenced by the data recorded in Table
1, the Four Corners Region is a major repository
for conventional fuels — oil, gas, coal and
uranium. At the same time this region is clear-

1/ Paper presented at the symposium on
Man, Leisure and Wildlands: A Complex
Interaction, Vail, Colorado, Sept. 14-19, 1975.

2/ Alfred L. Parker, Associate Professor
of Economics, The University of New Mexico,
Albuquerque, New Mexico.

3/ Allen V. Kneese, Professor of Economics,
The University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, New
Mexico .

ly also a major repository for several uncon¬
ventional energy sources — oil shale and geo¬
thermal. A survey of existing proposals for
the development of these energy resources (both
conventional and unconventional) clearly sug¬
gests their massive potential for both economic
development and environmental disruption in the
region.

Four Corners Energy Development

The proposed expansion of coal-fired
electric power generation for the Four Corners
Region is summarized in Table 2. Current plans
call for significant expansion in each of the
four states through 1990. It should be empha¬
sized that the environmental impact of this
expansion program is not limited to direct and
secondary effects of plant construction and
operation. Nor is the impact limited geograph¬
ically to the plant site and immediate vicinty.
This is evident from the fact that the later
phases of the construction program contemplate
the establishment of a total of nine new trans¬
mission corridors.

While there are no nuclear power plants
in the region at present, increased interest
in this type of energy is indicated by the
U. S. Energy Research and Development Adminis¬
tration report of three units planned for Palo
Verde Nuclear Generation Station at Winterburg,
Arizona. 4/ Units 1, 2 and 3 of this facility

4 J U. S. Energy Research and Development
Administration, "Nuclear Power Reactors in the
United States," March 31, 1975.

174

Energy Resources of the Four Corners States

"Sr

CO

m

o

Os

NO

00

Os

00

00

ON

•*

•»

2

rH

m

CN

o

m

42

Cd

U

o

m

NO

o

P

CO

o

rH

m

r^-

m

r^

NO

ON

ON

•*

«*

•>

1— 1

m

CN

CN

rH

<*

CO

m

ON

m cn

O

CO

ON

CO O

rH

P-I

CO

ON

*<?■ rH

O

<r

•»

m. m

•»

3

00

00

o o

o

o

on

NO

rH CO

o

a

T— 1

CN

rH

*H

•*

X

rH

4)

X

ON

ON

00 CN

NO

o

£

NO

•<r

<r m

00

4)

o

f-^

00 NO

ON

rH

2

CO

•>

•* •*

»

•>

ON

00

on ON

o

ON

on

rH

CN

o

i— i

CN

rH

rH

m

co

CN O

NO

Ph

ON

CO

r^. co

oo

>d-

o

m

<r o

<r

CO

•>

r

*» •*

QJ

O

ON

CO

rH CN

r*'.

G

73

rH

<■

co

cd

rH

G

o

<4-4

rH

co

m

oo

O

o

o

o

co

CN

cn

ON

CN

cj

CO

9^

r>.

<r ON

m

ON

p

•»

A •*

*

cd

Os

NO

rH rH

NO

rH

01

i— 1

co

CO

rH

P

P2

CG

U

CN

NO

cd

O

cd

CO

NO

4->

*H

c

os

cd

G

o

r— 1

73

a)

N

4-)

•H

rH

c

G

CO

r^

m

<r

cd

M

C

<r

CN

o

•H

OS

CN

rH

00

4-»

<D

rH

•*

G

43

CO

Q)

U

73

*H

4L

1

1

1 1

1

1

14-1

O

1

1

1 1

1

1

G

1

1

1 1

1

O

4-»

1

1

1 1

l

CO

a

G

1

1

1 1

1

73

<u

1

1

1 1

1

G

0

1

1

1 1

1

p

G

4->

1

1

1 1

o

cd

G

1

1

1

CO

CL

CL

cd

1

1

CO |

rH

0

CL

1

1

rH |

4)

73

o

4)

1

1

d) 1

g

G

o

a

1

1

G 1

u

cd

1

1

G 1

cd

co

rH

•

1

cd i

42

p

cd

C/D

co

1

42 1

o

p

g

1

1

c

42

73

•

o

1

CO G 1

o

4-1

P

4-»

1

G> O 1

rH

>

1

U rH |

rH

|

•H

4->

1

P rH |

cd

j

73

g

73 Cd 1

00

G

CO

o

4J

O 00 1

oo

•H

Pn

42

4)

g

CN

o

01

co

<u

a cn o

<r

CO

OO

>

<4-1

73

P

G

G

73

0)

73

*H

P

C

u

rH 73 1

C

4-1

CO

C/5

cd

*H

O C 1

cd

G

O

CO

42

cd i

co

0)

rH

P

P

CJ CO 1

P

4-»

a

G

o

CJ

p 1

o

c

CO

4-)

42

73 O 1

42

o

*H

CO

4-1

c

G 42 1

4-1

o

73

P

o

Cd 4-1 |

73

1

*H

• •

1

1

<D

73

G

1

rH

c f )

CU 1

1

rH

•H

M

rH

73

C 1

42

O

/— s

*H

*H

*H |

cd

>

rH

co

S

P

rH |

<D

G

cd

cd

p

cr

O 1

73

4)

J>N

G

o

1

*H

CO I

P

>

G o

4)

c

1

P

cd

U

O

Cd 4-1

G

*H

O co

a

cj

G

*H

0

co

CO

a)

01

iH 73

s

0

cd

cd

rH co

u

0 «H

s

4-»

o

o

cd cd

0

*H 01

•H

g o

p

rH 42

42

rH

rH

p

4)

0

0) 42

cd

cd

4-» CL,

rH

P

G 4-»

cu

g

g

cd

O

•H

P-, *H

a

i— 1

p

p

P

G

G

2

G

cd

4-1

■U

4-1

cd

p

o

cd

cd

a;

G

—

o

o

2

2

Ph

P

Ph ^

C/5

175

TABLE 2

Coal-Fired Electric Generating Plants
(100 MW and above)
in the Colorado River Basin

(megawatts )

*

Phase II+

Phase III+

/

Phase IV

Phase I

Additions

Additions

Additions

Total

Four Corners (NM)
1-2-3

572

-

Four Corners (NM)

**

U-5

1,590

-

2,750

1,250

7,583

San Juan (NM)

##

1+89

**

932

Navajo (Ariz.)

2,310

-

-

-

2,310

Cholla (Ariz.)

-

500

-

-

500

Huntington Canyon
Emery County (Utah)

1+30

1+30

-

1,000

1,860

Kaiparowitz

Plateau (Utah)

-

2,250

4,250

1,750

8,250

NW Colorado

-

900

-

6,000

6,900

Mohave (Nev. )

1,580

-

-

-

1,580

Southern Nevada

-

1,600

-

-

1,600

**

6,971

**

6,612

7,000

10,000

##

30,853

* Planned to be in-service by 1977*

+ Projected to be in-service by 1980.

+ Potential plant addition to be in-service before 1990.

/ Plant additions to be in-service by 1990.

** Adjusted to reflect more recent data in Public Service Company of New Mexico
"Prospectus" dated March 12, 1975-

Source: Federal Task Force Study Management Team, Southwest Energy Study,
Summary Report, 1972.

176

(each with 1,237.7 megawatts capacity) are
scheduled for commercial operation in 1981,

1982 and 1984 respectively.

Delays in the construction of planned coal
and gasification plants on the Navajo Reserva¬
tion near Farmington, New Mexico and announced
delays in the construction of oil shale plants
to be constructed in northern Colorado and Utah
leaves some confusion concerning the develop¬
ment of these energy resources. But rapidly
changing technology and/or changes in the prices
of alternative fuels is expected to provide the
stimulus needed to overcome existing resistance
to the development of these energy resources.

Activity related to the development of the
regions' geothermal and solar energy potential
remains at the experimental stage. Substantial
research programs are continuing at major re¬
search centers in the Four Corners Region — in¬
cluding Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory and
Sandia Laboratories, as well as at a number of
universities. The recent ERDA announcement
that the experimental solar energy plant will
be constructed at a New Mexico site and Los
Alamos Scientific Laboratories experimental
geothermal-energy system on the Jemez Plateau
of north-central New Mexico forecast continuing
interest and activity directed toward the de¬
velopment of these unconventional energy sources.

As the general public becomes more fully
aware of the reality and significance of the
so-called "energy crisis" even greater pres¬
sures for the development of the energy re¬
sources of the Four Corners Region can be ex¬
pected. It is not unreasonable to suppose that
the abundant resources of coal in the region
might eventually become the basis for a massive
liquefaction industry as our domestic petro¬
leum resources are depleted. This type of
development presupposes planning, policy mak¬
ing, and institutional capabilities in the
region which are, for the most part, yet to
be developed. We return to this theme at the
end of the paper but first let us take a closer
look at the type of impacts which may occur.

Economic and Demographic Impacts

An obvious and highly significant impact
resulting from the continuing development of
Four Corners energy resources will come in the
form of economic (income and employment) and
social effects. A substantial portion of the
region to be most directly impacted is now
sparsely populated, with low average incomes
per capita and limited employment opportunities.
The construction and operation of the planned
energy facilities will thus have immediate and
highly visible effects of considerable conse¬
quences to the residents of the region.

A partial indication of the magnitude and
timing of the potential impact may be obtained
from data available on specific energy projects.
For example, estimates of the economic and so¬
cial effects of the planned expansion of coal-
fired electric power generation as reported in
the Southwest Energy Study Indicate that dur¬
ing Phases I-IV employment during construction
will total 365,440 man years while employment
during operation is expected to reach 17,620
average annual man years. The operation of
the power facilities is expected to support
a population of 50,000. 5/

The economic impact of the planned coal
gasification development is also extensive —
construction would require 3,500 construction
workers for each plant at the peak period while
basic employment and population figures for the
"steady state," after opening at the two cen¬
tral plants, has been estimated at 2,420 and
9,800 respectively .£/

The economic and demographic impact of
the development of still other forms of coal
energy, of nuclear, geothermal, oil shale,
and solar energy resources are similarly ex¬
pected to be of major importance to the region.

Environmental Impacts

The environmental impact of energy devel¬
opment in the Four Corners Region, much of it
a result of the population shifts and economic
development just reviewed, is also expected to
be significant. Unfortunately information con¬
cerning potential environmental impacts is not
so readily available, nor are the data so eas¬
ily quantifiable, as in regard to economic and
population growth aspects.

Environmental Impact Statements (EIS) and
similar environmental evaluation studies that
are available have been prepared in conjunction
with specific energy resource development pro¬
jects. These studies have understandably em¬
phasized the environmental impact resulting
from the primary sources of environmental dis¬
ruption specific to a particular project (con¬
struction and operation of plant and equipment,
construction of support facilities, transmission
line corridors, etc.). Secondary and tertiary
environmental impacts resulting from altera¬
tions in the economic and demographic charac¬
teristics of the region, which may turn out to

5/ Federal Task Force Study Management
Team, Southwest Energy Study. Summary Report.
1972.

i >, / Development Researcn Associates, Hous¬
ing and Community Services for Coal Gasifica¬
tion Complexes Proposed on the Navajo Nation.
April 1974.

177

be even more important, have largely been ig¬
nored or de-emphasized. Analyses of those
impacts bearing on the local fish and wildlife
populations have been vague, general and qual¬
itative in nature. The following excerpt from
the Federal Energy Administration Draft Envi¬
ronmental Impact Statement Energy Independence
Act of 1975 and Related Tax Proposals. March,
1975 is typical:_7/

"Alterations on air, water, land and
noise levels could affect ecosystems
in areas of energy supply development.
Wildlife and vegetation would be di¬
rectly affected by land disruption.
Reclamation of stripmined area could
restore the original ecological bal¬
ance.

Because aquatic organisms are sensi¬
tive to changes in water quality, ef-
luents or spills might make the en¬
vironment less suitable. Since marshes
and estuaries are usually important
breeding and nursery grounds, alter¬
ations in these environments could
adversely affect fish and shellfish
populations. "

Also representative of the analysis of
the environmental effect on wildlife found in
the typical EIS is the following statement
from the Detailed Environmental Analysis Con¬
cerning a Proposed Coal Gasification Plant and
the Expansion of a Strip Mine Operation Near

Burnham, New Mexico: 8/

"The wildlife population density in the
area in question is relatively low. Some
change in predator-prey relationships
will probably occur on a temporary basis
in the immediate vicinity of the plant
because of the increase in ambient
sound level. Animals which depend on
sound to warn them of danger will lose
this advantage in areas where the sound
level is relatively higher. Workmen
who have occasion to be outside the
plant proper should take particular
care to avoid rattlesnakes for this
reason. "

TJ Federal Energy Administration, Draft
Environmental Impact Statement Energy Inde¬

pendence Act of 1975 and Related Tax Propo¬
sals. March 1975.

8/ Battelle, Columbus Laboroatories, De¬
tailed Environmental Analysis Concerning a
Proposed Coal Gasification Plant for Trans¬

western Coal Gasification Co.; Pacific Coal Co.
and Western Gasification Co. and the Expansion

of a Strip Mine Operation Near Burnham. New

Mexico Owned and Operated by Utah International

Inc . . February 1, 1973.

It is clear that existing EIS generally
do not deal effectively with the really im¬
portant environmental issues. Indeed, the
existing "state of the art" is such as to make
it extremely difficult, if not impossible to
do so given normal financial and time con¬
straints.

Figure 1 provides a visual representation
of the nature and the scope of the environmental
impact of energy development in the Four Corners
Region. This figure depicts the direct and in¬
direct effects of energy development impacting
on the environment through four basic tracks —
industrial development, construction and oper¬
ation of a community-business complex, the de¬
mand for housing and social services, and the
demand for recreation. Each of the tracks (or
areas of activity) pose significant environ¬
mental questions during both the construction
and operational phases of an energy develop¬
ment program.

For illustrative purposes we will examine
the "housing and social services" and the
"recreation" tracks in greater detail, looking
at recreation first.

The Demand for Recreation

Mai or elements of the planned and pro¬
jected energy development, outlined earlier
in this paper are to take place in semi-arid,
sparsely populated counties of the region
(for example. Northern Colorado, Northwestern
New Mexico and Northeastern Utah) . With the
exception of substantial open space in which
to operate dune buggies and trail bikes, these
areas offer little in the way of outdoor recre¬
ational activities. The new residents of the
areas affected will thus be drawn to the moun¬
tain regions for camping, hiking, hunting,
fishing, skiing and other outdoor recreational
activities .

For example, a significant segment of
the population of Burnham, New Mexico, a new
town to be developed in conjunction with the
coal gasification plants to be constructed
near Farmington, New Mexico, can be expected
to migrate frequently to the more appealing
surrounding of the southern Colorado moun¬
tains.

Energy development associated population
growth can thus be expected to place signifi¬
cant additional pressure on already limited
and frequently crowded recreational areas in
the Four Corners States. The environmental
impact of the expanded use of existing recre¬
ational facilities and the construction of
new recreational facilities — including recre¬
ational or second-home developments — can have

178

FIGURE 1

a significant effect on the quality of the
environment in general and on fish and wild¬
life in particular.

The Report by the Colorado Land Use Com¬
mission, A Land Use Program for Colorado recog¬
nizing that environmental needs are evident
and paramount in the mountain region of the
state observes: 9/

"Intensive development of recreational
communities has already irremediably
scarred the scenic beauty of mountain
valleys and Impinged on game migration
routes and winter forage areas. In¬
adequate sewage treatment facilities
have led to the pollution of some
streams. Automobile traffic — and
even wood-buring fireplaces in winter
retreats — has produced air pollution."

9/ Report by the Colorado Land Use Com¬
mission, A Land Use Program for Colorado.

While recognizing the environmental prob¬
lems associated with increased use of limited
recreational land — expanding recreational home
developments in particular — we lack important
basic data that would permit us to place this
problem in proper perspective.

For example, land developers have been
very active in bringing into existence and
selling recreational properties throughout
the Four Corners States and this has drawn
some governmental response. At the Federal
(Office of Interstate Land Sales Registration
-OILSR) and State (Consumer Protection Di¬
visions) levels effort has been made to pro¬
tect the would-be landowner from the unscru¬
pulous developer who would misrepresent the
property being offered. At the same time
little or no interest has been shown in the
collection and maintenance of the most basic
information concerning such land use activity.
Accurate data (number of lots and acres in
the development, homes constructed, homes

179

under construction,' planned construction, etc.)
on existing recreational/leisure or second home
developments has not been available. Scattered
counties have collected data on land projects
and attempted to keep up to date listings of
developments within their counties. Unfortu¬
nately the data are generally incomplete and
no effort is made to classify developments
(between recreational and residential) . The
data available are therefore of limited use.

For example, data provided by OILSR has
been described as "probably the most signifi¬
cant set of data on current trends in location
of recreational properties . . . "10/ But
several important factors seriously limit the
use of these data, includ ing:ll/

1) The data include not only recreational
land projects but other types of resi¬
dential land projects, e.g., new towns,
mobile home parks, primary home sub¬
divisions, etc.

2) Not all recreational land projects in
the country are required to register
with OILSR.

A comparison of recreational property
acreage as reported by OILSR with recently
available estimates that have adjusted the
OILSR data for the limiting factors noted
above, clearly suggests the need for improved
data (see Table 3).

Without basic information on recreational
land development (acreage, build-out rates,
occupancy rates, recreational preferences of
the recreational property owner, etc.) level
and extent of water pollution, air pollution,
solid waste problems, etc., associated with
the continuing development of the region's
recreational resources cannot be accurately
quantified and included in the "planning
equation. "

In addition to this need for basic data
on recreational land use (more specifically
on recreational property developments) , there
are other significant information shortages
and/or gaps in the existing "state of the art"
of environmental analysis. These include up-
to-date information on land use and land owner¬
ship, base line information concerning land
and water quality against which changes re¬
sulting from energy development could be mea¬
sured, the biologic classification of land re¬
flecting the ability of an area to tolerate
specific land use activities without degrada-

10/ Richard L. Ragatz Associates, Inc.,
Recreational Properties. An Analysis of the

Markets for Privately Owned Recreational Lots

and Leisure Homes. May 1974, p. 55.

11/ Ibid., p. 60.

TABLE 3

Recreational Property Acreage as
Reported by OILSR and as Adjusted by RfF

oilsrV

2

RfF Adjusted_/

Arizona

467,015

n . a.

Colorado

824,700

n . a .

New Mexico

1,030,208

816,296

Utah

49,247

146,177

V Report in Richard L. Ragatz Associates, Inc.
Recreation Properties, p. 507.

2

/ Projections recently available from Resources
for the Future, Inc. sponsored project
"Second Home Development in the Southwest:
Trends and Perspectives," Department of
Economics, University of New Mexico. OILSR
data has been adjusted based on subdivision
data supplied by county land offices in each
of the states included in the study and
information provided by recreational prop¬
erty developers in each of the states.

tion, the identification of "key" organisms in
an ecosystem which most rapidly and accurately
indicate the system's tolerance to specific
impacts and more.

As continuing environmental research pro¬
vides the critical inputs we will be in a
stronger position to project accurately the
likely consequences of alternative policies
designed to mitigate the environmental impact
of the anticipated increase in recreational
land use.

The Demand for Housing and Social Services

What is to be the design and character of
housing developments (both residential and
recreational) constructed to accommodate demo¬
graphic changes associated with energy develop¬
ment? The creation of "new communities" with
the same environment (and the same environ¬
mental problems) as found in existing com¬
munities, or even worse ones, is not an attrac¬
tive alternative.

To insure that population growth and re¬
location associated with energy development
does not result in a large scale deterioration
of the environment, it is essential that a

180

variety of substantive environmental issues
be examined carefully. Among these is the
questions of dispersed vs. concentrated de¬
velopment and the following more specific but
related issues:

Household Waste
Treatment Systems

(septic tank and
extended aeration
package plants)

VS

Community Sewage
System

Household Wells

vs

Community Water

System

Energy Corridors

vs

Energy Park Concept

Curvilinear De¬
sign

vs

Cluster Design or
Planned Unit Develop¬
ment (PUD)

Low Density and
Non-Cen trail zed
Density (mass
transit imprac¬
tical)

vs

High Density and
Centralized Density
(mass transit prac¬
tical)

It should be

noted

that many of these

issues relate to both recreational and resi¬

dential development. This is particularly
true of the issue of development siting. A
matter clearly closely related to the issues
listed above.

Reference to siting issues is simply a
recognition of the fact that the environmental
impact of a development of a particular design
(rectilinear, curvilinear, cluster, etc.) and
character (single family homes on individual
lots, condominiums, mobile home subdivision,
etc.) may vary significantly from one loca¬
tion to another. It is unlikely that a single
form of development will provide the optimal
level of environmental impact control for
every location. Thus there is a need to ex¬
amine carefully the environmental consequences
of different planned development options at
alternative sites.

Public Policy Options for Controlling

Environmental Impacts (Land Use Control)

In view of the nature and scope of the
environmental impact associated with the de¬
velopment of the Four Corners Region's energy
resources, it becomes obvious that comprehen¬
sive, continuous land use planning and effec¬
tive plan implementation is required if ex¬
tensive environmental destruction is to be
avoided .

In the Four Corners States as is the case
in all other states except Hawaii, localities

and counties have most of the power, such as
it is, over land use decisions. In the 1970s
recognizing that the impacts (both economic
and environmental) of many projects extend
beyond local or county boundaries, a few states
have acted to transfer land use controls to
regional (intrastate) or state levels. 12/

These states have generally adopted the
so-called critical areas/regional development
approach, created in part by the American Law
Institute in its Model Land Development Code.
Under the critical areas approach, a state
designates areas of statewide concern and re¬
views local land use decisions affecting the
designated areas . 13/

All of the Four Corners States employ
some elements of the piecemeal approach which
has been characteristic of state activity in
the land use area. Components may include
regulation of wetlands development, power plant
siting, surface mining and subdivisions. While
even this piecemeal approach is generally con¬
structive in helping to avoid the more obvious
environmental disasters, it is clear that such
an approach is not adequate to deal with the
•complex of environmental issues associated
with Four Corners energy development.

If comprehensive, integrated land use
programs are to be developed each of the Four
Corners states must enact and implement state
land use legislation. Centralized land con¬
trols as found in the state of Hawaii, where
the entire state is zoned by the state Land
Use Commission into urban, rural, agricultural
and conservation categories, offers perhaps
the greatest opportunity for comprehensive
(statewide) land use planning. The Vermont
experience with an approach somewhat similar
to Hawaii's suggests we must settle for less.
That is, at best each of the states may be
successful in enacting and implementing cri¬
tical areas legislation such as that recently
passed by the Colorado legislature. (The Utah
legislature also passed such an act, however,
the Utah Land Use Act was defeated in a refer¬
endum vote in November 1974.)

Under critical areas legislation, the
state establishes criteria for areas and activ¬
ities of statewide interest, and the localities
or counties designate and regulate. All local

12/ The following states have acted to
transfer land use controls to regional or
state levels: Colorado, Florida, Maine, Mary¬
land, Minnesota, Nevada, North Carolina, Oregon,
Utah and Vermont.

13/ James B. Coffin, Editor, A Summary
of State Land Use Controls - July 1974. Land
Use Planning Reports, Plus Publications Inc.,
p. 2.

181

decisions in designating areas and activities
of statewide interest and the regulation of
these through local land use controls are re¬
viewed by a State Land Use Commission. 14/

The Commission established under such
legislation is responsible for the identifi¬
cation and formulation of land use goals and
policies, the development of programs to carry
out these policies and the development of an
organizational structure to implement the
programs .

The Commission is in a position to coordi¬
nate the actions of a variety of state agencies
including the State Engineers Office, the En¬
vironmental Improvement Agency, the State Plan¬
ning Office, etc., in efforts to achieve state
land use objectives.

The Commission is similarly in a position
to develop and implement new and innovative
measures to encourage planned, orderly, environ¬
mentally acceptable land use development. Such
innovative measures may include the initiation
of a state land acquisition program focusing
on environmentally critical areas, where regu¬
lation cannot provide adequate or appropriate
control or trading or selling small, scat¬
tered parcels of state land that do not serve
state land use objectives effectively in order
to obtain parcels of more critical interest
to the state.

A resourceful State Land Use Commission
will find other innovative opportunities for
mitigating the environmental consequences of
energy development through the exploitation
of existing state and federal air and water
quality legislation. For example, strict
enforcement of air and/or water quality stan¬
dards may provide an effective deterrent to
the "paper subdivision" (lots that are marketed,

14/ Ibid. , p. 8.

but never developed) and other developments
not consistent with state land-use objectives.

The states of Arizona, New Mexico and
Utah are in a position to benefit from the
work of the Colorado Land Use Commission in
its development of A Land Use Program for
Colorado . Parts of the Colorado Program will
no doubt be found to be appropriate for all
the states and can be thus easily incorporated
into other state programs. All four states
must proceed to develop state land capability
maps and upon the passage of appropriate legis¬
lation designate areas of statewide concern,
including in this category both scenic and
environmentally critical areas. Through the
efforts of an effective State Land Use Com¬
mission the results of continuing environmental
research may significantly influence land use
and energy development decisions of considerable
consequence to the residents of this region.

But even should the Four Corners States
develop reasonable effective intra-state ap¬
proaches the problem of environmental manage¬
ment for the region will not have been solved.
The dependence of each of the states on the
Colorado River for water presents problems
of both quantitative allocation and quality
management which are inherently interstate
in character. Air duality degradation will
not respect state boundaries, and as we have
already noted development in one state will
have land use impacts in others. A creative
regional response is needed both in institution
building and policy formation. To create a
regional compact whose responsibilities would
extend across the whole range of environmental
concerns would be an enormous innovation in
American government and is quite likely be¬
yond the power of achievement at the present
time. But the formation of some form of
effective regional bodv appears to us to be
an urgent need and we hope the governors will
use the various forums open to them to vigor¬
ously explore the possibilities.

182

#

Stream Chemistry as a Tool in Evaluating
Ski Area Development1

2

James R. Gosz_/

Abstract . --Studies have been made of a series
of ski area developments representing increasing
impact severity to a single area as well as
different areas subject to different types of
impacts. The major factor affecting water quality
was road salt application. Sewage disposal affected
inorganic water quality to a minor degree while poma
lift construction and light tree removal had no
measurable effect on the water quality parameters
measured. Site productivity appeared to be more
affected than water quality.

INTRODUCTION

Man's use and development of wild¬
lands in the Rocky Mountains is expected
to increase significantly in the near
future. The effect of this increased
human impact is difficult to assess
because of the complexity of natural
ecosystems and the lack of information
about the delicate adjustments that
maintain a balance in these systems
(Bormann and Likens 1970). As a result
land managers have difficulty in pre¬
dicting the full range of consequences
that a particular development will have.
The issue is further complicated because
of the pressure on land managers to
emphasize maximizing the output of
some product or service with less
importance being placed on the secondary
effects. It is imperative that new tools
be developed which can aid land managers
in predicting the full consequence of
land use and development. One of the
tools which may be of significant benefit
is the analysis and interpretation of

1/ Paper presented at the symposium on
Man , Leisure and Wildlands: A Complex Inter¬
action, Vail, Colorado, Sept. 14-19, 1975.

2/ The author is an Associate Professor
at the University of New Mexico, Albuquerque,
New Mexico 87131.

water quality data. The potential value
of water quality as a tool to evaluate
land management results because of the
nutrient and energy linkages that exist
between terrestrial and aquatic systems
(Likens and Bormann 1974). Because of
these linkages the effects of a distur¬
bance to the terrestrial system are often
transmitted to aquatic systems.

Life depends on a supply of chemical
elements all of which tend to circulate
in the biosphere in characteristic path¬
ways. Recognition of the importance of
these element pathways (cycles) to man's
activities has generated intensive study
of biogeochemical processes. Studies of
nutrient budgets and cycles have become
a popular method of analyzing ecosystems
as projects in the Northeast, Southeast,
Northwest, and Southwest are using cycles
of elements to characterize the efficiency
of undisturbed ecosystems (Likens and
Bormann 1972, Gosz et al. 1972, 1973,

Gosz 1975, Johnson and Swank 1973, Cole
et al. 1973). A significant result of
these studies has been the identification
of the conservative nature of undisturbed
ecosystems with respect to their nutrient
capital. An efficient biotic community,
in terms of storing and cycling processes,
has less nutrient capital flushed from
the system via the drainage water. The
ability of natural systems to maintain
nutrients is partially the result of

183

the biological processes within that
system and any change imposed on those
processes often affects the ability of
a system to maintain its nutrient status.
This has been shown in numerous studies
by the increased nutrient levels in the
drainage water of the area after dis¬
turbance. Stream transportation
(dissolved and particulate material)
has been particularly useful in evalu¬
ating the efficiency of an ecosystem
in conserving its nutrient capital.

If output studies (by stream trans¬
portation) are accompanied by studies
of inputs to the system (precipitation
and sedimentation) , then it is possible
to gain a comprehensive view of the
dynamic status of the ecosystem. This
watershed approach to studies of nutrient
cycling is very popular because of its
advantages in evaluating interrelation¬
ships between biota, nutrient cycles,
hydrologic cycle, and energy flow in a
single system (Bormann and Likens 1967).
It also makes it possible to compare
different ecosystems or to evaluate the
effect of land management practices on
e co sy s terns .

The effect of a particular land
management practice may be evaluated
in two ways: 1) in terms of the effect

on the land area itself (e.g. loss of
nutrient capital, reduced productivity)
or 2) the effect of the change of stream
parameters on stream organisms (e.g.
eutrophication) . In either way the
study of water quality can provide
valuable data in the evaluation of the
effect. The objective of this paper
is to demonstrate the use of water
quality as a tool in evaluating dis¬
turbances to natural land and water
systems. Specifically, it evaluates
the development and operation of a
ski area on a spruce-fir forest eco¬
system and its stream in New Mexico.
Studies have been made of a series of
developments representing increasing
impact severity to a single area as
well as different areas subject to
different types of impacts. The relative
importance of each type of disturbance
is documented in terms of its effects
on water quality. The long term goals
of this research are to identify the
tolerance levels of the terrestrial
and aquatic portions of this ecosystem
to ensure its health and self-mainten¬
ance properties.

STUDY AREA

The study area is the Santa Fe Ski
Basin located about 15 km northeast of
Santa Fe , New Mexico in the Sangre de
Cristo Mountains. The ski basin is
located at the headwaters of the Rio en
Medio, a perennial stream. Present and
planned developments of the ski area
provide a unique opportunity to study
the impact of several types of distur¬
bances. The ski basin watershed can be
divided into three areas based upon
types of useage and topographic bound¬
aries (fig. 1).

Figure 1. --Three study areas on the
Santa Fe Ski Basin, New Mexico. The
total area of the ski basin is 259.9 ha.

The upper area (area 1; 163 ha) is only

affected by skiing activity (ski runs,
poma lifts) and the stream is gauged
which gives us detailed water discharge
rates and yield data. Prior to the
summer of 1972 area 1 was similar to
an undisturbed watershed. Only limited

184

skiing occurred as a result of a poma
lift and a single ski run located along
the south boundary of the watershed.
During September and October of 1972
the poma lift along the south boundary
of area 1 was replaced with a new poma
lift (Model T210) . The major impact
was that of constructing new concrete
piers for the towers. Approximately
78 m3 (102 cu yds) of concrete were
used for the 15 towers and bottom
foundation .

During the summers of 1973 and
1974, an additional poma lift (Model
H90) was constructed in the center of
area 1 along the stream. This poma
lift consists of 14 towers traveling
about 1160 m (3800 ft) horizontally
(300 m vertical lift) . The major
construction activity consisted of
blasting to remove boulders in the lift
path and pouring concrete footings for
the towers. About 61 m3 (80 cu yds) of
concrete was required for the entire
lift. The lift required very little
tree removal since it was placed in a
relatively open area.

During the summer of 1974, two ski
runs were cleared in area 1 to serve
the Model H90 poma lift. Again, because
of the rather open terrain concerned,
the number and basal area of trees
removed was small. A total of 907 stems
ranging from 2 to 33 cm (1 to 13 inches)
diameter (stump height) were cut,
however, because of the abundance of
small trees (average stem diameter was
9.4 cm) the total basal area removed
amounted to only 7.3 m2 (68.5 sq. ft.)
on an area of about 2 ha.

The middle portion of the ski
basin (area 2; 92 ha) is the drainage

area for most of the ski runs plus a
chair lift, a parking lot, drainfields
from the waste disposal systems of 2
lodges, and 0.8 km of road subject to
road salting practices. A stream
diversion, consisting of a gate dam and
underground pipe, diverts the stream
from area 1 out of the study area
(fig. 1) . Therefore, water quality data
collected from area 2 reflect impacts
on that area only.

The lower portion of the ski basin
(area 3; 4.9 ha) does not have skiing

activity, however, it is affected by a
parking lot and 0.5 km of road which is
subject to road salting practices during
the winter.

The vegetation of the ski basin is
primarily Engelmann spruce ( Pi ce a
en ge lmann i i Parry) and corkbark fir
(Abies lasiocarpa) var. arizonica
(Meriam) Lemm.) with small areas of
aspen (Populus tremuloides Michx.)
scattered throughout the basin below
3355 m (11,000 ft.). Alpine tundra
occurs on a small area above 3660 m
(12,000 ft.) . A detailed report of the
topography and climatic factors is
available (Gosz 1975).

METHODS AND PROCEDURES

Quantification of pre cipi ation ,
streamflow, and the concentrations of
nutrients entering and leaving the basin
allow a calculation of nutrient flux
for individual areas of the watershed.
Although a number of nutrients and heavy
metals are under investigation, this
report deals only with calcium, magnesium,
sodium, potassium, nitrate-N, and
chloride .

Precipitation was recorded by a
combination of standard and recording
rain gauges. During the period Oct.
1971-Sept. 1973 three precipitation
stations were in service at 2377, 2987,

and 3292 m elevation. Since September
1973, seven precipitation stations have
been in service over the elevational
gradient at approximately 300 m
intervals. Regressions of precipitation
on elevation were calculated for annual
precipitation and applied to individual
areas of the ski basin to estimate the
weighted areal precipitation (see
Gosz 1975). Rainfall samples for
chemical analysis were collected weekly
from polyethylene collectors described
by Likens et al. (1967) . The design
of these collectors eliminates concen¬
tration of solutes by evaporation.

Snowfall was collected in large plastic
"garbage cans" (about 2 m above the
ground) lined with clean plastic bags.

The bags were removed and closed
preventing contamination during transit
to the laboratory. The precipitation
samples contained chemicals from dry
fallout, thus, the analyses estimate
bulk precipitation. Samples contamin¬
ated by bird droppings, etc., were
disregarded. The product of precipita¬
tion volume and chemical concentration
estimate the nutrient input for the
area under study.

Streamflow was measured continuously
at the base of area 1 by a gaging

135

station. During winter months the weir
was heated to prevent ice from forming
on the V-notch. Areas 2 and 3 are not
gauged, therefore, discharge volumes
were estimated using the weighted areal
precipitation and evapotranspiration
data for the elevational range of the
ski basin (see Gosz 1975) .

The water diversion which trans¬
fers water from area 1 outside the ski
basin has a capacity of 1.95 cfs.

During 1973-74 stream discharge from
area 1 did not exceed that capacity,
however, during 1972-73 discharge rates
were significantly higher during the
spring snow melt period causing the
stream to overflow the diversion and
enter the stream system of areas 2 and
3. The volume of water entering the
lower areas was calculated from the
difference between 1.95 cfs and the
actual discharge rate of area 1.

Samples of stream water for
chemical analysis were collected
weekly at the base of each area of the
ski basin except during periods of high
discharge when more frequent sampling
occurred. More frequent sampling also
occurred from area 1 during periods of
construction activity (e.g. during
blasting operations) . The samples
were collected in 500 ml acid washed
polyethylene bottles and acidified to
prevent chemical change.

Cation chemical analyses were
performed on a Perkin-Elmer Model 306
Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer.
Sodium and K+ were analyzed directly
from sample bottles, however, Ca++
and Mg++ analyses were made after
pretreatment with a lanthanum-HCl
buffer to avoid interferences (Slavin
et al. 1963) . Nitrate-N was analyzed
by the ultraviolet procedure (Standard
Methods 1971) and chloride was analyzed
by a chloride specific ion electrode.

The product of stream volume and
chemical concentration estimates
nutrient output from a watershed. It
was necessary to use the water year
(October through September) to calculate
annual output because of significant
snowfall during October through December
which does not leave the watershed until
the following spring.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
HYDROLOGY

This paper presents data for two
years, Oct. 1972-Sept. 1973 and
Oct. 1973-Sept. 1974. These two years

were very different hydrologi cally
which is fortunate because our results
should reflect the range of variation
that would be encountered in this area.
Table 1 shows hydrological data for the
3 areas of the ski basin which demon¬
strates the variability that can occur
on a year to year basis in this semi-
arid climate .

Table 1 .- -Hydro logi cal data for 3 areas
of the Santa Fe Ski Basin. Values are
in cm of water

E vapo-

Run -

tr an s -

Area

Year

Precip .

off

piration

1

72-73

91 . 4

86 . 9

4 . 5

CO

1

58.2

27.9

30.3

2

72-73

83.1

74.8

8. 3

7 3-74

54 . 2

21.7

32 . 5

3

72-73

74.4

65 . 5

8.9

73-74

49 . 6

17.4

32.2

Approximately 75% of
average precipitation in

the

1972-

above

73 occurred

as snow and the resulting spring snow
melt caused runoff to greatly exceed
evapotranspiration. During 1973-74
the much smaller precipitation volume
went primarily into soil moisture
rechage (resulting from the very dry
preceeding summer and fall) and evapo¬
transpiration became a dominant factor.
This can be readily seen in figure 2
which shows the significant difference
in stream discharge during the two-year
period. It should be obvious that these
results will play an important role in
any discussion of stream chemistry.

STREAM CHEMISTRY

Although stream discharge varied
by as much as a 5-fold difference
between the two years, natural stream
chemistry variation (area 1) was much
less (fig. 3).

186

0-

Figure 2. --Average daily stream discharge
in cfs from area 1 of the Santa Fe
Ski Basin.

Figure 3. --Stream water concentrations
of Ca++, Mg++ , Na+, and K+ in area 1
of the Santa Fe Ski Basin. These
data identify the variability of
natural stream chemistry for this area.

Seasonal patterns did occur with low
concentrations associated with the high
discharge volumes during the spring snow
melt. Sodium and Ca++ showed the most
pronounced seasonal patterns, however,
all four cations (Ca++, Mg++ , Na+ and
K+) in the stream water of area 1 were
significantly, negatively correlated
with stream discharge for both study
years. The major difference between
the two years was that cation concen¬
trations were most highly correlated
with the log of the discharge rate

during the very wet year and directly
with the discharge rate during the dry
year. The major difference between a
wet and dry year in terms of cation
concentrations in natural stream water
of this area seems to be a slight
dilution effect during the wetter year.
Nitrate levels were low and very
consistent during the 2-year period and
as a result this nutrient was not
correlated with discharge or other
cation concentrations in the stream
wate r of area 1 .

Of all ions studied Ca++ was
demonstrated to be the most variable
and the variation was higher during the
wet year than during the dry year.

Much of this variation appears to be the
result of the affinity which the divalent
ion Ca++ has for exchange sites on soil
and organic colloids and the amount of
water moving through the soil (resulting
in stream flow) which can remove Ca++.
Since stream discharge varies throughout
the day, sampling at different times of
the day can account for a certain amount
of variability in the data. Another
factor which may add to the Ca++
variability is Ca++ held on exchange
sites of the suspended particulate load
of the stream. Because of its replacing
ability Ca++ would be the dominant
cation held by this material (Brady 1974,
White 1975) . The particulate load of a
stream generally is positively correl¬
ated with discharge (Bormann et al. 1974)
and this factor may be partly responsible
for the Ca++ variability. Although
these daily patterns tend to show a
positive relationship between Ca++
concentrations and discharge, the over¬
all effect of spring snow melt is that
of dilution and its dominance causes a
significant negative correlation between
cations and discharge on an annual basis.

Clearing of ski runs and poma lift
construction did not appear to signifi¬
cantly affect the water chemistry of
area 1 (fig. 3) . The large peaks for
Ca and K in October 1972 were the only
occurrences which may be attributed to
poma lift construction. The occurrence
of the peaks resulted from rain on 3
consecutive days (2.2 cm) following a
2 week dry period. Stream discharge
increased significantly causing higher
levels of all cations in the stream
water. This same pattern happened on
other of our study watersheds, however,
the increase was not as pronounced.

187

Construction of the model H90 poma
lift in the center of area 1 represents
a more significant impact since it is
closer to the stream, distrubed new land,
and required blasting to remove boulders
from the construction site. Through
all of this activity during the summer
and fall of 1973 stream chemistry varied
little. In this case the reason appeared
to be the lack of rain as the summer and
fall months were very dry. Several small
peaks can be seen during September and
October which were correlated with
precipitation events, however, because
of the low soil moisture, little runoff
occurred. Higher moisture levels would
no doubt have caused significantly
higher erosion and increased concentra¬
tions of cations.

The clearing of vegetation during
the summer of 1974 did not significantly
alter concentrations of cations or anions.
A number of studies have demonstrated
that ions such as Ca++ , Mg++ , K+ , and
nitrate-N increase significantly in
stream water after vegetation clearing
(Likens and Bormann 1972, Likens et al.
1970, Bormann et al . 1968, U.S. Forest

Service 1971, Fredriksen 1970) . Weighted
average concentrations of nitrate-N in
the stream water of area 1 did not differ
between the 1972-73 and 1973-74 water
years (0.29 mg/1) nor was there any
increase during or after the tree
removal activity. The small fluctuations
in cation concentrations shown in figure
3 are a function of discharge volume
and do not seem to be related to tree
removal since they also occur in the
streams of other watersheds. The
reason is no doubt related to the
small area cleared, the low density
of trees with grass cover in open areas,
and the small size of individual trees.
Another factor may be the method of
cutting. Since most individuals were
growing in the open, they had branches
down to the ground. The stems were
cut above the lowest whorl of branches
for the purpose of holding the snow
pack, however, this also had the effect
of keeping the root system alive and
functioning. Data is not yet available
for the 1974-75 water year, therefore,
we cannot say if increased N levels
occur with time after the cutting.

The middle portion of the ski
basin (area 2) is the area of most
activity. Figure 4 demonstrates the
difference in stream chemistry between
areas 1 and 2. Since the stream from
area 1 is normally diverted out of the

ski basin the difference in water
quality reflects a difference in land
use. Cation concentrations were always
higher in area 2 than in area 1 and
more variable with Ca++ and Na+ showing
the largest change (table 2, fig. 4).

SANTA FE SKI BASIN

Figure 4. — Stream water concentrations
of Ca + +, Mg + + , Na+ and K+ for areas
1 and 2 of the Santa Fe Ski Basin.

The pronounced pattern of lower cation
concentrations during the high spring
stream discharge also was affected.

During 1972-73 the very high spring
discharge rates caused a dilution,
however, during 1973-74 the much smaller
spring discharge was accompanied by
higher cation concentrations than the
preceeding winter. One explanation for
this difference may be the fact that the
capacity of the stream diversion system
was exceeded during the 1972-73 year
and the overflow of water from area 1
may have diluted cation concentrations
in area 2. In 1972-73 the cations in
the stream water of area 2 generally
were significantly, negatively correlated
with discharge, however, the 1973-74
water year shows non - s i gni f i can t or
positive correlations with discharge.
These results further support the
contention that significantly different
factors affecting stream chemistry are
involved in the two areas.

188

Table 2. Yearly average concentrations of nutrients in
stream water of three areas of the Santa Fe Ski Basin

Ca + +

+ +
Mg

+

Na

+

K

NOrN

Cl"

Concentration (mg/1)

Are a 1

1972-73

3.23

0. 68

1 . 90

0.57

0 . 29

0 . 3

1973-74

2 .94

0 . 70

1.97

0. 59

0 . 29

0 . 3

Area 2

1972-73

4.91

1.06

3 .56

0 . 74

0 . 51

6 . 4

1973-74

4 . 88

1 . 05

3 . 87

0.88

0. 36

12.2

Area 3

1972-73

5.53

1.15

6. 30

0 . 80

_

11 . 9

1973-74

5.20

1 . 16

5 . 02

0.93

-

17.1

The levels of nitrate-N in the
stream water of area 2 were not related
to stream discharge, however, they were
significantly higher and more variable
than those from area 1 (table 2). The
drainfields of the sewage disposal system
are thought to be the source of this
nutrient. This will be discussed more
later in this report.

Area 3 shows higher cation concen¬
trations than either area 1 or 2 (table
2, fig. 5) . The stream water from area
2 also flows through area 3, therefore,
relations between discharge and ion
concentrations are similar to those
from area 2. However the difference in
the magnitude of the concentrations
between areas 2 and 3 identify additional
effects occurring in area 3. Calcium
and Na were the ions most significantly
affected.

The higher concentrations of all
ions in areas 2 and 3 (table 2) represent
a deterioration of water quality,
however, the increases generally are
not large enough to affect downstream
organisms. The ion which comes closest
to pollution levels is Cl- which reached
concentrations as high as 55 mg/1
(March 31, 1974) for a brief period.

This level does not exceed the tolerance
levels for any native fish (trout are
affected by 400 mg/1, McKee and Wolf
1963) and of stream invertebrates only
the Tendipedidae or midges have fresh
water species with tolerances below
10 mg/1 (Tarzwell 1965) . It is not known
if Tendipedid species have been affected

in the stream below the ski area.

Chlorides are considered to be
among the most troublesome anions in
irrigation water, however, concentrations
of Cl” in the stream water have not
reached levels reported harmful to
plants (McKee and Wolf 1963). According
to the irrigation water classification
shown in McKee and Wolf (1963) the
water of all three areas of the ski basin
can be used on almost all soils and for
almost all crops without detrimental
effects.

Since the three areas differ in
size and, therefore, volume of water
discharged, concentration differences
only reflect the degree of change.
Calculating the total loss or output
from each of these areas demonstrates
the magnitude of the difference.

Table 3 lists the total cation loss per
unit area (kg/ha) for each of the 3
areas. These values again show increased
losses from area 1 to area 3, however,
the increase from area 2 to area 3 is
the most pronounced. Again, Ca++ and
Na+ show the greatest degree of change.
The major question now involves the
source of cations being lost from the
basin. Are they lost from within the
system, which may affect future produc¬
tivity, or do these quantities come from
inputs to the system both natural (i.e.
precipitation) and man-caused (i.e. road
salt, sewage)? Table 3 also shows cation
inputs to the area in precipitation
calculated from studies of precipitation
chemistry and volumes.

189

Table 3. --Nutrient

1972-

budgets for
1974 . Values

3 areas of the
are expressed

Santa Fe Ski
in kg/ha

Basin during

1972-73

1973-74

Stream

S tream

Precip

. Water

Net

Precip .

Water Net

I nput

Output

Los s

Input

Output Loss

area

i

7 .

2

24.5

-17 .

. 3

6 . 3

8.

0

-1.7

area

2

7 .

2

39 . 1

-31 .

. 9

6 . 4

10 .

2

-3.8

are a

3

7 .

2

240.6

-2 33 .

, 4

'6.4

20 .

6

-14.2

+ +

Mg

area

1

0 .

6

5 . 0

-4 .

, 4

1 . 0

1 .

9

-0 . 9

area

2

0 .

6

8. 5

-7 .

, 9

1 . 0

2 .

2

-1 . 2

area

3

0 .

6

52.9

-52 .

. 3

1 . 0

6 .

0

-5.0

+

Na

area

1

1 .

0

13.6

-12 .

. 6

0 . 8

5 .

3

-4 . 7

area

2

1 .

0

2 8.9

-27 .

. 9

0 . 8

8.

1

-7 . 3

area

3

1 .

0

482.4

-481 .

. 4

0. 8

52 .

7

-51.9

+

K

area

1

2 .

1

4 . 3

-2 .

. 2

1 . 1

1 .

6

-0 . 5

area

2

2 .

0

5 . 8

-3 .

, 8

1 . 2

1 .

8

-0. 6

area

3

2 .

0

35.3

-33 .

, 3

1 . 2

4 .

1

-2 . 9

Cation inputs per unit area were very
similar over the three areas of the ski
basin and cannot explain any of the
differences seen in the outputs. As a
result of the similarity of inputs the
patterns of cation flux, or net loss,
were very similar to those of cation
output .

The two major man-caused inputs to
the system were sewage effluents from
the lodges and road salt. It is diffi¬
cult to measure the quantity of sewage
effluent in the ski area because of the
use of septic tanks and drain fields.

The best approximation is through an
estimate of the quantity of water going
through the waste disposal system. The
nutrient concentrations used to calculate
total nutrient quantities were taken
from Metcalf and Eddy (1972) and should
give a reasonable estimate of septic
tank effluent (Segall, personal commun¬
ication) . Sewage effluent concentrations
of Cl-, Na+, Ca++ , Mg++ , and K+ used
were 215, 155, 50, 32, and 8.8 mg/1,

respectively. It is estimated that
20 gal/day per capita enters the sewage
system of this recreational development
(Metcalf and Eddy 1972). The number of
skiers ranged from 60,000 to 75,000 per
ski season which is taken to be 100 days
(Pitcher, personal communication).

SANTA FE SKI BASIN

AREA 1 -- -
AREA 3 — —

Figure 5. --Stream water concentrations
of Ca + + , Mg++ , Na+ and K+ for areas
1 and 3 of the Santa Fe Ski Basin.

190

Table 4. — Element budgets for areas 2 and 3 of the
Santa Fe Ski Basin during the 1972-73 water year.
Values are expressed in kg/total area

Precip .

Input s

Sewage

Road

Salt

Area 2

Na +

92

790

3500

Ca+ +

662

250

44

Mg++

55

160

4

K+

184

45

28

Cl-

156

1100

6125

Area 3

Na+

5

-

2100

Ca + +

35

-

28

Mg + +

3

-

4

K+

10

-

16

Cl"

7

-

3675

These figures yield an estimate of the
total kg of nutrients added to area 2
in the sewage systems (table 4) .

Road salt comprised the other
major man-caused input of nutrients to
the basin. Approximately 1750 kg of a
sand-salt mixture were applied per mile
of road during each salting trip.
Chemical analysis of the salt mixture
showed it to be 16.7% Cl-, 9.8% Na+,

0.3% S04= 0.13% Ca++ , 0.08% K+ , and

0.015% Mg . The remainder was mineral
sand (less than h in dia.). Approxi¬
mately 40 salting trips were made during
the winter of 1972-73 which yields total
inputs of nutrients via road salt shown
in table 4. A comparison of natural
and man-caused inputs shows that road
salt supplied the largest total quantity
of nutrients primarily as NaCl, sewage
effluent supplied the majority of Mg++,
and precipitation supplied the majority
of Ca++ and K+ . Table 4 also shows the
total outputs (in stream water) of these
nutrients during the 1972-73 year which,
except for Na+ and Cl~ in area 2, were
much greater than the inputs. In area
2 the greatest net loss occurred for
Ca++. The reason would seem to be the
mass action replacement of Ca++ held to
exchange sites in soil by the large
quantities of Na+ added to the system
(Brady 1974). Significant quantities
of Mg++ and K+ were lost from the system
by the same action. Area 2 showed a
net increase in Na+ and Cl- for the
year, however, the distribution of this
material is not known. Sodium may be

Outputs

Net

S t re am

Gain or

Water

Loss

2657

+ 1725

3599

-2643

784

-565

533

-2 76

6458

+ 923

2634

+ 529

1179

-1116

259

-252

173

-147

6817

-3135

occupying more of the soil cation
exchange capacity or precipitated NaCl
salt may explain the accumulation.

During the summer cattle have been seen
licking the road shoulders, presumeably
for salt.

Area 3 showed a similar pattern
except for a net loss of Cl". This
large net loss of Cl- is difficult to
explain and suggests that the input of
road salt was underestimated. Neverthe¬
less, the relatively large loss of Ca++ ,
Mg++ , and K+ from this small area
(4.9 ha) is consistent with results
f rom area 2 .

Since the dominant effect appears
to be a result of road salt application
the impact will not be distributed
evenly throughout the ski basin area
but concentrated along roads, parking
lots, and perhaps water courses. The
values in table 3 show average losses
per hectare for the entire area which
may be misleading. For example, the
more remote portions of area 2 no doubt
experience nutrient inputs and outputs
similar to the more natural area 1.

Close to the road, however, the nutrient
losses/hectare are significantly higher
than those shown for area 2, perhaps
50-fold. These excessive losses must
in some way affect the growth and
productivity of the organisms in those
areas. The literature shows numerous
studies of vegetation damaged by road
salt, however, I know of no published
literature of the effects of road salt

191

on site productivity in the mountainous
West. The effects may range from
accumulated toxic effects of Na+ and Cl“
on growth to significant alteration of
soil physical properties affecting root
and water penetration (McKee and Wolf
1963, Piatt and Krause 1974).

The effects of Na+ on soil physical
properties result primarily from the
breakdown of the granular soil structure.
Calcium and Mg+ + in the proper proportions
maintain soil in good condition of tilth
and structure because their divalent
charge and low hydration cause them to
be tightly held by soil colloids enhancing
the coagulation of colloid particles.
Monovalent Na+ which is highly hydrated
is not tightly held by colloid particles
permitting individual particles to repel
each other and to stay in dispersion
(Brady 1974) . In most normal soils Ca++
and Mg++ are the principal cations held
by the soil in replaceable or exchangeable
form, with Na+ consisting of a small
percentage (i.e. 3 to 7%, McKee and Wolf

1963). An increase of the percentage
Na+ to as much as 12 or 15% causes the
granular soil structure to begin to break
down when the soil is moistened. Various
changes take place resulting in the
sealing of pores and a decrease in soil
permeability. With further increases in
the Na+ percentage, the soil continues to
deteriorate and its pH increases to the
level of alkali soils (McKee and Wolf
1963) .

In a normal soil Ca++ is present in
higher concentrations than Na+ because
of its prevelance in the common minerals
of rocks and of soil (Hem 1970) and
because of the greater affinity that
Ca++ has for soil exchange sites (Brady
1974). It is easier for Ca++ to replace
Na+ in the exchange complex than for Na+
to replace Ca++, and unless the Na+ in
the soil solution is considerably in
excess of the Ca++, no Ca++ will be
replaced. However, in areas subject to
road salting Na+ is greatly in excess of
Ca++ and Mg++ and through mass action
replaces these ions on the exchange
complexes. This appears to be the expla¬
nation for the significant losses of
Ca++, Mg++ and K+ in areas 2 and 3 of the
ski basin. Since Ca++ is the dominant
base ion in the soil of this area, it
should be influenced to the greatest
degree by road salt. This seems to
explain why Ca++ and Na+ show the greatest
change in the stream water of areas 2
and 3 ( f ig . 4,5).

Vegetation requires Ca++ in
relatively large quantities in relation
to Na+ or other base elements (Rodin and
Basilevich 1967) and the replacement of
Ca++ by Na+ on the exchange sites in soil
must reduce the ability of vegetation
to obtain Ca++ as well as other elements.
It is difficult to predict whether this
has more effect than deterioration of
the soil physical characteristics or
Na+ and Cl- toxicity, however, the
combination of all of these significantly
damages vegetation (Piatt and Krause
1974) .

THE T RI LINEAR DIAGRAM — A TOOL

In many areas where land develop¬
ment is occurring one may not be
fortunate enough to have gaged, cali¬
brated watersheds to allow the quanti¬
fication of nutrient outputs. Therefore,
it would be difficult to identify the
factor or factors which are primarily
responsible based on nutrient fluxes.

One method of water quality interpre¬
tation which can aid in the identifi¬
cation of major disturbance factors is
through the use of the trilinear diagram
technique. If one considers only the
major dissolved ionic constituents in
mi lliequivalents per liter and lumps K+
and Na+ together the composition of
most natural waters can be closely
approximated in terms of 3 cationic
species (Hem 1970). If the values are
expressed as percentages of the total
milliequivalents per liter of cations,
the composition of the water can be
represented by a trilinear plotting
technique (fig. 6).

Figure 6 . --Trilinear plotting diagram for
the interpretation of water quality.

The lines represent the range of water
quality characteristics for 3 areas
of the Santa Fe Ski Basin during a
2 year period.

192

Each vertex represents 100% of a par¬
ticular ion or group of ions. The
composition of the water with respect
to cations is indicated by a point
plotted in the triangle. The coordin¬
ates at each point add to 100%. The most
useful application of this technique
is testing water quality to determine
whether a particular water may be a
simple mixture of others or whether it
is affected by solution or precipitation
of a single salt. It can be easily
shown that the analysis of any mixture
of waters A and B will plot on the
straight line AB in the plotting field
(where points A and B are for the
analyses of the two components) if the
ions do not react chemically as a result
of mixing (Hem 1970) . Or, if solutions
A and C define a straight line pointing
toward the Na+ vertex, the more concen¬
trated solution represents the more
dilute one spiked by addition of a Na +
salt. These characteristics make this
method ideal for evaluating the differ¬
ent sources of nutrients in an area in
relation to water quality. Figure 6
demonstrates the plotting method for
the 3 areas of the Santa Fe Ski Basin.

The line for each area represents the
range of water chemistry characteristics
during the 2 water years. For area 1
the range is quite small with somewhat
higher levels of Ca++ found in stream
water during the high discharge during
1972-73. The high discharge causes
the points to fall somewhat closer to
the Ca++ vertex. The lines for areas
2 and 3 show that all of the water
analyses during a 2-year period fall on
a straight line between the natural
water quality (area 1) and a point
representing the chemical makeup of
road salt. The interpretation is that
the water quality in the areas 2 and 3
is primarily affected by the solution
of road salt. During the spring snow
melt, water quality analyses plot on
the line nearer the Na+ plus K vertex.
Since K+ changes little over the course
of the year this is primarily the result
of Na+ changes. During the fall and
winter months (before snow melt) water
quality analyses plot near the line
representing natural water quality.
Although the water quality of areas 2
and 3 plot on a straight line toward
the Na+ vertex the two lines shift
apart as the influence of road salt
decreases. This may be the result of
the influence of the sewage input into
area 2. It has been shown that sewage
accounts for the major input of Mg + +

to the area (table 4). Figure 6 also
shows the plot representing the chemical
analysis of sewage effluent. Since
water quality analyses do not plot on
a line between natural water quality
and sewage effluent, sewage cannot be
the major factor affecting water quality.
Its effect seems to be minor in this
case by slightly increasing the propor¬
tion of Mg++ at certain times during the
year in the immediate area of the source.
Current research is trying to verify
the minor role of the effect of sewage
effluent on inorganic water quality in
this area through intensive studies of
anions. A similar trilinear plotting
method can also be used for major anions
and since NO3-N is significantly higher
in sewage effluent than in either natural
stream water or road salt the plotting
technique should identify which of these
two effects are dominant and the period
during which each is dominant.

This technique would seem to be a
very simple and useful method for a
land manager who is responsible for
maintaining water quality or evaluating
the effects of various practices. A
number of portable water analysis kits
are available which enable a land manager
to make immediate and frequent on the
spot checks on the health of a particular
aquatic or terrestrial ecosystem.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Financial support was provided by
the Water Resource Research Institute
(3109-126, 3109-50) and the Eisenhower

Consortium for Western Environmental
Forestry Research. Member institutions
are Arizona State University, Colorado
State University, New Mexico State Uni¬
versity, Northern Arizona University,

Texas Tech University, University of
Arizona, University of Colorado, Univer¬
sity of New Mexico, University of Wyoming,
and the Rocky Mountain Forest and Range
Experiment Station, Forest Service, USDA.
Special acknowledgements are in order
for the U.S. Forest Service, Santa Fe
National Forest, and the U.S. Geol.

Survey for their assistance in the
progress of this research. Chloride
data were provided by J. R. Piatt and
W. Graustein.

193

LITERATURE CITED

American Public Health Assoc.

1971. Standard Methods for the
examination of water and waste-
water. 13th ed. Amer. Public
Health Assoc. Wash. D.C. , 874 p.

Bormann, F. H. and G. E. Likens.

1967. Nutrient cycling. Sci.

155 : 424-429 .

Bormann, F. H. , G. E. Likens,

D. W. Fisher, and R. S. Pierce.

1968. Nutrient loss accelerated

by clearcutting of a forest ecosys¬
tem. Sci. 159:882-884.

Bormann, F. H. , G. E. Likens and
J . S . Eaton.

1969. Biotic regulations of particu¬
late and solution losses from a
forest ecosystem. Bio Sci. 19:
600-611 .

Bormann, F. H. and G. E. Likens.

1970. The nutrient cycles of an
ecosystem. Sci. Am. 223:92-101.

Brady , N . C .

1974. The nature and properties

of soils. 8th ed. Macmillan Publ.

Co. , Inc. New York, 639 p.

Cole, D. W. , J. Turner, and C. Bledsoe.

1975. Requirement and uptake of

mineral nutrients in coniferous
ecosystems. I_n: IBP Symposium

on the Below Ground Ecosystem.

J. Marshall (ed.) Colorado State
Univ. ( in press ) .

Forest Service, U.S.D.A.

1971. Effect of forest management
practices on nutrient losses.

Prepared for Hearings of Sub¬
committee on Public Lands, Committee
on Interior and Insular Affairs,
United States Senate on the Manage¬
ment of Public Lands. April, May
1971 .

Fredriksen, R. L.

1970. Comparative chemical water
quality--Natural and disturbed
streams following logging and
slash burning. I_n: A Symposium:

Forest Land Uses and Stream
Environment. Oregon State Univ.
Corvallis, Ore. , 2 52 p.

Go s z , J . R .

1975. Nutrient budgets for undisturbed
ecosystems along an elevational
gradient in New Mexico. I n :
Symposium on Mineral Cycling,

Savannah River Ecology Laboratory,

May 1 - 3 , 19 74.

Gosz, J. R. , G. E. Likens, and

F . H . Bormann .

1972. Nutrient content of litter
fall on the Hubbard Brook Exper¬
imental Forest, New Hampshire.

E co 1 . 53:769-784 .

Gosz, J. R. , G. E. Likens and

F . H . Bormann .

1973. Nutrient release from decom¬
posing leaf and branch litter in
the Hubbard Brook Forest, New
Hampshire. Ecol. Monogr. 43:

173-191 .

Hem , J .

1970. Study and interpretation of
the chemical characteristics of
natural water. U.S. Geol. Surv.
Water-Supply Pap. 1473, 363 p.

Johnson, P. L. and W. T. Swank.

1973. Studies of cation budgets in
the southern Appalachians on four
experimental watersheds with
contrasting vegetation. Ecol.

54 : 70-80 .

Likens, G. E., F. H. Bormann,

N. M. Johnson, D. W. Fisher and R. Pierce.

1970. Effects of forest cutting and
herbicide treatment on nutrient
budgets in the Hubbard Brook Water¬
shed Ecosystem. Ecol. Monogr.

40 : 2 3 - 4 7 .

Likens, G. E. and F. H. Bormann.

1972. Nutrient cycling in ecosystems,
p. 25-67. I n : J. Wiens (ed.) ,

Ecosystems: structure and function.

Oregon State Univ. Press, Corvallis,
Oregon , 176 p .

Likens, G. E. and F. H. Bormann.

1974. Linkages between terrestrial
and aquatic ecosystems. Bio Sci.
24:447-456.

McKee, J. E. and H. W. Wolf.

1963. Water quality criteria. 2nd
ed. Calif. State Water Resources
Control Board Publ. No. 3-A, 548 p.

Metcalf and Eddy, Inc.

1972. Wastewater engineering. McGraw-
Hill Book Co. , 782 p.

Piatt, J. R. and P. D. Krause.

1974. Road and site characteristics
that influence road salt distri¬
bution and damage to roadside aspen
trees. Water, Air, and Soil Pollution
3:301-304.

Rodin, L. E. and N. I. Bazilevich.

1967. Production and mineral cycling
in terrestrial vegetation. English
translation by G. E. Fogg. Oliver
and Boyd, London, 288 p.

194

Impact of Recreation Use and Development on Water
Quality in Arizona: An Overview1^

Stanley K. Brickler and Jack G. Utter— ^

Abstract. --Water quality studies of recreation waters in
the State of Arizona has become of major importance to public
land management agencies. Participation in water -based re¬
creation activity has increased greatly within the last de¬
cade. Concern has been expressed by land managers regarding
the impact of recreation use and development on water quality.
This report examines water quality parameters used to determine
water quality conditions, current research, and offers guide¬
lines of control.

INTRODUCTION

Arizona, the 6th largest state in the U.S.,
comprising 72,688,000 acres (113,909 square
miles) is composite of six life zones ranging
from the lower Sonoran Desert to Alpine Tundra.
Topographic relief varies from desert valleys,
canyons, and low mountain ranges to high
plateaus and mountainous peaks. Climatic
conditions of each area are considerably dif¬
ferent and have distinctly influenced
development in each region.

The abundance of Arizona's unique natural
resources has accounted for the upsurge in
industrial and population growth. Leading
industry in the state include manufacturing,
mining, agriculture, and tourism and recrea¬
tion. Population statistics show growth
patterns for Arizona as 1.3 million in 1960J
2.1 million in 1974, and projected 2.6 million
by 1980 (Arizona Statistical Review 1974) .

Associated with economic and population
growth patterns are accelerated rates of
participation in outdoor recreation activities.
This is especially the case for water-based

1/ Paper presented at the symposium on
Man , Leisure and Wildlands: A Complex Inter¬
action, Vail, Colorado, Sept. 14-19, 1975.

2/ Stanley K. Brickler is an associate
professor and Jack G. Utter is a research as¬
sistant within the School of Renewable Natural
Resources, College of Agriculture, University
of Arizona, Tuason, Arizona.

recreation pursuits. Demands placed on ex¬
isting water based recreation facilities in
Arizona generated by the scarcity of surface
water (less than .3% of Arizona's total sur¬
face area) have in some areas resulted in
over capacity use and abuse of existing re¬
sources (Statewide Comprehension Outdoor
Recreation Plan 1973). Every available
stream and reservoir is pursued for its re¬
creation potential, and in many areas, access
in the only constraint limiting unrestricted
use. However with the advent of "all-terrain
vehicles," virtually all man made and natural
water bodies and streams of Arizona are
accessable .

Increasing public pressure for water-
based recreation opportunities has caused re¬
creation land managers to recognize that
negative impacts may occur on the water re¬
sources under their management jurisdiction.
Adjacent to many of the relatively limited
surface water resources in Arizona are numerous
second homes, resorts, campgrounds and day-use
sites, all with related waste disposal con¬
siderations. Significant questions have been
raised regarding these large numbers of
facilities and the frequent heavy use they re¬
ceive: (1) Is water-based recreation activity

contributing bacterial and nutrient pollutants
to the decline of Arizona's surface water en¬
vironments? and (2) What types of procedures
should be established to identify and correct
existing and future recreational water quality
problems? Examination of these questions and
their implications is essential to the under-

195

standing of relationships between water-based
recreation and water quality.

THE BACTERIA PROBLEM

Bacterial contamination of recreational
waters from local recreation sewage disposal
facilities has become a critical consideration
in Arizona. Efficient centralized waste col¬
lection and treatment systems supplant individual
disposal facilities only at a very few re¬
creation sites. Sewage disposal for the
majority of sites is generally by septic tank --
leach field systems, pit privies or sealed vault
toilets. When properly located, installed
and maintained^ these disposal facilities can
provide adequate service for various use
situations; but their misapplication at water-
based recreation sites can lead to intolerable
conditions with regard to aesthetics and public
health (Hall 5 Sproul 1971).

Concern for public health has brought
about the establishment of bacterial water
quality standards in a number of areas around
the nation. Approximately twenty-five states
and territories have adopted fecal coliform
bacteria health standards for primary contact
recreation waters (i.e., bathing waters).

These range from 1,000/colonies per 100 ml.
for Mississippi, Tennessee and Georgia, to 70
colonies per 100 ml. for the Virgin Islands
(U.S. Environmental Protection Agency 1972).
Secondary contact waters generally have less
stringent standards that are even more vari¬
able than those for primary contact. Incon-
sistancies of recreation water quality stand¬
ards reflect the uncertainties various health
and management agencies have concerning pro¬
bable pathogen^/ concentrations in relation
to fecal coliform bacteria concentrations.

Field data from numerous freshwater and
estuarine pollution studies indicate a sharp
increase in the frequency of the common path¬
ogen Salmonella when fecal coliform densities
are above 200 organisms per 100 ml. (Geldreich
1970). The National Technical Advisory
Committee of the Federal Water Pollution Con¬
trol Administration recommends that for primary
contact recreation, "the fecal coliform con¬
tent . . . shall not exceed a log mean of
200/100 ml. nor shall more than 10 percent of
the total samples during any 30-day period
exceed 400/100 ml." (Federal Water Pollution
Control Administration 1968). This standard
is now gaining wider acceptance nationally.

— ^Organisms capable of eliciting disease
symptoms in other organisms. Common pathogens
include strains of Salmonella, Shigella, Lep¬
tospira and enteropathogenic Escherichia coli .

and has been adopted by the Arizona Water
Quality Control Council (1968).

Arizona's bacteria standard for waters
other than primary contact states the fecal
coliform value, "shall not exceed log mean
of 1,000/100 ml. nor shall more than 10 per¬
cent of the samples taken during any 30-day
period exceed 2,000/100 ml." (Arizona WQCC
1968) . The probable presence of pathogens
in water containing particular densities of
fecal bacteria, and the relative risk to
users involved in secondary contact activities,
are the basis for this fecal coliform bacteria
standard.

Seventy percent of Arizona is under
Federal ownership; twelve percent is State
owned, resulting in 83 percent of the State
territory controlled through public agencies
(Arizona Statistical Review 1974). Recreation
water resources that fall within varying public
domains often have limited or no formalized
approach toward water quality analyses of
recreation impacts. Surface water quality
within the State is highly variable and is
a function of time, location, and flow patterns.
Consequently application of generalized
statements regarding water quality conditions
within the State may not be representative
and caution must proceed interpretation of
average values depicting water quality para¬
meters (Arizona State Water Plan 1975) . Yet
land managers must rely on limited water
quality reasearch to develop management con¬
trols for recreation waters.

THE NUTRIENT PROBLEM

Of additional concern to water-based
recreation land management agencies in
Arizona are possible nutrient inputs from
recreation users and facilities. Interest
in this area is based on eutrophication pro¬
cesses, as eutrophication can be greatly
accelerated by man-associated pollution.

Lake eutrophication often results in an
increase in algae and rooted weed nuisances.
Large masses of algae can cause a reduction
in the aesthetic enjoyment of a water body.
Wind action frequently causes floating masses
of algae to accumulate along shorelines with
other floating and rooted plants. This type
of situation makes fishing and boating
difficult while discouraging swimming and
other water contact sports. When algae cells
and rooted plants die, oxygen is used in de¬
composition and in some cases fish kills
result (Mackenthum and Ingram, 1964). Rapid
decomposition of dense plant growth, along
with associated organisms and debris, may
occassional ly give rise to odors and hydrogen

196

sulfide gass causing strong user disapproval
(Hall and Sproul 1971) .

Present knowledge indicates two of the
fertilizing groups most responsible for
eutrophication are compounds of nitrogen and
phosphorous (Mackenthum, 1968) . Nutrient
concentrations in a water body of 0.01 ppm
inorganic phosphorous and 0.30 ppm inorganic
nitrogen are ample quantities to support
nuisance algal blooms at the beginning of the
active growing season; other environmental
factors being favorable (Sawyer, 1952 and
1954). Nitrogen and phosphorous inputs
from isolated sewage facilities as septic
tanks, vault toilets and earthen pit privies
might be the most prevalent sources of these
nutrients at second home areas, camping
areas and day-use sites. However, all non¬
human nutrient sources must also be considered
in pollution determinations. Natural causes
generating high nutrient concentrations might
include precipitation, runoff, ground water,
bottom sediments, decomposing plant and animal
material parent material and soils. Nitrogen
and phosphorous compounds contributed by
transient water fowl, falling tree leaves and
ground water may be important additions to
recreation site nutrient budgets.

RELATED RESEARCH

At this writing only a small number of
intensive studies have been conducted in
Arizona that relate directly to the issue of
water-based recreation and water quality.

Two research examples conducted in 1970 and
1974 will be discussed in a condensed form.

A third study, conducted by the authors in
1973 and sponsored by the Eisenhower Con¬
sortium, will be discussed in more detail.
Three on going studies will be briefly
mentioned identifying their location and
purpose .

Obr, Follett and Kracht (1970) conducted
a two year study designed to evaluate the
effects of recreational use and development
on water quality of Oak Creek Canyon, in
Central Arizona. This study was initiated
in February 1968 following concern over in¬
creased recreation use along Oak Creek
Canyon with summer homes, cabins, resort
lodges, campgrounds and picnic sites located
on the immediate edge of the stream. Bacteria
and nutrient sampling schedules of moderate
intensity were established with sampling
points located at high-use areas along a
twelve mile reach of Oak Creek. Data evalua¬
tion resulted in a general conclusion that
described the overall water quality as good.
The authors did indicate, however, that

pollutants, particularly fecal contamination,
were becoming evident in the creek; contamina¬
tion was attributed to failing septic tank-
leachfield systems. Obr et_ al. determined
this contamination would increase with the
passage of time unless corrective measures
were taken.

Specific study conclusions included:

1. Recreational use and activity for
short periods of time had a marked
effect on the bacteriological quality
of Oak Creek. Bacterial degradation
was evident during summer weekends,
particularly on holiday weekends.

2. Only minimal increases in the con¬
centration of nutrient parameters
were detected between the upper
and lower sampling points.

3. The geology of the area is not con¬
ducive to efficient use of septic
tank - leach field sewage disposal
systems due to shallow bedrock
surfaces and low permeability soils.

The basic study recommendation suggested
that one or more common waste collection and
treatment facilities should be installed to
service the populated areas along Oak Creek.

Of major importance was the determination
that such a system was essential to preserva¬
tion of the area's recreational values.

Horak (1974) conducted a bacterial water
quality study on the Acacia swimming area of
Canyon Lake. This large impoundment is one
of several located along the Salt River east
of Phoenix, Arizona. Canyon Lake is used pri¬
marily as a swimming, boating and water
skiing area. Horak' s investigation was pre¬
liminary in nature and consisted of several
sampling periods over each of two summer
seasons, 1973 and 1974. Procedures included
the extraction of water and sediment samples,
and laboratory analyses to determine fecal
coliform and fecal streptococci bacteria con¬
centrations .

Although data were inconclusive it was
hypothesized that the major intermediate
source of the low to moderate fecal contamina¬
tion detected was sediment stored bacteria.
Human users and dogs were considered to be the
ultimate sources. Recommendations included
the prohibition of pets in the picnic and
swimming areas. In addition, suggestions were
made that motor boats should be restricted
from operating near the swimming area as their
propellers were capable of disturbing sediment
at various depths. Disturbance and dispersion

197

of sediments was thought to promote the re-
suspension of sediment stored microorganisms.

Brickler and Utter (1975) examined the
water quality issue in a study of three lakes
and three streams in the White Mountains of
east-central Arizona. A number of vacation
homes, campgrounds and/or day-use sites were
located proximate to all of the recreation
waters in the area. These facilities and the
large numbers of visitors frequenting the White
Mountains during the summer months had become
an obvious land management concern. Re¬
cognition of the situation brought about the
development of the. Brickler-Utter study in
the summer of 1973, which was sponsored by the
Eisenhower Consortium. Several major water
quality parameters were investigated through
field and laboratory analyses over the summer
recreation season: (1) relative turbidity,

(2) nutrient concentrations, and (3) fecal
bacterial contamination.

Turbidity measurements and on-site ob¬
servations showed no turbidity problems to be
evident for the lakes and streams investigated.
Potential erosion hazards were identified.
Trampling and removal of vegetation from re¬
creation activities began to expose consider¬
able areas of surface soil at several re¬
creation sites. Such conditions promote the
movement of particulate matter into water
bodies that could result in future turbidity
related problems.

Nitrate nitrogen and orthophosphate con¬
centrations (averaging 3.2 ppm and 0.10 ppm
respectively) showed the project water bodies
to be well enriched. Moderately eutrophic con¬
ditions were prevalent. Analyses indicated
nutrient concentrations were due to natural
rather than man related sources .

Although only minor fecal contamination
problems were evident during the study some
significant differences in contamination were
identified between individual water bodies.

Of the three lakes studies, the most heavily
developed (although well within established
EPA health standards) showed a significantly
higher mean season concentration of fecal
coliform colonies. The vast majority of
fecal organism numbers responsible for this
difference were isolated during a three-day
period in mid-July, 1973. This short period
of high fecal coliform bacterial counts (up
to 800/100 ml.) coincided with the first storms
of the summer rainy season.

Brickler and Utter cited an explanation
by Geldreich et_ aK (1968) in which storm
water was described as the major intermittant
source of bacterial pollution that enters water¬
ways. After precipitation comes in contact

with the earth's surface contaminants are added
from various sources. At the beginning of a
rainfall event following a dry period of
several weeks or more, bacterial concentrations
may be very high in surface runoff. As the
rain period continues the density of pollution
decreases to original lower levels as a result
of dilution.

Occurrence of this phenomenon at the most
heavily developed lake of the White Mountains
study was described as a watershed flushing
effect (Kunkle and Melman 1967). In addition,
the higher bacterial counts associated with
this flushing effect were attributed to mixed
human and animal contaminant sources on the
watershed.

Two of the three streams studied showed
little fecal contamination. One stream ex¬
hibited consistently high fecal coliform
concentrations exceeding 600/100 ml. over
the summer sampling period. Bacteria were
determined to be more concentrated in this
latter stream at least partially due to its
lesser flow pattern and periodic cattle
grazing along the narrow reach of the stream.

Although no major pollution problems were
identified for the lakes and streams studied
the authors concluded that the potential for
major problems does exist if the expected future
growth of water-based recreational use and
development in the area continues. However,
they felt this need not be the case should
recreation land managers maintain a sensitivity
toward possible pollution problems, develop
a representative water quality monitoring
program, remain aware of current water quality
research developments, incorporate water quality
research into budgeting, and perpetuate
responsible recreation resource planning.

On going research conducted by Brickler,
Phillips, and Motschall 1974-75 on recreational
stream waters of Sabino Canyon recreation
area of the Coronado National Forest was
designed to examine water quality conditions
along the 3 1/2 mile desert stream. Water sam¬
ples were collected twice weekly in rotating
time schedules of 8 AM, 12 noon, and 4 PM for
12 months from July 1974-July 1975. Specific
sampling locations were determined based on
representative recreation use, accessability
and stream bottom condition. Surface waters,
bottom sediments, and stir samples were tested
for concentrations of fecal coliform, fecal
streptococci and nitrogen and phosphorus. Pre¬
liminary analyses of the data show fecal
coliform concentrations in surface waters
ranged from 0 to 2624/100 ml. Fecal coliform
concentrations in bottom sediments in most
all cases exceeded those in overlying waters,
with values ranging from 20 to 24,000/100 ml.

198

Fecal coliform concentrations in surface waters
were highest during periods of intense re¬
creation use. Preliminary analyses suggest
that increases in fecal coliform concentrations
in surface waters at certain points on the
stream may be associated with the disturbance
of bottom sediments by recreation activity
as swimming and wading causing recirculation
and redistribution of bacteria into surface
waters (Van Donsel and Geldreich 1971).

A 12 month intensive water quality re¬
search is under way by Brickler, Phillips,
Patterson and McKee of a perennial mountain
stream transecting permanent and second home
areas in the vicinity of Summerhaven on
Mt. Lemmon, Coronado National Forest. Water
quality parameters under examination are fecal
coliform, fecal streptococci, suspended
solids, BOD, COD, kieldahl nitrogen, total
phosphorus, chlorine residual, temperature,
flow and bottom sediments. Sewage from
some homes is treated by a chlorinated holding-
tank sewer system; the system discharges ef¬
fluent directly into the stream. Frequent
break down of the chlorinator has brought about
closure of Marshall Gulch picnic area which lies
directly downstream of Summerhaven, second
homes, and the sewer system. Shallow soil condi¬
tions, exposed bed rock, and high water tables
preclude adequate sewage treatment for some
second homes not connected to the main sewer
system. An early look at the data show high
concentrations of fecal coliform and fecal
streptococci in most all sampling stations.

While not part of the initial water sampling
parameters, high concentrations of Salmonella
have been isolated below the sewage system.

4/

Winslow 1975— is currently conducting
water quality research at Acacia Swimming
area, Canyon Lake, duplicating and extending
research initiated by Horak 1974. In addition
to analyses of surface and bottom sediment for
fecal coliform concentrations, Winslow is
testing for the association of bottom sediment
types, i.e., sand and silt mixtures, with fecal
coliform concentrations. Data are pending
completion of field research.

Water quality studies are underway by most
USFS hydrologist in National Forest of Arizona.
However, limited monies, insufficient number
of personnel, lack of research facilities
and large expanse of each forest create
variability in sampling schedules. Consequently
data in some cases may not be completely
reliable or sufficient for land use planning
and management of forest water resources.

4/

— Winslow, S. is a graduate research
assistant, School of Renewable Natural Resources
University of Arizona.

GUIDELINES OF CONTROL

Broad ranges of recreational and en¬
vironmental use factors are directly related
to recreational water quality. Because of the
diversity of recreation patterns and areas,
guidelines of control must consider the large
variety of possible conditions under which
pollution and other impacting may occur.

The quality of recreational lakes and
streams is determined by natural and man re¬
lated conditions affecting those waters and
the watersheds on which they are located.
Guidelines functioning to limit deterioration
of water quality should apply to recreational
use of the land and water as well as the physi¬
cal, chemical and bacteriological character
of the land and water. Each recreational acti¬
vity demands individual considerations based
on the activity's potential to deteriorate
land or water conditions. Each local environ¬
ment must be closely studied to determine the
capacity to tolerate specific types and in¬
tensities of recreation use.

Guidelines of control given here are
necessarily presented as general management
considerations. Specific recreation areas
and activities have individual problems which
might require management action that would
not be universally applicable. Hence, guide¬
lines which guard against every possible
negative impact from public use of water-
based recreation areas might seriously limit
relaxed use and enjoyment of an individual
recreation site. The following guidelines
are presented as broad precautionary measures
dealing with conditions caused by overuse or
improper use of water based recreation areas:

1. A basic philosophy of purpose, use
and development should be established
considering the environmental
character and constraints of an area
that would guide potential and ex¬
pected uses of a recreation water and
associated watershed.

2. Criteria should be established for
determining the capacity of a re¬
creation site to withstand the impact
of recreation use and associated
pollution.

Based on these criteria and the
philosophy of use, a plan of land-use
controls should be drawn which would
aid in facilitating an orderly
pattern of development and use.

199

3. Appropriate soil conservation programs
should be initiated to protect
watersheds, shorelines and water
quality .

During periods when considerable and
multiple land uses occur along land
or stream perimeters efforts should
be made to limit disturbance of
soil and natural vegetation as
surface water runoff, accelerated
by loss of protective cover, may
increase particulate matter entering
receiving waters.

4. Intensive development programs should
be dispersed over time instead of
being permitted to occur simultan¬
eously.

Where adequate sewage systems or
facilities have not yet been estab¬
lished, human fecal contamination may
increase with the intensity of use
and congestion of vacation homes and
other developments. During the
early years of development, fecal
contamination factors may be much
more significant if developments
are allowed to concentrate in limited
areas .

5. Lake development and recreational
use areas should be located with
respect to the tolerance of lakeshore
lands and waters to absorb bacterial
pollutants associated with these uses.

For example, in shallow area coves
where movement of water is restricted,
circulation of fresh water may be
limited during periods of summer
stagnation. Runoff from lands sur¬
rounding these coves may carry
bacterial waste into calm areas
causing concentration of pollution.
Conversely, runoff from points of
land which extend out into a lake
is usually dispersed around the border
of the point and tends not to con¬
centrate pollution. Waters surround¬
ing points of land seem to be more
subject to movement and to mixing
with water from nearby deeper areas.

Many factors of watershed topography,
soils, length and degree of slope,
and vegetational cover affect the
tolerance of land for various kinds
of recreational use. Those uses
should be planned after careful con¬
sideration of land-use capabilities.

6. All direct bacterial and chemical
pollution from garbage and refuse
dumps , .improperly constructed or
maintained septic tanks, pit privies,
unsealed marine toilets on boats,
livestock and other related sources
should be eliminated.

7. Close compliance with local, state
and fedeal health and water re¬
gulations should be maintained to
preclude pollution from recreational
use and development. Where applic¬
able, legislation should be tightened
and improved to control higherto
unrestricted pollution situations.

8. Programs of regular and systematic
water quality analyses should be
established to identify polluting
situations or significant changes
in bacterial, chemical or physical
aspects of water quality.

CLOSING COMMENTS

Water quality research in Arizona directly
related to the impact of recreation use and
development on water bodies and stream is
limited. Studies that have been completed,
while meeting their specific purposes, are
not sufficient in number or scope to represent
the overall conditions of and recommendations
for the State. Intensive and representative
water quality research must be initiated if
management controls are to confidently be
applied and justified.

Monthly "grab samples" that are
characteristic of water quality sampling
programs by some public agencies will not
accurately represent water conditions.

Monthly analyses show the condition of the
stream and water body at the time of the
sample, and little else. Considerable caution
should be exercised in drawing conclusions
from 12 data sampling periods.

In order to maintain the quality of
water-based recreation experiences, and
to protect the value of the water resource,
controls must be based on known parameters
and standards, consistantly applied in the
decision making process.

200

LITERATURE CITED

Arizona State Wide Comprehensive Outdoor
Recreation Plan.

1973. Arizona Outdoor Recreation Co¬
ordinating Commission. State of
Arizona. 187 p.

Arizona Statistical Review.

1974. 30th Annual Edition. Valley
National Bank of Arizona.

Federal Water Pollution Control Administration.

1968. Report of the Committee on Water
Quality Criteria, 234 pp. U.S.

Government Printing Office, Washington,

D.C.

Geldreich, E. E. , L. D. Best, B. A. Kenner,
and D. J. Van Donsel.

1968. The bacteriological aspects

of storm-water pollution. J. Water
Poll. Control Fed. 40: 1861-1872.

Geldreich, E. E.

1970. Applying bacteriological
parameters to recreational water
quality. J. Amer. Water Works
Assoc. 62: 113-120.

Kittrell, F. W.

1969. A practical guide to water
quality studies of streams. Fed.

Water Poll. Control Administration,
Washington, D.C. 135 p.

Kunkel, S. H. and J. R. Melman.

1967. Water quality of mountain
watersheds. Hydrologic paper 21,

Colorado State University, Ft.

Collins . 53 p .

Mackenthun, K. N. and W. M. Ingram.

1964. Limnological aspects of
recreation lakes. U.S. Govt.

Print. Off., Washington, D.C. 176 p.

Mackenthun, K. N.

1968. The phosphorus problem.

J. Amer. Water Works Assoc. 60:

1047-1054.

Obr, J. E., P. E. Follett, and J. K. Kracht .

1970. Oak Creek water quality report.

Arizona State Department of Health,

Division of Water Pollution Control.

Phase I Arizona State Water Plan:

Inventory of Resources and Uses.

1975. Arizona Water Commission.

State of Arizona.

Sawyer , C . N .

1952. Some new aspects of phosphates
in relation to lake fertilization.

Sewage and Industrial Wastes 24: 317-325.

Sawyer, C. N.

1954. Factors involved in disposal of
sewage effluents to lakes. Sewage
and Industrial Wastes 26: 317-325.

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

1972. Water quality criteria data book,
volume 4. Publication Branch (Water),
Research Information Division, REM,

U.S. Envir. Prot . Agency, Washington,

D.C. 257 p.

Van Donsel, D. J. and E. E. Geldreich.

1971. Relationships of Salmonellae

to fecal coliforms in bottom sediments.
Water Research 5: 1079-1087.

Water Quality Standards For Surface Water

In Arizona.

1968. Water Quality Control Council,

State Department of Health. State of
Arizona.

REPORTS

Brickler, S. K. and J. G. Utter.

1975. Impact of recreation use on water
quality in the White Mountains of
Arizona. Final Report on Cooperative
Agreement 16-340-CA. U.S. Forest
Service, Rocky Mountain Forest and
Range Exper. Station. Ft. Collins,
Colorado. 142 p.

Horak, F. W., F. M. Fogel, G. S. Lehman,
and R. D. Gale.

1974. A water quality study of recreation
reservoir on the Tonto National Forest.
Final Report on Cooperative Agreement.
U.S. Forest Service, Tonto National
Forest .

201

Costs and Effectiveness of Selected Alternatives in
Second-Home Waste Disposal Systems1

Kenneth B. Young and Mesbah U. Ahmed

2

/

A decision-making problem of designing a wastewater
collection system, a central treatment plant and an irriga¬
tion system for utilizing treated effluent is analyzed for a
second-home development project. A simulation model of the
system operation is used to identify the least-cost alter¬
natives in system design.

INTRODUCTION

Methods of wastewater disposal that are
environmentally acceptable and which provide
for beneficial re-use of effluent are attract¬
ing increasing attention in semi-arid regions
of the southwestern states. Re-use of effluent
can be expected to attain greater economic
value over time as conventional sources of
water supply become more restricted in these
regions .

This paper discusses the use of a simula¬
tion model to conjunctively evaluate alterna¬
tive methods of household wastewater collection,
treatment and disposal via irrigation for a
second-home development project. The model
considers increases in effluent loading rates
associated with additional development of the
project over time and is designed to select
the least cost combination of disposal facili¬
ties for specified environmental restrictions.
Project growth rates and benefits accruing to
the project owners are assumed to be related
to improvements in sewage disposal facilities.

A computer program for applying the simulation
model to a selected second-home development
area in West Texas has been developed but
results of the application were not available
for inclusion in this paper. Findings in this

_/ Paper presented at the Symposium on Man,
Leisure, and Wildlands: A Complex Interaction,
Vail, Colorado, Sept. 14-19, 1975.

2

_/ Kenneth B. Young is Assistant Professor
of Agricultural Economics at Texas Tech Univer¬
sity, Lubbock, Texas. Mesbah U. Ahmed is a
Research Assistant in the Department of Agri¬
cultural Economics, Texas Tech University,
Lubbock, Texas.

paper are limited to a comparison of costs for
different components in the model and a tenta¬
tive evaluation of the alternatives.

Disposal of sewage effluent via irrigation
provides additional treatment by removing excess
nutrients that are potentially damaging to the
environment. Irrigated vegetation was estimated
to have significant uptake of phosphorus and
nitrogen in a Penn State Study (Sopper and Kardos ,
1973). Golf courses have been irrigated with
effluent without any measureable loss in soil
productivity according to a California study
(Sullivan, 1970). Use of effluent for irriga¬
tion in a state park has not caused any sub¬
stantial or discernable change in groundwater
or downstream surface water quality in a New
Hampshire project (Frost, et aT. , 1973).

Conventional wastewater treatment plants
are evaluated in a number of studies. Aggregate
plant costs were reported by Schroepfer, (1939);
and Rowan et^ sd. , (1960 and 1961). Separate
cost analyses of treatment units relative to
alternative effluent loading rates were made
by Logan et al. (1962) and Frankel (1965).
Problems of providing sanitary sewerage in
intermediate population density areas and dis¬
advantages of individual septic tanks have been
investigated by Thomas et^ al. , (1962).

Several studies have recently appeared on
package treatment plants suitable for small
communities (Goldstein, 1973) , (Qasim e^t al. ,
1971, 1975), (Nicoll , 1971) and (Lamp, 1974).
Package treatment plants offer important cost
advantages over conventional plants for servicing
small populations.

202

Fig. 1.-- Schematic diagram of the system.

A recent innovation in sewage collection
systems is the use of grinder pumps and a low
pressure conveyance system (Water and Sewage
Works, 1973). This method can utilize smaller
diameter pipe than conventional gravity flow
systems and overcomes problems of land contours
which are often encountered in second-home
developments.

Although a relatively large volume of
literature is available on different waste
water treatment plants and on irrigation systems
that utilize effluent, no specific studies
appear to have been completed on a conjunctive
system analysis of sewage collection, treat¬
ment and disposal via irrigation systems. One
notable exception is a relatively broad engi¬
neering type study of wastewater treatment
system design and operation for three alterna¬
tive disposal methods: irrigation, overland
flow and infiltration - percolation, recently
completed by the Environmental Protection Agency
(1973).

There are important economic interactions
among various components of the system not
evaluated in the above EPA study that merit
attention. Treatment plant selection and lo¬
cation are conceivably affected by alternative
beneficial uses for the effluent. Sanitary
treatment requirements are affected by the
method and location of effluent use, eg. ,

proximity of effluent use to a municipal water
supply and irrigation application rates for
vegetation in the disposal area.

In areas where waste effluent has been
used for irrigation, the typical method of
application is either sprinkle or row irrigation.
In the present study, sprinkle irrigation of
shade trees and grassed areas on the second-
home development site is compared to sub-irri¬
gation methods. Sub-irrigation offers special
advantages for public use areas in reducing
vandalism, in being easily automated and in
preventing direct public contact with treated
effluent. The chief technical problem of sub¬
irrigation with drip systems is emitter plug¬
ging. However, plugging may be controlled to
a large extent by filtration and acid flushing
of lines to eliminate algae buildup (Read and
Pietsch, 1974; Wilson, 1972; McElhoe and Tucker,
1974).

COMPONENTS OF MODEL

Basic components of the simulation model
for evaluating waste disposal systems to service
a second-home development project near a munici¬
pal water supply reservoir are illustrated in
figure 1. This model is specifically designed
to evaluate a particular lake recreation project
with a combination of second-home development

203

and daily visitation to campground areas. The
proposed irrigation facilities will be located
primarily in campground areas.

Visitation to lake recreation areas is re¬
lated to the season of the year and other factors
including recreational facilities and distance
to population centers (Grubb and Goodwin, 1968).
Previous visitation records are used to project
future visitation via regression analysis. The
rate of change in annual visitation is assumed
to increase with improvements in waste disposal
facilities .

Volume of sewage varies with changes in
daily visitation. In the case of the selected
case study area there are restaurants, service
stations and resident employees of the water
treatment plant that account for a relatively
stable component of waste water flow over the
year. Predicted effluent flows are

(1) S . = I.P.V. . _ + S° _

3 ,t 1 1 1,3 ,t j,t

Where S. = predicted volume of waste-
water flow oA’ihe jth day of a given year, t;

P. = per capita wastewater coefficient value
for the ith visitor category; V^ . = pre¬

dicted visitation for the ith visitor category
on the jth day for a prediction year, t; and
Sj }t = the estimated volume of wastewater flow
provided by permanent lake residents on the jth
day of a prediction year t. Treatment alterna¬
tives are affected by the type of irrigation
system selected. For example, sub-irrigation
methods require a high level of filtration but
no chlorination treatment as compared to
sprinkle irrigation.

Irrigation alternatives include sub- irri¬
gation and sprinkle irrigation designs. Dif¬
ferent sites with variable soil and slope char¬
acteristics affect the design of the irrigation
system. On each site, there is a choice in plant
spacing arrangements and in selection of plant
species.

Relationships among various components in
the model that affect the irrigation system
including rain, pan evaporation, soil proper¬
ties, topography, plant types, irrigation sites
and irrigation system alternatives are depicted
by the following equations. 3/

(2)

(3)

SM. . = SM. . . + R . - E, N . , AE . .
i.l i-l»l i >1 k 1 ,k i,j ,k

AE

i,3 ,k

SM

izL a

E. ■ L-

i.J ,k

(4) E, . . = K . . , PE

i ,3 ,k i ,3 ,k , ±

Equations (2) , (3) and (4) may be com¬
bined as follows:

(5) SM. . =SM . , ,+R . . - PE.
1,3 1-1,3 i.l i

ZkKi,j ,lF j ,k

SM

i.-J. ?j

Where Sm. . = available soil moisture on
the ith day fof^jth type soil; R. . = rainfall
addition to soil moisture on the1iih day for
jth type soil; Nj k = size of irrigated area
with jth type soil for kth type plant species;
AE_^ • k = actual evapotranspiration on the ith
day ’for jth type soil by kth type plants; Wj =
water-holding capacity of jth type soil at
field saturation ;E^ ^ = potential evapotrans¬
piration use on the ith day for jth type soil
by kth type plants at field saturation;Ki > j ^

= consumptive use coefficient on the ith day
for jth type soil by kth type plants; and PE^=
pan evaporation on the ith day. (Defined for
i = 1,..., 365; j = l , . . . ,Nl : k=l,...,N2).
Irrigated acreage for different soil sites and
plant types is determined by the model. Soil
moisture balance is kept within bounds by the
following equations, if/

(6) lmaX = 6 . E. (W. - SM. .)

1,3 ,m 3 ,m 3 3 1,3

(7) I min =6. Zj (a. W. - SM. .)

1,3 .m 3 »m 1 >m 1 i.l

Where I i i m = maxiniuln irrigation level permitted
on the ith day for jth type soil by the mth ir¬
rigation method; <5j )ln = irrigation

application efficiency coefficient for jth type
soil by the mth irrigation method; I^^m =
minimum irrigation method; and aj = minimum
percentage of water storage tolerated for j th
type soil and mth irrigation method. (Defined
for i=l, . . . ,365 ; j=l,...,N1; m=l,...,N3>

Operating rules are employed in the sim¬
ulation model to dispose of excess treated ef¬
fluent outside the system when storage facili¬
ties are full and to pump water from the lake
for the irrigation system when effluent flows
and the volume of stored effluent are insuf¬
ficient to meet irrigation requirements. The
rules are:

3/

— Soil moisture balance relationships depicted
in these equations are derived from Technical
Irrigation Requirements, 1972; Holmes and
Robertson, 1959 and 1963; Mapp;1972; and Texas
Water Development Board, 1972.

4/

— Soil moisture balance is maintained between
field saturation and wilting point as defined
in Technical Irrigation Requirements published
by the State Soil Conservation Service in
Texas .

204

(8) D. = E.-E. I - (SC-V. ,)} if

i 3 >m i,j,m

i-1

E > [ E I™* + (SC-V. )]

1 j,m 1 ,3 ,m l-l

(9) P. = E. I -(E. + V. ,) if E.
l 3 ,m l ,j ,m l l-l l

< [ E . Imln - V . . ]
1 ,m 1,3 ,m l-l

(10)

V. =
1

vi-i

+ E. - EJ
i 3 >m

j.max

i ,3 >

jinax

1.3 :

<E

>m

. +V. <E.

l l-l 3 ,m

jinax

1.3 >

(11)

E.

3

I . .
i»3

= E.+V. .
,m l l-l

if E.
3

<E . +V. .
l l-l

< lTmiP.

3 .m1 ’1 ,m

J ,m

i-1

Where D. = disposal of excess treated effluent
outside the system on the ith day; E^ = volume
of treated effluent available for irrigation use
on the ith day; SC = storage capacity for treated
effluent in the holding tank; V. = volume of
treated effluent in storage on the ith day; and
Ii,j,m = irrigation application on the ith day
for j th soil type by the mth irrigation method.
(Defined for 1=1,..., 365; j=l,..., ; m=l,...,

N3).

In equation (8) the model will dispose of
excess effluent, D^, and apply the maximum ir¬
rigation level if the effluent supply exceeds
the maximum permitted irrigation application
level and available storage capacity for ef¬
fluent. In equation (9) the model will pump
lake water for irrigation and apply the minimum
irrigation level if the minimum irrigation re¬
quirement is greater than effluent flow on the
ith day and available stored effluent. In
equation (10) the model is directed to apply the
maximum permitted irrigation application level
if effluent flow on the ith day is greater than
the minimum irrigation requirement and sufficient
stored effluent is available. In equation (11)
the model is directed to apply an irrigation
application equal to the sum of effluent flow
on the ith day and avaiable stored effluent if
effluent flow on the ith day exceeds the minimum
irrigation requirement that day.

Disposal of excess effluent flows and pump-
age from the lake are indirectly affected by soil
types in the irrigated area and irrigation meth¬
ods as indicated in equations (8) and (9). Sew¬
age treatment plants are required to handle all
effluent flow in the model, thus, eliminating
the need for an untreated effluent storage fa¬
cility.

THE DECISION PROCESS

Alternatives in sewage collection, in
treatment plants and in irrigation systems for

shade tree development are evaluated in the
simulation model (Figure 1) according to the
following decision rule.

(12) max [R(S . , I ) - C + C + C ]

jt p c o p

(13) C = f (S. ,P)

c J ,t

U4) Co - £ <S.>t, Qp> To)

U5) Cp - f <Sj t, Ip>

Where R(Sjjt, Ip) = present value of benefits
associated with adopting a central treatment
system to treat S^ t volume of effluent and using
an irrigation system, Ip , to irrigate shade trees
with effluent; Cc = present value of cost for the
sewage collection system; CQ = present value of
cost for the central sewage treatment plant ; Cp=
present value of cost for an irrigation system
to service shade trees; Sj jt = volume of waste-
water flow on the j th day of year, t; T0 = the
oth sewage treatment plant alternative; Qp =
effluent quality requirement of the pth irriga¬
tion plan alternative; P = physical characteris¬
tics of the area to be serviced by a sewage
collection system that affect design (The
design is governed by topography and location of
collection areas relative to the central treat¬
ment plant) ; and Ip = the pth irrigation plan
alternative .

In equation (15) costs of the irrigation
system are also indirectly affected by other
variables in the simulation model previously
defined in equation (8), (9), (10), and (11).

APPLICATION OF MODEL

The study area selected for application
of the conjunctive model for sewage collection,
sewage treatment and irrigation system analysis
is White River Lake, located approximately 45
miles west of Lubbock, Texas (Figure 2) The
lake has a surface area of 2,400 acres and a
capacity of 47,000 acre feet at full lake level.
There are approximately 25 miles of shore line.

Primary use of White River Lake is municipal
water supply. However, there is a shortage of
water-based recreational areas in West Texas
and this lake has high potential for recreational
development because of its close proximity to a
growing metropolitan area. Currently, there are
about 270,000 daily visitors at the lake each
year and 753 annual family use permits are sold
for recreational use. The Water District has
leased 253 lots for second-home development along
the lake shore near the dam site (Figure 2) that
are serviced by individual septic tank instal¬
lations .

As determined in a previous soil survey
(Blackstock and Neitsch, 1972) soils represented
in septic tank drainage fields are relatively
shallow with low permeability. The drainage
fields generally slope steeply towards the lake.

205

Fig. 2 -- Map of White River Lake, showing
proposed sewage collection system.

nil proposed

- 4 NURSERY

SEWAGE TREATMENT
PLANT

Although no cases of septic tank pollution in
the lake have been reported, there appears to
be a potential problem in continuing development
of second homes without adopting a common waste-
water collection and treatment system.

The area surrounding White River Lake is
currently barren except for scattered mesquite
bushes. Most day campers are required to use
some form of canopy to obtain shade.

As indicated in Figure 2 the water treatment
plant is located near the dam site. The proposed
site for a central sewage treatment plant is near
the water treatment plant which is approximately
midway in distance from lot development on both
sides of the lake.

Alternative sewage collection systems eval¬
uated in this study are a conventional gravity
flow system equipped with 26 lift stations and
a pressurized collection system composed of
grinder pumps and 5 booster pumps. Four alter¬
native designs for a treatment plant are eval¬
uated. Various alternatives in irrigation
systems are evaluated over a 20-year time pe¬
riod with different projections on growth of
daily visitation and second-home development.

In the applied simulation model, pan
evaporation and rainfall are assumed to be
exogenous stochastic variables. No correlation
between these two variables was assumed as in¬
dicated by a Modified Spearman Rho test

(Conover, 1971). As these two variables were
assumed to have independent probability distri¬
butions, characteristics of the two distributions
were examined in the study area.

Statistical tests of the distribution of
pan evaporation data including various tests for
normality indicated that this distribution is
positively skewed. A gamma distribution function
was fitted to the pan evaporation data as char¬
acteristics of this distribution were verified
by the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test. The gamma
distribution function will be used to generate
pan evaporation data input in the applied simula¬
tion model.

Periods of daily rainfall were assumed non-
random as determined by the Wald-Wolf onitz run
test (Conover, 1971). A conditional probability
transition matrix was developed to generate rain¬
fall input data in the applied simulation model
where the conditional probabilities for daily
rainfall periods are related to prior period
rainfall conditions.

TENTATIVE RESULTS
Visitation

Daily visitation was projected for White
River Lake on the basis of known daily visitor
permit sales from 1969 to 1975. The following

206

Table 1. Average Contruction Operation and Maintenance Costs of Sewage Treatment
Plants With Alternative Loading Rates

Type

of

0.06 MGD

0.1 MGD

1.0 MGD

10. MGD

Plant

Const^ 0 & M

a7

Const— 0 & M

a /

Const— 0 6 M

a/

Const— 0 & M

$000/MGD-

1. Package Plants—'

a)

Contact Stabilization
and Extended Aeration

858.9

125.0

719.9

85.0

c/

n.a.—

c/

n.a.—

c/

n.a.—

c/

n.a.—

Conventional Plants
a) High Rate Trickling
Filter—

2408.1

88.3

1998.2

74.4

870.9

34.5

386.6

16.2

b)

Std. Rate Trickling
Filterd/

1807.1

84.0

1514.1

70.4

725.7

32.6

386.4

15.6

c)

Activated Sludge®/ £ j
Stabilization Pond —

1980.9

102.4

1593.8

89.8

908.1

49.7

518.8

27.5

d)

573.5

19.0

316.3

15.1

174.6

5.4

72.9

1.9

— Construction cost estimates are for December 1974 and are based on the WPC-STP index
for Dallas, Texas; 198.24. Operation and maintenance costs are for December 1974 and
are based on U.S. Department of Labor Average Earnings for non-supervisory workers in
water, stream and sanitary systems.

— Construction costs were estimated by a method reported by G.E. Lamp (1974). Operation
and maintenance costs were estimated by a method reported by S.R. Qasim and A.K. Shah
(1975). Data were also obtained from Hicks and Ragland (Consulting Engineers), Lub¬
bock, Texas and from various manufacturers or distributors of package plant equipment.

c /

— Not applicable.

— Based on methods by Shah and Reid (1970), Logan et.al. (1962) and R. L. Michael (1970).

e/

— Based on methods reported by Shah and Reid (1970), Logan et.al. (1962), U.S. Depart¬
ment of Health and Welfare (1964), and R. L. Michael (1970).

f/

Based on methods reported by Shah and Reid (1970), U.S. Department of Health and
Welfare (1964) and R. L. Michael (1970).

linear model provided an annual estimate of
growth in daily visitation:

Y = 70,360 + 2,756Xt (R2 = .91)

Where Yt = total permit sales; and = number
of years from the beginning of base year 1969.
Actual total daily visitation was estimated to
be 300 percent of Yt by the Water District Man¬
ager as children and all local residents of the
Water District are not required to purchase
daily permits. This visitation figure excludes
visitors who purchase annual permits.

Installation of a central sewage treatment
facility would safeguard the quality of municipal
water supply in White River Lake and permit ex¬
pansion in second-home development. On the other
hand, the availability of treated sewage effluent
for irrigating shade trees in the currently bar¬

ren camping areas would greatly enhance the en¬
vironment for recreation at White River Lake
which should promote more daily visitation.

With the proposed qualitative changes in
the study area, it was assumed that more rapid
growth in daily visitation and leasing activity
for second-home development would take place.
However, reliable data from other projects where
similar improvements had been introduced were
not available to estimate the effects on growth
at White River Lake. As these effects could not
be quantified, alternative increases in daily
visitation and home development are assumed in
the analysis to estimate benefits of qualitative
improvements .

The number of second homes assumed in the
evaluation of benefits are 252, 352, 452, 552,
652, and 752 second homes. Annual lease rates

207

Fig. 3.-- Construction cost per mgd for differ¬
ent treatment alternatives, adjusted to Dec.
1974.

currently charged by the Water District are
$100.00 per lot. Daily visitation permit sales
are projected to increase by 2,756 per year as
estimated in the regression analysis of pre¬
vious daily permit sales at White River Lake.
Sales of daily permits are assumed to increase
at alternative rates of 2, 4, 6, 8 and 10 percent
per year above the current rate estimated by
regression analysis following the provision of
irrigated shade trees in camping areas at White
River Lake. The price currently charged for
daily visitation permits is $1.00 per day on
weekdays and $1.50 per day on weekends. Ad¬
ditional charges are made for overnight camping
and boat use.

Sewage Treatment Costs

Estimated construction, operation and main¬
tenance costs of selected sewage treatment plants
with alternative loading rates are shown in Table
1. Contact stabilization and extended aeration
type package plants were estimated to have com¬
parable costs and are therefore combined in Table
1. Package plants are not designed to handle
loading rates above 0.1 mgd. The stabilization
pond method was the least expensive facility for
all loading rates. The activated sludge method
was the most costly facility for effluent loading
rates above 0.1 mgd.

Relative costs of different treatment fac¬
ilities are illustrated in Figures 3 and 4.
Package plants have somewhat higher initial con¬
struction costs than stabilization ponds for
loading rates between .01 and 1.0 mgd. Stabi¬
lization ponds have much lower operation and

Fig. 4.-- Annual operation and maintenance
costs per mgd for different plants, adjusted
to Dec. 1974.

maintenance costs at all loading rates. How¬
ever, stabilization ponds have undesirable side-
effects for use in a recreational area like
White River Lake. They entail possible odor
problems and may be ineffective under heavy
rainfall conditions. These disadvantages will
be given further consideration in the computer
model application to White River Lake.

Sewage Collection Costs

Because of the rough terrain surrounding
White River Lake, a pressurized sewage collection
system utilizing grinder pumps and small diameter
pipe can be installed at lower cost than a con¬
ventional gravity flow collection system for
loading rates below 0.162 mgd. Investment
cost for a .058 mgd. pressurized system is
estimated at $200,000 (fig. 5) and increases
at a linear rate to $300,000 for a 0.1 mgd.
system. The increased costs are for additional
grinder pumps and lateral line connections,
assuming that further second-home development
is located adjacent to the existing development.
Conventional gravity flow collection systems
can be installed at less cost than a pressurized
collection system for loading rates above 0.162
mgd. (fig. 5) provided that the increase in
second-home development is located adjacent to
existing development.

Relative costs of the two sewage collection
systems are compared in Table 2 for different
effluent loading rates projected for White River
Lake. Pressurized systems have the lowest
installation costs for the probable level of
development in the 1975 to 1995 period.

208

Fig. 5.-- Comparative con¬
struction costs of gravity
and pressure sewer systems.

Irrigation System Costs

Installation costs for alternative irriga¬
tion systems and different irrigated acreage
are shown in Table 3 and Figure 6. Cost estimates
do not include main supply lines from sources
of effluent. With comparable line spacing the
automated solid set sprinkler systems have higher

installation cost than automated sub-irrigation
systems. Narrow-row spacing is required with
the submatic system for irrigating solid grass
cover. However, even with three-foot spacing
the submatic system can be installed at less
cost than the automated solid-set sprinkler
system if the irrigated area exceeds five acres
Installation costs decline for all irrigation

TABLE 2. Alternative Projections of the Rate of Increase in Second Home
Development and Daily Visitation With Associated Increase in

Effluent Loading Rate

NUMBER OF

PERCENT INCREASE

MAXIMUM DAILY

PRESSURIZED

GRAVITY

UNITS IN

IN DAILY VISITATION

VOLUME OF SEWAGE

SYSTEM

a J

SYSTEM a_/

SECOND-HOME

FROM 1975-1995

TO BE COLLECTED

TOTAL

COST /

TOTAL COST/

DEVELOPMENT

ABOVE PREDICTED VALUE(MILLI0N GALLONS/DAY)

COST

MGD

COST MGD

252

0.00

0.0582

$201.4

$3460.3 $362.9

$6234.7

352

39.68

0.0781

254.3

3256.4

376.9

4825.2

452

79.36

0.0980

297.2

3033.2

390.8

3989.0

552

119.58

0.1179

340.1

2885.3

404.9

3434.9

652

158.72

0.1377

382.9

2780.1

418.9

3040.8

752

198.40

0.1576

425.8

2701.4

432.9

2746.0

a-/ Cost in $ 1000 units

209

TABLE 3 - Installation Costs for Solid-set Sprinkler and
Submatic Irrigation Systems.—

IRRIGATION

Total Area

Irrigated

(Acres)

TECHNIQUES

5

10

20

30

Cost/Acre

Cost/Acre Cost/Acre Cost/Acre

Sprinkler Automated

40' X 40' Spacing

$1638.

$1561.

$1512.

$1460.

Sprinkler Manual

956

930

898

870

Submatic: Automated

40' X 40' Spacing

1070

610

380.

303

Submatic: Automated

30' X 30' Spacing

1120

660

430.

353

Submatic: Automated

20' X 20' Spacing

1170

710

480

403

Submatic: Automated

5' X 5'

1720

1260

1030

953

Submatic: Automated

3' X 3'

1870

1410

1180

1103

The cost for pipe connecting the effluent storage and the supply
point to the irrigation site is not included. The estimate includes
costs for laterals, submains, pumps, motors, filtering systems, and
flushing systems, proportioner and control stations along with other
costs for electric connections, fitting and housing. The system
has been designed for 40 gpm effluent.

Ref: Mr. Lawrence: Redi Rain Inc., Lubbock
Mr. Dale Bown: Submatic Inc., Lubbock

systems with increases in line spacing and
total irrigated acreage.

Automated submatic systems have advantages
other than lower installation cost in being
completely located underground and in being
more efficient in water use. On the other hand,
sprinkler systems have a longer life and entail
less technical operation problems than submatic
systems .

Benefits of Proposed Development

Data were not available to evaluate direct
quantitative benefits "of providing a central
waste water treatment facility and planting shade
trees for use by daily visitors at White River
Lake. Shade trees have been valued in other
studies at ten dollars per square inch of cross-
sectional area (International Shade Tree Confer¬
ence, 1973).

In this study, benefits are measured in
terms of lease revenue to the Water District
for second-home building lots and in terms of
increased revenue from the sale of daily visitor
permits. Alternative projections in the growth
rate of daily visitation and second-home devel¬
opment are used to value benefits.

Optimum combinations of development facili¬
ties as determined from use of the system simu¬
lation model were not available in time to report
in this paper. The model is now being evaluated
on a digital computer and more specific results
should be available for the final report on this
research project for the Forrest Service.

AREA IRRIGATED (ACRES)

Fig. 6.-- Installation costs
(dollars/acre) of irrigation
systems.

210

The tentative indications are that stabili¬
zation ponds will not be an environmentally
acceptable method of sewage treatment at White
River Lake although much superior to individual
septic tank installations. Package treatment
plants are the next least-cost alternative. A
pressurized sewage collection system is more
economical than the conventional gravity flow
method for the 20-year projected loading rate
at White River Lake. Sub-irrigation systems
are more economical and more acceptable from
an environmental point of view than solid-set
sprinkler systems for the study area.

Literature Cited

1. Blackstock, D., and Neitsch,C. (1972) : "Soil

Survey of the White River Reservoir Area".
U.S.D.A. Soil Conservation Service.
4-31823,6-72

2. Conover ,W.J . (1971) : "Practical Non Parametric

Statistics" .

3. Day, A.D., Tucker, T.K., and Vavich.N.C. (1962)

"Effect of City Sewage Effluent on the
Yield and Quality of Grain from Barley,

Oats and Wheat". Agronomy Journal 54:
133-135

4. Environment /One Corporation(1973) : "Low Pres¬

sure Sewer System with Grinder Pump Pro¬
vides Wastewater Collection Versatility".
Water and Sewage Works. Nov. 73.

5. Environmental Protection Agency. (1973) :

"Wastewater Treatment and Reuse by Land
Application" . EPA-660/2-73-006 b. Office
of Research and Development. Washington.
D.C. 20460

6. Frankel, R. (1965) : "Water Quality Manage¬

ment: An Engineering Economic Model for
Domestic Waste Disposal". Unpublished Ph.d
Thesis in Enginerring, University of
California. Berkeley.

7. Frost, T.P., Towne,R.E., and Turner, H.J.

(1973) "Spray Irrigation Project, Mt .
Sunapee State Park, New Hampshire". Re¬
cycling Treated Municipal Waste Water and
Sludge through Forest and Cropland. The
Pennsylvania State University Press,
University Park.

8. Goldstein, S.N. (1973): "Wastewater Treat¬

ment Systems for Rural Communities".
Commission on Rural Water, Washington,

D.C.

9. Grubb, H. W. & Goodwin, Jas. T. , (1968)
"Economic Evaluation of Water-Oriented
Recreation in the Preliminary Texas
Water Plan." Texas Water Development
Board, Report 34, Austin, Texas.

10. Harvey, C. , and Cantrell, R. , (1965):

"Use of Sewage Effluent for Production
of Agricultural Crops." Texas Water
Development Board. Report 9. Austin,
Texas 78711.

11. Holmes, R. M. , and Robertson, G. W. , (1959):

"A Modulated Soil Moisture Budget,"

Monthly Weather Review, 87 (1959),
pp. 101-105.

12. _ (1963): "Application of

the Relationships Between Actual and
Potential Evaporation in Dryland Agri¬
culture." Transactions of the American
Society of Agricultural Engineers , 6
(1963), pp. 65-67.

13. Lamp, G. E. , Jr. 1974: "Package Treatment

Plant Prices." Journal of ~Water Poll.
Control Federation. Vol. 46. No. 11,

Nov. 1974.

14. Logan, J. A.,; Hatfield, W. D. ; Russell,

A. S. ; and Linn, W. R. (1962): "An
Analysis of the Economics of Wastewater
Treatment." Jour. Water Poll. Control
Fed. Vol. 34, No. 9, Sept. 1962.

15. Mapp, H. P. , Jr., (1972): "An Economic

Analysis of Water-Use Regulation in the
Central Ogallala Formation." Unpublished
Ph.D. Dissertation. Oklahoma State
University, May 1972.

16. McElhoe , B. A. and Tucker, D. P. H. , (1974)

"Blockage of Emitters by the Iron Sulfur
Bacterial Syndrome," Second International
Drip Irrigation Congress - Abstracts,

San Diego, California, July 7-14, 1974.

17. Michael, R. L. (1970): "Costs and Manpower

for Municipal Wastewater Treatment, Plant
Operation and Maintenance, 1965-1968,"
Journal of Water Pollution Control Federa¬
tion, Vol, 42, No. 11, Nov. 1970.

18. Nicoll, E. H. (1971): "Extended Aeration

in British Package Plants," Journal of
Water Pollution Control Federation, Vol.
43, p. 293.

19. Qasim, S. R. , Drobny, N. L. , and Valentine,

B. W. (1970) : "Process Alternatives
Available in Packaged Wastewater Treat¬
ment Plants". Water and Sewage Works,

Ref. no. 117, Nov. 1970.

211

20. Qasim, S. R. , and Shah A. K. (1975): "Cost

Analysis of Package Wastewater Treatment
Plants", Water and Sewage Works, Feb. 1975.

21. Rowan, P. P. , Jenkins, K. H. ; and Howells,

D. H. (1966) : "Estimating Sewage Treat¬
ment Plant Operation and Maintenance
Cost." Public Health Service. Internal
Document, 1960.

22. Rowan, P. P. ; Jenkins, K. H. ; and Buller,

D. W. (1966): "Sewage Treatment Construc¬
tion Costs". Journal of Water Pollution
& Control Federation. Vol. 32, No. 6,

June 1966.

23. Read, L. A., Pietsch, M. F. (1974):

"Australian Vineyard Uses Sewage Effluent
with Trickle Irrigation". Proceedings :
Second International Drip Irrigation

Congress 74. Sandiego, California

24. Schreiber, H. A. (1957): "Sewage Effluents

as Source of Irrigation Water Attracting
Increasing Attention." California Agri¬
culture 11 (4): 8, 1957

25. Schroepfer, G. J. (1969): "Economics of
Sewage Treatment Cost." Proc. Amer.
Soc . Civil Engr . , 65,8, 1210

26. Shah, K. L., and Reid, G. W. (1970):

"Techniques for Estimating Construction
Costs of Waste Treatment Plants". Journal
of Water Poll. Control Fed., Vol. 42,

No. 5, Part 1

27. Sopper, W. E. , and Kardos, L. T. (1973)

"Vegetation Responses to Irrigation
with Treated Municipal Waste Water".
Recycling Treated Municipal Waste

Water and Sludge through Forest and

Cropland, Pennsylvania State University

Press , University Park, Pennsylvania.

28. Sullivan, D. L. (1970): "Waste Water for

Golf Course Irrigation" . Water and
Sewage Works , May 1970

29. Texas Water Development Board, (1972):

"Economic Optimization and Simulation
Techniques for Management of Regional
Water Resource Systems." Systems
Engineering Division Texas Water Devel¬
opment Board, July 1972.

30. Thomas, H. A., Jr.; Coulter, J. B. ;

Bendixen, T. W. ; and Edwards, A. B.

(1960) : "Technology and Economics of

Household Sewage Disposal Systems".

Journal of Water Poll. Control Federa¬
tion , Vol. 32, No. 2, Feb. 1960

31. U. S. Dept, of Health, Education & Welfare:

(1964): "Modern Sewage Treatment Plants:
How Much do They Cost?" Public Health
Service Publication No. 1229. Washington,
D. C.

32. Wilson, David L. (1972): "Filtration,

Filters and Water Treatment", Proceedings
of Third Annual Drip Irrigation Seminar,

University of California, October 14,

1972, p. 17

212

Evapotranspiration as an Alternative for Second
Home Waste Disposal Systems1 t ^ *

V. R. Hasfurther^/

D. H. Foster^/
a

D. G. Lofgren_/

S. R. Jenkins'1/

Abstract. — Evaluation of construction, operation, varia¬
tions in wastewater loading rates and the efficiency of an
evapotranspiration unit for waste disposal from a single fam¬
ily dwelling is evaluated to determine factors which affect
the performance of the unit. The evapotranspiration process
was found to be a feasible means for disposal of wastes from
recreational homesites, particularly during the warmer months
of the year.

INTRODUCTION

The increasing demand for mountain rec¬
reation and other second homes presents prob¬
lems to many segments of our society. Part
of the attraction of mountain areas are the
unpolluted lakes and streams present in many
of these areas. In addition, clean, cold
mountain surface water and ground water may
be used for water supplies at second home
sites. Yet as development of recreational
areas increases, the preservation and improve¬
ment of the environment has become of concern
to planners, environmentalists, socioecono¬
mists and industrial and commercial interests.
Many second home developments provide inade¬
quate or no means of handling human wastes
generated at these sites. The end result
may be a drastic deterioration in the natural

V Paper presented at the symposium on
Man, Leisure and Wildlands; A Complex
Interaction, Vail, Colorado, Sept. 14-19, 1975.

2/ Associate Professor; Civil Engineering
Department; University of Wyoming; Laramie,
Wyoming 82071.

3/ Assistant Professor; Civil Engineering
Department; University of Wyoming; Laramie,
Wyoming 82071.

V Environmental Engineer; Philips Pet¬
roleum Company; Bartlesville, Oklahoma.

V Assistant Professor; Civil Engineering
Department; Auburn University, Auburn,

Alabama .

beauty and recreational opportunities which
attracted people to the sites in the first
place. Goldstein (1973) estimated that in
the United States some 30 percent of the pop¬
ulation depends on septic tank and cesspool
installations, outmoded privies or direct
discharge to water courses for treatment of
wastes. The use of these types of treatment
facilities is the result of technology not
paying attention to adequate treatment of
wastes of single family dwellings such as
second homes compared to central treatment
systems developed for large communities. It
is of paramount importance that means of
treating wastes from single family dwellings
be developed at a reasonable cost to the
consumer which will not pollute surface or
ground waters.

One possible alternative to presently
available systems for wastewater treatment
for single second home developments is the
use of evapotranspiration. Evapotranspiration
is the process by which water is evaporated
and transpired from soil and plant surfaces.

In this system the only outflow from the sys¬
tem results in water vapor and gases escaping
into the atmosphere since the unit is com¬
pletely sealed from surrounding soil by a
membrane. Experimental work on evapotrans¬
piration as a means of waste treatment has
been carried out in Canada by Bernhart (1964).
Witz, et. al. (1970) and Lubinus and Barker
(1971) have discussed commercially available
evapotranspiration systems for waste disposal.
An evapotranspiration waste treatment method

213

is presently under study by the authors for
use with single family mountain recreational
dwellings. This paper contains some of the
results of research on this evapotranspiration
(ET) unit and a discussion of its feasibility
as a means of wastewater disposal.

THE EVAPOTRANSPIRATION UNIT
Location

The ET unit is located north of Larmie,
Wyoming (fig. 1) at the site of the city
waste treatment lagoons. The climate of
Laramie is characterized by relatively low
humidity (10-20 percent), mean wind speed of
5.0 miles per hour, mean annual rainfall of
11.1 inches, and mean annual temperature of
43° F with a range from -35° F to +93° F.

The low mean annual temperature of Laramie is
a result of its geographical location in south¬
eastern Wyoming at an elevation of 7200 feet.
The city itself is located on a high mountain
plain which produces mainly short grasses and
sagebrush. The site provided easy access to
a source of wastewater and was in close prox¬
imity to laboratory facilities which were
required for the study.

Construction
Excavation and Backfill

The evapotranspiration unit consists of
a rectangular trench approximately 30 feet
wide by 40 feet long by five feet deep (fig. 2).
The excavation equipment to be used will de¬
pend on the type of soil existing at the site.
The soil material at the Laramie site was a
clay loam top soil with a cobble-boulder-soil
submaterial approximately two and one half
feet below the surface resulting in the use
of a front-end loader. The sides of the
trench were made nearly vertical except for
the side in which the front-end loader entered
the excavation. The bottom was smoothed so
that no sharp objects could penetrate or cut
the membrane. The membrane seals the unit
from any wastewater movement into the ground-
water system, and as a result, there is no
unit effluent as in septic tank, cesspool,
and package plant treatment systems. The
membrane is situated in the cavity so that at
least 2 to 3 inches of liner are above the
ground surface on all sides of the unit

o

o

o- STAND PIPES -O

k _

-« - 30'

J

Figure 1. — The general location map showing

the Laramie lagoons and the evapotranspira- Figure 2. — A cross-sectional and plan view of

tion unit with respect to the Laramie area. the evapotranspiration unit.

214

ensuring a complete seal. A 22 millimeter
thick nylon reinforced polyvinylchloride plas¬
tic was used for the membrane.

With the membrane in place, one foot of
sand was placed in the excavation and smoothed
into place by hand to ensure that the membrane
was not punctured. After the sand layer was
adequately shaped, one foot of two to three-
inch rock was placed on the sand followed by
20 inches of sand and topped with six inches
of topsoil. All layers above the bottom foot
of sand were placed with the front-end loader.

A ten foot by thirteen foot opening was formed
in the center of the unit. The opening was
lined with the two to three inch diameter
rock. The main purpose of the opening is for
entry of the influent wastewater, sampling,
and observation. Four 4 inch perforated
standpipes, which extended the full depth of
the unit, were placed close to the corners
of the unit for sampling purposes.

Sand and gravel materials were used as
the filler for the unit to provide sufficiently
large pore spaces to reduce the possibility
of chemical, physical, and/or biological
clogging (McGauhey and Winneberger, 1965;
DeVries, 1972; Lance and Whisler, 1972;

Thomas, et. al., 1972; Jones, 1965; and Rice,
1974) . The rock layer helps to uniformly
disperse the influent wastewater into the
sand layers.

Grasses

A mixture of grasses which included tall
fawn fescue, orchard grass, reed canary grass,
and alfalfa was planted in the topsoil of
the unit imediately upon completion of con¬
struction in August 1973. The selection of
these grasses was based on representative
types of grasses grown in the Laramie area,
on varying root penetrations and on salt tol¬
erance (Agriculture Handbook 60, 1954). A
second seeding was performed in the Spring
of 1974 since the stand of grass from the
previous fall planting did not afford excel¬
lent coverage. By the fall of 1974 the unit
was approximately 75 percent covered by
grasses which consisted mainly of orchard
grass, tall fawn fescue and reed canary grass.
Alfalfa did not thrive in the wet condition
of the soil which existed in the unit during
most of the year while a number of native
grasses from the area surrounding the ET
unit have seeded themselves within the unit.

At the present time (September, 1975) the
unit is approximately 85 percent covered with
grass and the grass stands from two to six
feet in height.

It is important to plant a mixture of
grasses on the unit so that those which can
tolerate the conditions of the unit will

flourish and grow. As the dissolved solids
in the unit increase, it will be interesting
to see the effect on plant growth and types
of grasses which will survive under these
conditions. At the present time, the grasses
which are growing are not being affected by
the dissolved solids content of the unit.

Operation and Loading

Untreated wastewater for the evapotrans-
piration unit is taken directly from a trunk
sewer line and transported by truck to the
unit where it is pumped into the center opening.
The loading rate for the unit has been varied
during the course of the investigation from
a maximum amount of 2,000 gallons to a minimum
of 500 gallons in a seven day period. During
periods of inactive operation, little or no
influent wastewater was added. Actual loading
was done on a five day basis (Monday thru
Friday) with no activity during weekends
(Saturday and Sunday) . The loading was then
converted to an equivalent per person usage
based on an average contribution per person
of 50 gallons per day (Metcalf and Eddy, 1972)
on a five day basis. From preliminary estim¬
ates of evapotranspiration which occur at
Laramie during a typical summer, the unit as
constructed was to accomodate a family of six
people in a second home (i.e. 1500 gallons
per week) . The loading rates cited for the
weekly periods were actual wastewater loading
rates and as a result any precipitation which
occurred during the same period of time is
in addition to the amounts indicated.

During the units periods of active oper¬
ation, a number of measurements were obtained
at regular intervals. The liquid elevation
was monitored in each of the standpipes lo¬
cated within the unit on a daily basis just
prior to the injection of new influent waste-
water. An elevation of 7200 feet was used
as a base elevation for liquid level eleva¬
tions. Data was also obtained to determine
the effectiveness of the treatment process
occurring within the unit. Samples of influ¬
ent wastewater and effluent wastewater (that
wastewater retained by the evapotranspiration
unit which has not evaporated or transpired
to that point in time) were taken on the same
day on a regular basis (three to five times
per week). The samples were tested for
biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) coliforms,
and solids (dissolved and suspended).

The operation and loading of the evapo¬
transpiration unit during the late fall to
early spring months occurred on a less than
regular basis because of the lower amount of
evapotranspiration and sublimation which
occurs during this period as well as the
thickness of ice and accessibility of the unit.

215

Factors Affecting Unit

The climate of Laramie as described in¬
dicates that it is a cool, windy, and arid
area. To a great extent this characterizes
many areas in the Western United States at
higher elevations such as forested areas in
the Rocky Mountains.

Evapotranspiration is dependent upon a
number of quantities for its maximum function¬
ing. The factors which most influence evap¬
otranspiration are solar radiation, tempera¬
ture (which is to some extent a function of
elevation), relative humidity (vapor pressure),
wind speed, soil moisture available, plant
density, and surface area. A number of these
quantities are interrelated such as wind
speed and vapor pressure gradient which great¬
ly influence evaporative movement. Since
these quantities are greatly affected by
geographic location, the Laramie site has
particular advantages for such factors as
solar radiation, wind speed and vapor pressure
gradient. Soil moisture and surface area
within the unit would be approximately the
same at equivalent loading rates wherever the
location. A disadvantage of the Laramie site
is the relatively low mean annual temperature
which affects the length of the growing season
and as a result plant growth and density.

Esthetics are also an important factor
with respect to the unit. Cover, odors,
insects, algal growths and the like are all
important in maintaining pleasing surround¬
ings. These esthetic qualities were observed
during the operation of the unit and under
most situations it is believed that people
would find the unit esthetically pleasing.

Odors are usually not detectable. The grasses
and the unit as a whole do, however, give
such insects as mosquitos a hiding and perhaps
breeding area (no larvae of any quantity has
been observed).

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

The principal objective of the study has
been to obtain preliminary data that would
demonstrate the feasability of evapotranspir¬
ation systems as a means of wastewater treat¬
ment for recreational homesites. While many
variables come to mind which might be impor¬
tant in the design of an ET unit, the approach
of the research has been to examine the be¬
havior of a single unit over a period of
time at several levels of application of
wastewater. This allowed the variation in
unit performance to be studied under a variety
of environmental conditions.

The study has made a first step towards
answering several pertinent questions. Is
the ET treatment unit able to perform satis¬

factorily in a high altitude environment? How
successful is the ET unit in bringing about
beneficial changes in wastewater quality?

What operational problems have to be considered
before an ET unit is installed in a recreation¬
al setting? In addition, the study examined
comparative costs involved in installing an
ET unit and attempted to estimate the poten¬
tial usable lifespan of an ET unit receiving
semi-continuous applications of wastewater.

Feasibility

In order to determine the ability of the
unit to perform under the conditions existing
in Laramie, it was necessary first to deter¬
mine the quantity of wastewater which could
be applied to the unit without producing ex¬
tremes of moisture levels in the root zones
of the grasses on the unit surface. Prior to
each application of wastewater, liquid eleva¬
tion readings were taken from the four stand¬
pipes in the corners of the unit. As might
be expected, the fluctuations in liquid ele¬
vations depended primarily on the wastewater
loading being applied. During the initial
startup of the unit in August 1973, 1,500
gallons of wastewater was applied to the unit
per week with part of the influent wastewater
to the unit being sprayed on the surface to
encourage the germination and initial growth
of the grasses. The liquid elevation rose
gradually in the unit and reached a fairly
steady liquid level 25 days after the be¬
ginning of liquid application to the unit.
Application of the wastewater was discontin¬
ued in November when inclement weather made
the unit inaccessible and the unit was left
dormant over the winter period. Operation
was begun again in late April, 1974 and a
relatively stable liquid elevation was reached
in the unit after a short period of time
(fig. 3). When the liquid loading was decreased

MAY JUNE JULY

Figure 3. — Liquid elevation and loading rate
of the ET unit during 1974.

216

to a population equivalent of 4 persons
(1,000 gallons per week) approximately 25 days
were required before the liquid elevation re¬
sponded appreciably. However, when the liquid
loading was increased to 8 persons (2,000
gallons per week) , the liquid level rose
rapidly and produced an overflow at one point
at the side of the unit. Since loading at a
population equivalent of 2 persons (500 gallons
per week) was found to reduce the liquid
elevation to a point below the grass root
zone which could potentially result in damage
to the plants, it would appear that the
feasible loading rate for a unit of the size
studied lies somewhere between 4 and 6 persons.
The required surface area per person would be
200 to 300 square feet. Obviously, if the
rate of evapotranspiration for any design
location differs significantly from that pre¬
vailing at the Laramie site during the test
period (approximately 0.3 inches per day),
the application rate would have to be adjusted.
Seasonal adjustments would also be required
because during the October through April
period in Laramie, the loading rate of the ET
unit decreases to the point where the maximum
loading possible is only 50 to 100 gallons
of liquid waste per week. This is a result
of frost which occurs during September and
decreases the ability of the grasses to trans¬
pire and thus the ET units ability to evapo-
transpire the liquid water. The ET unit was
completely iced over by December and thawing
took place near the end of April. The thick¬
ness of the ice layer reached a maximum
thickness during this period of 2.4 feet.

The precipitation which occurs during this
winter period also is a factor affecting the
loading which can occur. The ET unit is
therefore suitable for handling wastes during
the summer but wintertime use of the unit may
be handicapped in some locations.

Changes in Water Quality

During the test period samples of the
applied wastewater and the liquid reaching
the standpipes were analyzed to determine the
ability of the unit to reduce the concentra¬
tion of important wastewater constituents.

The unit has no effluent as such, but it is
important that the portions of the wastewater
which can be broken down by the action of
bacteria within the unit be degraded. With¬
out some means of removing the degradable
portions of the wastewater, these materials
would accumulate and eventually cause the
unit to become clogged and useless. The pores
in the sand and gravel must be kept open to
allow the liquid to move to the surface of
the unit and be carried away by the evapotrans¬
piration process.

Biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) is a
measure of the oxygen required by bacteria to
break down organic matter present in waste-
water (i.e. carbon compounds). Thus, it may
be regarded as an indirect measure of the
organic matter present. Using recognized
standard procedures, (A.P.H.A., 1972) the
influent and standpipe liquid were analyzed
for BOD substances. Removal varied consider¬
ably with time but did not appear to be re¬
lated to the quantity of wastewater organic
matter applied (fig. 4). This is an important
point since many treatment systems are sen¬
sitive to hydraulic and organic overloading
and will produce poor quality effluents when
subjected to shock loads. Package biological

MAY JUNE JULY

Figure 4. — Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD) for
the influent and "effluent" wastewaters
during 1974.

treatment plants in use at recreational sites
in the Laramie area have shown considerable
sensitivity to hydraulic and organic shock
loads (Lindimore, 1975). Recreational sites
generally produce wastewater erratically with
considerable variation in the volume of waste-
water generated and in the concentration of
polluting substances. Insensitivity to shock
loading is a definite advantage for recreation¬
al treatment systems.

Coliforms are a group of bacteria present
in the intestine of warm blooded animals.

Their presence in water is regarded as an
indication that fecal contamination may have
occurred and the water could possibly harbor
disease producing agents. While removal of
coliform organisms (fig. 5) varied over a wide
range in the unit, removal rates were consis¬
tently above 90 percent and reached a maximum
removal of 99.9 percent. The quality of the
liquid reaching the standpipes would not be
considered acceptable for recreational or

217

other purposes since the levels of coliforms
remaining are still excessive. This is of no

Figure 5. — Total coliforms measured in the
influent and "effluent" wastewaters during
1974.

real importance in an ET unit since no efflu¬
ent would escape the unit except under the un¬
likely failure of the liner. In an under¬
ground disposal system such as a septic tank
system, however, the potential for contamin¬
ation of ground water would exist. If the
percolating wastewater reached a well supply,
frequently used in recreational homes, a
public health hazard could result.

Various types of solid materials are
present in wastewater and may generally be
divided into suspended and dissolved portions.
Part of each category may be considered to be
volatile, that is, it is made up of combus¬
tible or organic substances. Dissolved in¬
organic substances, principally salts, may
combine with soil particles in such a way
that the soil becomes less permeable to water
(McGauhey and Winneberger, 1965; DeVries, 1972;
Lance and Whisler, 1972 and Thomas, et. al.,
1972). In an ET unit the salts present in
the wastewater are left behind when the
water leaves the unit by evapotranspiration
and for the most part these salts will not
be broken down by biological processes. As
a result, salts tend to build up and may re¬
duce the effective lifespan of the unit.
Dissolved solids reaching the standpipes in
1973 were consistently above the influent
levels. During 1974 (fig. 6) the salt being
applied frequently was less than the concen¬

tration found at the standpipes, particularly
during the periods when the hydraulic loading
was reduced. This tended to indicate a rather
constant migration of salt to all parts of
the unit. An overall increase in salts at the
standpipes of the unit has been observed, but
no effects of a salt buildup, either on the
ability of liquid to move through the unit or
on the salt tolerant grasses growing on the
unit surface have been noted.

MAY JUNE JULY

10 17 24 31 7 14 21 28 5 12 19 26

Figure 6. — Dissolved solids of the influent
and "effluent" wastewaters during 1974.

Suspended solids are important because
the particulates have a tendency to clog soil
pores. With time, pores could become so
thoroughly blinded as to render the unit use¬
less unless the solids could be broken down.
The volatile suspended solids represent the
biodegradable portion of the suspended mater¬
ial. Total suspended solids (fig. 7) were
removed fairly effectively by passage through
the unit. Although effluent values occasion¬
ally rose above influent levels, no severe
clogging problems were apparent. Volatile
solids (fig. 8) were reduced from influent
values, apparently due to biological activity
in the soil within the ET unit. It would
appear that the suspended solids would be
reduced in part, at least, as biological ac¬
tion reduces the solids to gases and water.

It is interesting to note that the volatile
solids present in the unit at the beginning
of 1974 were significantly less than levels
observed at the end of operation in 1973, in¬
dicating that the removal of the organics
continued during the winter months. Thus
the unit has the capacity to renew itself when
given rest periods. Since second homes are

218

Pounds of Solids Per Day Pounds of Solids Per Day

not likely to be in use continuously over the
entire year, rest periods would be an advan¬
tage of an ET system as long as the moisture
available to the vegatative cover is suffi¬
cient to maintain growth.

MAY JUNE JULY

gure 7. — Total suspended solids of the
influent and "effluent" wastewaters during
1974.

MAY JUNE JULY

10 17 24 31 7 14 21 28 5 12 19 26

Figure 8. — Volatile solids of the influent
and "effluent" wastewaters during 1974.

The major problem associated with the
solids would appear to be salt build-up rather
than accumulation of suspended solids. The
sodium adsorption ratio (SAR) is used in
irrigation water studys to determine the haz¬
ard of salt toxicity to plants and the pos¬
sibility of the salts present causing changes

in soil structure which would reduce the abil¬
ity of the soil to transmit water through
soil pores. Generally clay soils are more
susceptable to damage than soils of low clay
content. The ET unit construction would thus
best meet long term needs if a sandy subsoil
is used. The observed SAR for the Laramie
ET unit was 2.75 meq/1 at a specific conduct¬
ance of 2200 micromhos per cm. SAR values of
this magnitude indicate that the water has a
high salinity hazard to plants but a low sodium
hazard (Agriculture Handbook, 1954) . Plants
vary widely in their tolerance to salt. By
judicious selection of salt resistant varieties
the ability of the unit to withstand the
applied salt may be increased. All grasses
used in the Laramie unit have an ability to
withstand salts far greater than the levels
currently observed. The potential for damage
to the plants does exist, however, and might
require the backflushing of the unit with low
salinity water in the future to leach salts
out of the unit. In addition, one must con¬
sider the possible sensitivity of the bacter¬
ial population to salt buildup, although this
is not likely to be a critical factor since
many bacteria present will be derived from
the human intestinal tract where a high salt
content prevails.

Operational Problems

Operational problems associated with an
ET unit are few in number. Since there is
no effluent, the unit will meet the most rig¬
orous interpretation of the 1985 "zero dis¬
charge" requirement of PL 92-500. The liner
must be placed so that the edges extend well
beyond the excavation prior to filling to
prevent any discharge. The liner of the
Laramie unit slipped below the ground level
during a portion of 1974 and resulted in some
leakage of wastewater. The integrity of a
sufficiently tough liner should be maintained.
This means that proper attention should be
paid to construction techniques. The central
opening used to dose the unit and store ex¬
cess liquid could provide a breeding ground
for flying insects and be a source of odor
nuisances. However, observation of the unit
indicated such problems were minimal. The
influent to the Laramie ET unit required
pumping into a central opening. It is possible
that the opening could be eliminated entirely
and replaced with an underground perforated
pipe distribution system. This would eliminate
some problems encountered during cold weather
when the pit ices over. Costs would be in¬
creased, however, by increased piping require¬
ments .

219

COST ANALYSIS

The costs of installing an ET unit like
the one described in this paper is quite
favorable. Treatment systems used to handle
wastes from single family dwellings at the
present time (i.e. septic tank and leach
field arrangement) will be used for comparison.

The cost of a liner for an ET unit will
run between $0.40 and $0.50 per square foot.
Sand, gravel and topsoil will vary in cost
depending on the natural meterial available
at the site and haul distances involved. It
may be quite practical to place much of the
excavated material back into the trench
where suitable material is involved. Costs
will vary considerably for the backfill mat¬
erial but for discussion purposes assume
$3.50 per cubic yard for backfill. Equipment
and labor is another large variable which is
hard to estimate because it depends on the
site. Assuming two men and a loader or back-
hoe for one and one-half days to install the
unit, the cost would be around $400. As an
estimate, the ET unit described previously
would cost $2,000 or less to install.

Most septic tank and leach field instal¬
lations cost between $1,000 and $1,500 to
install. Thus, the septic tank system is
somewhat less expensive but the treatment and
environmental protection afforded by the ET
unit gives it a very favorable appeal within
its own cost range.

SUMMARY

The use of evapotranspiration for treat¬
ing wastewater from recreational homesites
has been shown to be a feasible process.

While efficiency of the ET unit is markedly
decreased during the colder months, summer
operation is both effective and capable of
handling the fluctuating waste loads typical
of recreational homesites. Since the unit
has no effluent, the zero discharge require¬
ment of PL92-500 will present no problems.

Costs of installing an ET unit are comparable
to other methods of single dwelling disposal.

DeVries, J.

1972. Soil filtration of wastewater effluent
and the mechanisms of pore clogging.

Journal of Water Pollution Control Feder¬
ation, 44:565.

Goldstein, Steven N. and Moberg, Walter J., Jr.

1973. Wastewater treatment systems for
rural communities. Commission on Rural
Water, Washington, D.C.

Jones, J.H.

1965. Septic tank effluent percolation

through sands under laboratory conditions.
Soil Science, 99:301.

Lance, J. C. and Whisler, F. C.

1972. Nitrogen balance in soil columns
intermittently flooded with secondary
sewage effluent. Journal of Environmental
Quality, 1:186.

Lindimore, Eldon

1975. Wastewater treatment systems for
recreational areas. PhD. Dissertation,

Civil Engineering Department, University
of Wyoming.

Lubinus, Louis and Barker, Blaine B.

1971. Agricultural Extension Circular 665,
South Dakota State University, Brookings,
South Dakota.

McGauhey, P. H. and Winneberger, J. H.

1965. Final report on a study of methods
of preventing failure of septic-tank per¬
colation systems. University of California
Berkeley, SERL Report 65-17.

Metcalf and Eddy, Inc.

1972. Wastewater engineering: Collection,
Treatment and Disposal. New York, McGraw-
Hill Book Company. 782p.

Rice, R. C.

1974. Soil clogging during infiltration of
secondary effluent. Journal of Water
Pollution Control Federation, 46:708.

Thomas, R. E., et. al.

1972. Soil chemical changes and infiltration
rate reduction under sewage spreading.

Soil Science Society of America Proceedings
30:186.

Witz, Richard L. , et. al.

1970. Agriculture Extension Bulletin No. 8.
Fargo, North Dakota.

LITERATURE CITED

Agriculture Handbook 60.

1954. United States Department of Agricul¬
ture.

America Public Health Association

1972. Standard Methods for the Examination
of Water and Wastewater.

Bernhart, A. P.

1964. The Engineering Journal. (Canada),
Elc-64-CIV, Pgs . 1-7.

220

/

The Effects of Second Home and Related Vacation
Development Use on Water Quality in Arizona1

?

Burton A. Segall_/

Abstract. — Two studies are reported that review the im¬
pact of second home use on water quality. Sewage flow rates
are dependent primarily upon population in residence; pollu¬
tant concentrations compare with suburban community waste-
waters. Utilizing the assimilative capacity of soil is pro¬
posed as the primary waste disposal method for second homes,
in lieu of water disposal.

INTRODUCTION

The disposal of wastes from vacation-ori¬
ented communities that border national forest
lands is a significant environment problem.
Sewage discharged to water courses, with or
without conventional treatment, can diminish
water quality and restrict the use of water
resources and contiguous forest areas.

The waste disposal problem is twofold in
the southwestern United States. Wastewater
that is not treated adequately or disposed of
in an innocuous manner is aesthetically objec¬
tionable and a potential health hazard. But
wastewaters and their nutrient constituents are
valuable resources in water-short regions and
can be utilized for plant growth, both within
recreational communities and in the surrounding
national forest.

Two field studies were undertaken in north¬
ern Arizona to determine the impact of second
homes and related recreational development on
surface and groundwater. The initial study was
conducted at an established community of second
homes that collects wastewaters in a sewerage
system and treats waste materials in a conven¬
tional extended aeration sewage treatment plant.
The second study was conducted in a national
forest area that has been developed by the

1/Paper presented at the symposium on Man,
Leisure, and Wildlands: A Complex Interaction,
Vail, Colorado, Sept. 14-19, 1975.

£/ Assistant Professor, Civil Engineering
Faculty, Arizona State University, Tempe,
Arizona.

Forest Service for public camping and that also
contains private home and trailer park devel¬
opments. Septic tanks and leaching fields are
used for waste disposal in this area.

This research was sponsored by the
Eisenhower Consortium for Western Environmental
Forestry Research and the United States Forest
Service, Rocky Mountain Forest and Range Exper¬
iment Station under agreements 16-298-CA and
16-335-CA.

RECREATIONAL COMMUNITY WITH A SEWERAGE SYSTEM

The Pinewood subdivision at Munds Park,
Arizona, is located 18 miles south of Flagstaff,
Arizona, along the Black Canyon Highway. The
community occupies 1,100 acres; 900 acres are
allocated to home development and the remaining
area is utilized for recreational purposes —
primarily a golf course. The totally developed
community shown in figure 1 will consist of
3200 homes on lot sizes averaging 70 feet x
100 feet. When this study was conducted, in
August 1972, 80 percent of the total acreage
available for home development had been sold
but only 550 lots, or 17 percent of the avail¬
able area was occupied. At present (August
1975), 30 percent of the home sites are occu¬
pied (950 lots). An average occupancy of 2.5
persons per dwelling was used for the study.

This estimate is less than the average occu¬
pancy experienced in suburban communities in
Arizona (about 3.2 persons per household).

The low estimate reflects the transitory char¬
acteristic of a resort area population; i.e.,
we assumed less than the entire family in res¬
idence .

221

Figure 1. — Pinewood, Arizona.

The community's water supply source con¬
sists of two 200-foot-deep wells located at the
edge of the golf course. The period of maximum
water consumption occurs during the summer,

July through August, when a majority of home
owners are in residence. Only a small percen¬
tage of the water supplied to consumers at
Pinewood is used for consumptive purposes, i.e.,
lawn watering, street washing, etc. Thus water
use quantities, adjusted for leakage and the
few homes and businesses that have septic tanks,
are representative of sewage flow. Water con¬
sumption data indicated that about 10 percent
of the population are year-round residents and
more than half of the home-owners stay six
months each year, although most of these people
spend only weekends in Pinewood. The average
total residence time is about 90 days per year.

Water consumption during the winter months
averages 6 gallons per capita per day based upon
the total community population or about 60 gpcd
for the people in residence; i.e., about 10
percent of the Pinewood population are in resi¬
dence during the winter months. During the
peak flow month of August, per capita consump¬
tion averaged 44 gallons per day based upon the
total population. Estimates of occupancy during
the month of August vary from 50 to 80 percent.

The type and size of dwelling appears to
have little influence upon wastewater quantities
and characteristics at Pinewood. Mobile homes
have as many bathrooms, kitchen and laundry
facilities as the cabins and larger homes. With
the exception of lawn sprinkler systems, the
homes are as equipped with as many water-using
facilities as an average home in a suburban de¬
velopment .

Sewage flow estimates were based upon ex¬
tensive water consumption data and sewage flow
charts available for July, August and September,
1972. Based upon the total home-owning popula¬
tion, daily sewage flows for this second home
community are shown in Table 1.

Table 1. — Sewage Flow Rates

Gallons per Capita
per Day

Average Daily Flow
(12-month basis)

7

Average Daily Flow
(December through April)

4

Maximum Monthly Flow
(August)

26

Maximum Day Flow

33

Peak Hour Flow

43

Daily, monthly and seasonal sewage flow
variations are caused primarily by variations
in the resident population, not variation in
water use activities as is customary in suburban
communities. The per capita discharge in August
(26 gallons per day) is about half of the flow
normally discharged by residential communities.

A survey of Pinewood during the month of August
also indicated that about half the homes were
in use.

Variations in daily and hourly sewage flow
rates during the summer are shown in figures 2
and 3. Weekend flows are 50 percent higher than
mid-week rates. Hourly peaks occur at noon and
at 9 p.m.

Figure 2. — Variation in daily sewage flow dur¬
ing August and September, 1972.

222

RERCtNTAGt Uh I Mt Mt AN
HOURLY SEWAGE FLOW

TIME

Figure 3. — Variation in hourly sewage flow
during August and September, 1972.

Chemical and Bacterial Characteristics
of Second Home Wastewater

Chemical and bacterial contaminant concen¬
trations in Pinewood sewage are similar to
values reported for residential communities.
Increase of pollutants with domestic water use
and typical values for residential communities
are shown in Table 2.

Table 2. — Increase of pollutants with domestic
water use.

Constituent

Concentration

Results of
This Study

Typical Values for
Residential Communities

mg It

lb/capita
/ day

mg /£

lb/capita/day

Biochemical Oxygen
Demand (5 day)

196

.095

200

.10

Organic & Ammonia
Nitrogen as N

34

.016

30

.0145

Nitrates as N

0

.0

0

.0

Phosphates as P

10

.005

10-17

. 006- . 008

Alkalinity as CaCO^

160

.08

100-150

.05-. 08

Chlorides as Cl”

30

.01

20-50

O

1

H

O

Coliform Group Organisms

MPN per 100

ml = 1 .6 X

109

Biochemical Oxygen Demand increased from
zero in the potable water supply, to approxi¬
mately 200 mg/liter in domestic sewage. Organic
nitrogen and ammonia in sewage increased 30 mg/
liter above nitrate nitrogen levels found in
the water supply. Phosphates increased about
10 mg/liter above trace levels found in the
water, and chlorides increased about 30 mg/liter.

Pinewood is served by a sewerage system
that conveys wastes from homes to a package
sewage treatment plant. The majority of the
homes in Pinewood are built in areas where the
soil mantle is too shallow and the plot size
too small for individual soil waste disposal
systems. The golf course is the only area cap¬
able of sup -<-ting subsurface waste disposal
systems at nis community.

T-d small treatment plant was designed for
saturation population and under present loading
conditions it normally functions exceedingly
well — BOD reduction of 95 percent and better.
Phosphorus and nitrogen are not significantly
reduced in secondary treatment. The long de¬
tention time experienced under present loadings
at Pinewood results in conversion of organic
nitrogen and ammonia to nitrates, but in little
reduction of total nitrogen. Chlorination re¬
duces bacterial concentrations.

Package plants do an excellent job of re¬
ducing carbonaceous materials when loadings are
relatively uniform and within the capacity of
the particular plant. However, uniform sewage
flow to small plant" -'s the exception rather
than the rule. Th particularly true at a

second home developm-.ic where resident popula¬
tion fluctuates widely on an hourly, daily, and
seasonal basis. Plants frequently malfunction
under these conditions. In addition, the oper¬
ation and maintenance of small package plants
varies in Arizona from good to occasionally
allowing plants to operate themselves — which
they do not.

Combining wastewater flows from many homes
is in itself a most significant potential envir¬
onmental hazard. A water reuse practice found
frequently in the Southwest is utilized to elim¬
inate the discharge of wastewater to the national
forest surrounding Pinewood. Secondary effluent
from the community's sewage treatment plant is
used to water a golf course. The water and or¬
ganic and nutrient materials present in the waste
are utilized for plant growth. Contamination
of groundwater underlying the golf course was
investigated during the course of the study and
no contamination was found.

RECREATIONAL DEVELOPMENT WITHOUT
A SEWERAGE SYSTEM

Oak Creek Canyon lies just north of
Arizona's magnificent red rock national monu¬
ment at Sedona. The canyon is traversed by
one of the few free flowing streams in the state
and is heavily used as a summer recreational
area. Privately owned homes, trailer parks and
public campgrounds are located at many points
along the stream (fig. 4). Sewage from homes

223

and trailer parks is disposed of through indi¬
vidual septic tanks; vaulted privies are used
for waste disposal at public campgrounds.

Figure 4. — Oak Creek Canyon

Adequate waste disposal either through the
utilization of aquatic or soil systems involves
the process of assimilation and the assimilative
capacity of streams have traditionally been
utilized by communities for sewage disposal.
However, when a watercourse such as Oak Creek
is used extensively for recreation, treated or
untreated sewage contamination is a serious
problem; utilizing the assimilative capacity of
the stream is not desirable.

The earth's soil mantle is a traditional
depository and treatment medium for domestic
wastewaters and soil disposal systems offer an
alternative to water disposal and consequent
water pollution. Soil assimilation consists of
numerous complex processes including entrapment
of particles, absorption, biological decomposi¬
tion and the food chains of plants.

Soil Waste Disposal

Percolation through soil is an effective
method of removing many potential pollutants

from domestic sewage. With sufficient residence
time in the soil, organic material can be tot¬
ally oxidized and bacteria and viruses effec¬
tively removed in relatively short distances.
Metals, e.g., aluminum, copper, iron manganese,
phosphorus and zinc, form insoluble compounds
in soil and precipitate out. Other elements
may be partially removed (calcium, magnesium,
potassium and boron) or not removed at all
(chlorides and sodium) . Organic nitrogen is
oxidized in soil to nitrates but long travel
distances through soil are required to deplete
nitrogen concentrations.

The size of soil particles, the nature of
a soil mass, and rate of flow through soil are
particularly important in preventing stream and
ground water contamination. Soils and rock
formations which permit rapid flow through fis¬
sures and crevices or underground channels can
obviously carry waste materials considerable
distances with little contaminant removal or
treatment. Underground springs such as those
encountered along Oak Creek can carry septic
tank effluents rapidly to surface streams. This
in effect diminishes the effective time available
within the soil mass for waste assimilation.

Oxidation of organic materials in soil can
vary from minimal amounts to virtually complete
oxidation. For well designed septic tank sys¬
tems in which adequate distances are maintained
from surface and ground waters, organic mater¬
ials normally do not contaminate water supplies.
Oxidation processes in the soil are also en¬
hanced by the typical intermittent use of rec¬
reational homes. Periodic dosing and recovery
periods tend to increase the efficiency of the
soil waste treatment process.

Soils in Oak Creek Canyon are coarse tex¬
tured sand and loam. Soil depth is generally
deep throughout the canyon except adjacent to
the creek. Results of percolation tests and
soils analyses indicate that, generally, soils
in the canyon are suitable for subsurface sew¬
age disposal systems except along the banks of
the stream. Percolation rates vary from ade¬
quate to exceedingly rapid. However, high in¬
filtration rates are not necessarily always
desirable. The more rapidly water seeps through
the soil the less opportunity there is for waste
assimilation. This is a significant problem
along Oak Creek where septic tanks and drainage
fields are located in close proximity to the
flowing stream.

The most desirable home and trailer loca¬
tions in the canyon are along Oak Creek. Un¬
fortunately, many of these sites are in outcrop
areas and are not suitable for subsurface waste
disposal systems. In years past, this had led
to numerous illicit waste disposal practices

224

including direct discharge to Oak Creek, using
wells for waste disposal, and poorly designed
septic tank systems. This sort of practice has
been eliminated by State Health Department li¬
censing and inspection.

Chemical and Microbial Contamination
of Oak Creek

In the traditional sense, Oak Creek is not
polluted. Sewage flows are not observed along
the banks of the creek; particulate materials,
obnoxious odors, water discoloration, and algal
blooms, the characteristics of gross pollution,
are not observed within the canyon. Yet there
are chemical and biological problems associated
with existing wastewater disposal practices in
the area.

Sewage may enter Oak Creek in a variety of
ways. Swimmers and people fishing and camping
along the stream or its tributaries are poten¬
tial sources of pollution. Discharge of kitchen
and bathroom wastes from campers constitutes a
potential source of contamination. Septic tank
systems that are improperly designed or illicit
waste disposal systems that do not make use of
the soil’s capacity to assimilate wastes are
yet other sources of pollution. All of these
sources are intermittent in a resort area and
are thus difficult to detect by periodic stream
sampling and water analyses. Yet considering
the extensive use of Oak Creek for swimming,
these potential sources of pollution have pub¬
lic health significance.

Contamination by second home developments
is suspected along Oak Creek, although sources
of apparent direct sewage discharge to Oak Creek
have been eliminated in recent years. The rea¬
sons for an assumption of periodic contamination
include the following: (1) when most of the
older second homes were built, design and in¬
stallation of septic tank systems was loosely
controlled by the county and state; (2) springs
flow near the ground surface through a number
of home developments and these developments
have septic tank disposal systems; and (3)
slime growths are observed along the banks of
Oak Creek below homes.

Chemical and bacteriological examination
of Oak Creek water were conducted during the
summer of 1973 to determine the level of pol¬
lution in the stream and to find sources of
stream contamination. Several factors were
considered in selecting water characteristics
for the study. Quality characteristics were
required that are indicative of sewage pollu¬
tion, that are not totally removed in percola¬
tion through the soil and that are relatively
easy to test for at a field laboratory. Most
sewage characteristics including organics.

nitrogen, phosphorus, detergents, and organic
dyes are nonconservative, taken up by soil, or
often difficult to differentiate from back¬
ground levels after dilution in surface or
ground water.

Approximately 30 mg/liter of chlorides are
added to water during domestic use and chlorides
are not diminished in passage through the soil.
The chloride test was meaningful only when an¬
alyzing a suspected sewage discharge since
varying concentrations in spring water and dil¬
ution tended to mask the sewage fraction.

Raw sewage contains about a billion coliform
bacteria per 100 ml. These organisms are effec¬
tively removed in soil but when the soil assim¬
ilation process is bypassed because of poorly
designed or illicit septic tank systems, these
organisms can be detected in stream and spring
waters, even after manifold dilution.

Sewage contamination of spring water was
presumed when microbial counts were an order
of magnitude greater than stream water counts.
Contamination of a section of Oak Creek was
presumed when levels were consistently more
than twice average stream background levels.

The test results showed bacterial concen¬
trations fairly uniform along the creek and
generally below levels prescribed for bathing
waters. However, the analyses did detect con¬
tamination of springs that flow near the sur¬
face through a particular trailer park devel¬
opment.

CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

Wherever possible, sewage disposal systems
that utilize the assimilative capacity of the
environment should be adopted for campgrounds
or encouraged at second home developments.
Current trends in wastewater management and
regulation stress secondary treatment, but it
is wastewater collection and conveyance that
presents the most serious threat to a forest
environment , rather than the age-old individual
disposal methods (soil disposal, privies) . If
a septic tank or privy fails, the problem is
significant but usually localized. If a sewage
treatment plant serving a second home develop¬
ment fails or does an incomplete job of con¬
taminant reduction, the detrimental effect on
the forest environment is of much greater mag¬
nitude.

The key to waste disposal for second homes
is not the adoption of septic tanks per se but
rather utilization of the soil waste assimila¬
tive capacity. In areas such as Oak Creek
Canyon that assimilative capacity is extensive
and can support relatively concentrated

225

development and campsite use. At Pinewood,
individual soil disposal systems are not fea¬
sible at home sites. Lot sizes are too small
and the soil mantle is too shallow. However,
a community septic tank system could have been
built in the golf course in lieu of the exist¬
ing sewage treatment plant. A septic tank and
leaching field disposal system in the golf
course area would have provided essentially
the same degree of treatment and would have
disposed of wastewater at the same location,
for considerably less capital investment and
operating cost. The treatment plant does serve
to provide a high nutrient, recycled water for
the golf course.

Waste disposal systems for three alterna¬
tive forms of future development in Oak Creek
Canyon were investigated: (1) restricting the
entire canyon to daytime public use, (2) ex¬
tensive overnight camping facilities throughout
the canyon and (3) an expansion of the present
mixed type of development, i.e., second homes.

campsites and picnic areas. Conclusions per¬
taining to available sewage disposal methods
for eatu pattern of development are illustrated
in Table 3.

Biological and chemical analyses of sur¬
face and ground waters are expensive and re¬
quire a great deal of replication before re¬
sults are conclusive. To prevent surface and
ground water contamination, sanitary surveys
should be relied upon as well as strict adher¬
ence to and enforcement of health, pollution
abatement and waste system design and installa¬
tion standards.

Preventing pollution of National Forests
entails establishing and enforcing recreational
land use regulations on forest land, liason with
state and local health authorities, and consid¬
eration of the impact of development in land
purchase and exchange.

Table 3. — Wastewater disposal methods.

Disposal Method

Restricting
Canyon to
Daytime Use

Extensive

Campsite

Development

Second Homes
Campsites &
Picnic Areas

Vaulted Privies

preferred method
economical
least pollution
potential
requires well
maintained
sanitary land
fill for dis¬
posal

acceptable method
water using fac¬
ilities pre¬
ferred

acceptable at camp¬
sites and picnic
areas

Septic-Tank Systems

applicable if
water provided
on site at large
campgrounds

recommended only
at large camp¬
sites

preferred method
for second homes

Low Volume Flush Toilets
and Chemical Recircu¬
lating Toilets

acceptable

acceptable

acceptable

Individual Sewage Treat- Additional research and development is needed in this area,
ment Units Effluent from units may still constitute sources of sur¬

face or groundwater contamination.

Sewers and Secondary not recommended

Treatment

226

Air Pollution Potential of Selected Areas

in the Rocky Mountain West1

— ^ * //

2/

William E. Marlatt—

3/

Joyce Berry—

4/

Lawrence Krupnakr-

With recreational, energy and mineral resources develop¬
ment of the western region of the United States a reality, the
integration of environmental concerns into the planning process
is essential if unnecessary environmental degradation is to be
avoided .

Since standard air pollution potential indices now prac¬
ticed have limited or no applicability for complex terrain
analysis, a unique and imaginative approach to this complex
problem is required.

By incorporating both the concepts of gaussian pollution
dispersion and divergent windflow, an index designed to delin¬
eate relative air pollution potential areas was created.
Qualitative rather than quantitative in character, the Diver¬
gent Pollution Dispersion Index can be utilized as an initial
assessment tool of the air pollution potential of an area
lacking appropriate meteorological data for the more standard
air pollution potential indices.

INTRODUCTION

Since about 1968 the public has been
increasingly concerned with augmenting cases
of unbreathable air, undrinkable water, intol¬
erable noise levels, and in general, a rapidly
diminishing quality of the environment. A
degrading environment, as well as shortages in
food, energy and mineral resources, are the
results of exponential population growth and a
rising level in the standard of living. The
discovery that the supply of available amenities
such as land for recreational purposes is rapidly

_1/Paper presented at the symposium on Man,
Leisure, and Wildlands: A Complex Interaction,
Vail, Colorado, Sept. 14-19, 1975.

2/Professor , Department of Earth Resources,
Colorado State University, Fort Collins,

Colorado 80523.

3/Graduate Research Assistant, Department
of Earth Resources, Colorado State University,
Fort Collins, Colorado 80523

4/Graduate Research Assistant, Department
of Earth Resources, Colorado State University,
Fort Collins, Colorado 80523

becoming limited in relation to actual and poten¬
tial use demands, and the destruction of the very
qualities for which these resources are valued,
has forced a re-evaluation of our planning pro¬
cess to integrate environmental factors.

The importance of this integration pro¬
cedure was recognized at the Federal level by
Congress in the establishment of the National
Environmental Policy Act of 1969. The states
are also following suit with similar require¬
ments and in many cases being more innovative.

For example, the state of Colorado has insti¬
tuted Senate Bill 35 and House Bills 1041 and
1035 providing local authorities the power to
regulate certain types of growth under their
jurisdiction.

A few of the many questions being voiced
by the concerned citizen and governmental
planning agencies are: How severe is the air
pollution now? What is causing it? Who is
causing it? Is it getting worse? Where are
the areas with the greatest air pollution
potentials? An answer to the last question is
vital to the planner. It is crucially needed
to provide information for short and long term

227

land use, transportation and zoning decisions.
When the maintenance of high air quality is
the concern, identification of areas with high
and low air pollution potential is far more
beneficial in the hands of a planner than is
knowledge of existing emissions in the hands
of the engineer for the expost facto control
of such sources.

In general, at least when compared with
many other areas of the country, the quality
of the air in the Rocky Mountain region is
excellent. However, the atmospheric environ¬
ment within the region is quite fragile. As
growth develops, this characteristic will
vanish. Evidence can now be observed; one
has only to make a casual glance over a devel¬
oped area in a small mountain valley on a cool,
still morning to see that the carrying capacity
of the lowest layer of the atmosphere is nearing
its limit.

Except for a rather sparce network of state
operated particulate samplers and several short¬
term intensive monitory programs for specific
developments, there are no systematic scienti¬
fic measurements of air quality across the
region. Furthermore, the meteorological data
needed to determine the air pollution dispersal
capabilities is not available for a majority of
the areas. This is coupled with the fact that
the standard air pollution potential indices
now in use have limited applicability for
complex terrain and mountain airsheds analyses.
As a result, even from a subjective or qual¬
itative point of view this is a complex problem
requiring a new and imaginative approach. This
paper describes a new approach to the deter¬
mination of air pollution potential over complex
terrain. The Divergent Pollution Dispersion
Index (DPDI) , refined in response to the
Eisenhower Consortium, is this unique tool that
can be utilized as a first approximation in the
delineation of an area's air pollution potential
and dispersion capabilities.

THE ATMOSPHERIC TRANSPORT ANALYSIS PROBLEM

The air quality of a given area is
directly dependent upon the meteorological
environment, i.e. the ability of the atmosphere
to disperse source emissions. Panofsky and
Prasad (1967) and others (Reeser and Marlatt,
1973; Fox, 1975) have shown that the major
parameters of the atmosphere controlling the
transport of airborne materials are the vector
wind field, the vertical temperature structure
and the occurrence and nature of precipitation.

The physical transport of airborne mate¬
rials is primarily controlled by the existing
atmospheric motion. Unfortunately, this is
complicated by the fact that the velocity

field, separated into three components (u,v,w)
in each of the Cartesian coordinate directions
(xyz) , is neither constant in time nor in space.
As a result, the transported materials are sub¬
jected to variable diffusion due to turbulence
along the mean resultant streamline. Further¬
more, the amount of turbulence is influenced by
topography and thereby the vertical air tempera¬
ture structure.

Theoretically, with sufficient air flow
measurements and temperature soundings in very
fine detail in time and space, it should be
possible to determine the air pollution dis¬
persion capabilities of the atmosphere using one
of a number of sophisticated numerical diffusion
models (Eschenroeder , et al . , 1972; Shir and
Shieh , 1974). Obviously one of the major obsta¬
cles to the undertaking of such analyses for the
Rocky Mountains is the lack of surface and
atmospheric wind and temperature data throughout
the region. Obtaining such data is extremely
expensive and tedious and what data are available
are from the larger urban areas which are usually
located in isolated valleys or basins distant
from the area of interest, spatially as well as
in character.

Equally as critical a factor is the effect
of terrain on producing a more non-uniform wind-
field which results in a non-gaussian diffusion
pattern. As a result, the statistical dispersion
of pollutants cannot be predicted where the wind
follows the randomly oriented topographic fea¬
tures. It has been observed, therefore, that in
mountainous regions the air pollution potential
is most strongly influenced by the divergence/
convergence of the windfield.

For detailed studies of individual mountain
valleys, a method receiving considerable atten¬
tion is the "ventilated valley" or "box" model
(Marlatt, Holben and Renne , 1973; Marlatt and
Gelinas, 1975) (fig. 1). This approach sub¬
divides the terrain into sets of valleys and
ridges (boxes of known volume) and calculates
the atmospheric carrying capacity of the valley
under various ventilation rates and mixing
depths, or inversion layer heights (fig. 2).

The ventilated valley model, while of consider¬
able usefulness in land use planning on a local
scale, is usually limited by lack of information
on the height of the temperature inversion and
the detailed windfield statistics. Another
complicating parameter is that, while most of
the large scale air motion is horizontal or two
dimensional, the velocity field is often dif¬
ferent from one layer to the next producing wind
shears in both direction and magnitude. For
example, after sunset the layers of air nearest
the ground often become disassociated from the
larger scale flow aloft and are controlled by
density/gravity (i.e. drainage flow into valleys)
factors. The topographic variations for

228

mountainous regions occur on all scales,
however the small scale changes in terrain are
of particular importance for evaluation of air
pollution potential under light drainage wind
conditions .

where M is the amount of pollutants

V is the volume of the valley

"box" (Area (A) x Length (L))

V is the ventilation rate
R

P is the emissions rates of
pollutants

Figure 1. — Diagrammatic representation of the
"ventilated valley" diffusion model.

Hour

0400 _

0800 -

\ 1200 _

\ 2000 _

>! \'\

n \ \

/ ' \

/

y \

TEMPERATURE

Figure 2. — Example of an observed daily
temperature structure above a mountain
valley floor. Note: an inversion layer
is defined as a layer of the atmosphere
whose temperature increases with height.

THE ATMOSPHERIC DIVERGENT POLLUTION
DISPERSION INDEX (DPDI)

Because of the limitations of the use of
sophisticated trajectory and the ventilated
valley diffusion model analyses, a totally new
approach was undertaken to develop an indexing
system applicable over complex terrain airsheds.
By incorporating features of both gaussian dis¬
persion and divergence, the Divergent Pollution
Dispersion Index was first developed as part of
a power plant siting study in Colorado and has
subsequently been used for land use planning,
water resources development and mineral develop¬
ment studies (Reeser and Marlatt, op. cit.,

1973; Marlatt, 1974; Marlatt, Howard, Steinhardt
and Harbert, 1974; and Marlatt and Harbert,

1975) .

The index accounts for the divergence and
convergence of parcels of polluted air which
have trajectories controlled by topogranhic and
microclimatic phenomena. The DPDI calculations
are limited to periods when the topographic and
microclimatic controls of slope, aspect, surface
roughness and elevation variations dominate the
meteorological environment of mountain airsheds.

Prior to utilizing the index, the small
scale wind and divergence fields must be known.
Acquisition of this information is achieved by
employing a simple one layer model of atmo¬
spheric boundary layer flow over complex ter¬
rain. This model, the WINDS model (Fosberg,

Rango and Marlatt, 1972; Fosberg, Marlatt and
Krupnak, 1975) is based on a mean value inter¬
polation of the dynamical equations governing
atmospheric boundary layer flow, and that the
kinematic interactions are neglected so that
the model represents the thermal driving forces
and frictional dissipation forces. While the
model is still being refined and modified,
initial validation indicates that calculated
grid point wind directions are within + 1
compass point on a 16 compass point scale and
wind speeds are estimated to within 10-25%.

The only inputs needed to determine the
velocity vector and divergence field using the
model are the air temperature of the surface
layer, the temperature-altitude relationship,
synoptic scale windfield and the terrain
features of the underlying ground surface.

For land use planning purposes, it is not
necessary to measure the surface air temperature
at each computational grid point, but to assign
temperature values at the valley bottom and a
stability class representative of that associated
with an air stagnation condition.

A single test case also indicates that surface
temperatures as mapped by weather satellites
are useful for obtaining surface temperature
estimates. Surface elevations and roughness

229

lengths (vegetation types) can be obtained assigned the value of 1-3 mph for conditions

from U.S.G.S. topographic analyses. The temp- associated with air pollution problems,

erature-altitude relationship can be defined

by a normal lapse rate and the synoptic scale An example of the output and analysis for

wind (the background potential flow) can be wind direction and wind speed and divergence/

convergence is provided (figures 3, 4, 5, 6).

; <l

3

4

5

0

7

8

9

9

S

S

S

s

SW

SW

NE

E

8

SE

S

sw

SW

sw

sw

S

E

7

SE

s

sw

SW

sw

sw

S

SE

6

SE

s

sw

sw

sw

sw

S

S

5

E

SE

sw

sw

sw

sw

S

S

4

E

SE

sw

sw

sw

sw

S

s

3

E

SE

sw

sw

SW

sw

S

s

2

E

N

Figure 3.

NW

— Wind directions
for an incident

sw

for North
south wind

sw

Park, Colorado
at 1.5 m/sec.

sw

calculated

S

s

2

3

4

5

6

7

6

y

9

3.3

3.4

2.7

2.3

2.2

1.2

1.0

1.2

8

2.6

3.4

3.1

2.4

2.6

2.9

1.5

2.0

7

2.8

2.6

3. i

2.8

2.7

2.9

3.1

2.4

6

3.0

1.6

2.5

2.6

2.6

2.6

2.6

3.0

5

2.7

.8

1.9

2.2

2.3

2.3

2.1

2.3

4

2.4

.7

1.5

1.9

2.0

2.0

1.8

1.8

3

2.2

.7

1.2

1.7

1.9

2.0

1.5

1.2

2

1 .3

.6

.4

.6

1.0

1.6

1.7

1.3

Figure 4. — Wind speeds for North Park, Colorado in m/sec. calculated
for an incident south wind at 1.5 m/sec.

230

9

8

7

6

5

4

3

2

10

9

8

7

6

5

4

3

2

I

N

5 if— r

.35E-03

.55E- 03

. 1 3E — 03

.46E-04

, 5 IE — 04

-2IE-04

- 76E-04

CONVERGENCE

.24E-03

.3IE-03

.75E-03

-^22E- 04

- 25E-04

-I2E- 05

- 73E-04

. I0E-03

.4IE-03

, I5E — 03

.27E-04Ssv

- 24E-04

-24E-04

~ 94E~ 04

46E-03

.29E- 03

.38E-03

.3IE-03

.36E-03

.3IE-03 N

\ — 3IE-03

Figure 5. — Divergence and convergence analysis for North Park, Colorado (units of sec

I 2345 6789 10

Figure 6. — Elevations (in meters) and wind directions for North Park, Colorado.

231

Having the wind velocities and divergence
values at each grid point covering the area of
study, use of the Divergent Pollution Dispersion
Index can be commenced. The index has the form:

_ \nax ^max,

Q ( Q ;

divergence) a value greater than for the gaussian
case is observed. For the situation of zero or
very little divergence/convergence, the index
reduces to the gaussian dispersion assumption.

LAND PLANNING USES OF THE D.P.D.I.

where Vax is the maximum downwind pollution
concentration; Q is the source strength, D is
the divergence and t is a time constant. The
divergence is defined as:

D

3u _3v
3x 3y

The models have been valuable in identifying
areas where the meteorological and topographical
conditions interact to produce air stagnation
and, if emissions are present or planned, areas
of high and low air pollution potential can be
located .

As polluted air moves away from a given loca¬
tion (divergence) the index is equal to a value
less than that calculated for non-diverging
windfields. For a situation where polluted
air is converging on a given area (negative

To date, the index has been employed to
delineate areas likely to possess a high
pollution potential for power plant siting
(Reeser and Marlatt, op. cit., 1974), for ski
area development studies (Marlatt, Howard,
Steinhardt, and Harbert, op. cit., 1975), for

Figure 7. — The air pollution potential in the vicinity of
Laramie Peak, Medicine Bow National Forest, Wyoming.

232

county land use planning (Holben and Marlatt,
1974) and for mine development planning
(Fosdick, Marlatt and Howard, 1974), etc.

neither be situated in a region of strong wind
channelization nor in a region of high stag¬
nation potential.

The value of the maps of air pollution
potential is highest early in the planning
process. During this stage, the overall dis¬
persion capabilities of the atmosphere can be
assessed. For example, the location for a
mine tailing pile may be selected which would

Pollution potential maps have been prepared
for the entire state of Colorado, the National
Forest lands of Wyoming and the Black Hills
region of South Dakota. Examples of several
areas are provided in figures 7 and 8.

Figure 8. — The
Powder River

air pollution potential in the vicinity of
Pass, Bighorns National Forest, Wyoming.

233

Grid scale spacing from four miles to one-
eighth of a mile has been practiced and in all
cases, the computed results indicated excellent
correlation with expected results and physical
believability . While the grid scale of four
miles is probably not sufficient in some areas
for specific activity planning, this scale can
provide information on the relative magnitude
of air pollution potential across the region.

As the planning progresses, the DPDI can be
re-evaluated using a closer grid spacing to
refine the evaluation.

While it is recognized that the maps of
air pollution potential are only qualitative,
further development is planned which will pro¬
vide quantitative definition of the pollution
potential. It is to be understood that in most
cases further air quality information and
analyses must be performed before a final
decision on planned development be made.

LITERATURE CITED

Angell, J.K., C.R. Dickson and W.H. Hoecker.

1974. Relative dispersion within the Los
Angeles Basin as estimated from Tetroon
Triads. NOAA Technical Memorandum ERL-
ARL-46 .

Eschenroeder , A.Q., J. Martinez and R. Nordsieck.

1972. A diffusion model for photochemical
survey simulation. EPA-R4-73-012 .

Fosberg, M.A. , A. Rango and W. E. Marlatt.

1972. Wind computations from the temperature
field in an urban area. Conference on Urban
Climate and Second Conference on Biometeo¬
rology, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Fosberg, M. , W.E. Marlatt and L. Krupnak.

1975. Estimation of airflow patterns over
complex terrain. Report for USDA Forest
Service.

Fosdick, G.E., W.E. Marlatt and E.A. Howard.

1974. Effects of shale tailings - contours
and tailings - temperatures on local wind
patterns in the Piceance Basin. Report to
Atlantic Richfield Corporation.

Fox , D . G .

1975. Modeling atmospheric effects - an
assessment of the problems. Presented at
the First International Symposium on Acid

Precipitation and the Forest Ecosystem,

Ohio State University, May.

Holben, B.N., and W.E. Marlatt.

1974. Air pollution potential analysis of
Summit County. Report for Summit County
Planners Office, Breckenridge , Colorado.

Liu, M.K., and J.H. Seinfeld.

1974. In Proceedings Symp. on Atmospheric
Diffusion and Air Pollution. American
Meteorological Society.

Marlatt, W.E.

1975. Air quality analysis of siting of an
oil shale plant between David Gulch and
West Fork of Parachute Creek. Report for
Colony Development Operations, Denver,
Colorado (Confidential).

Marlatt, W.E., and C.G. Gelinas.

1975. Trial development of an air quality
maintenance plan for Eagle County, Colorado.
Prepared for state of Colorado, Department
of Health, Air Pollution Control.

Marlatt, W.E., and M.K. Harbert.

1975. Climatic analysis of the Greenland
Ranch, Larkspur, Colorado. Report for
Centennial Engineering, Inc.

Marlatt, W.E. , B. Holben and D.S. Renne.

1973. Climatic Inventory and related

environmental impact of the Beaver Creek
development site. Unpublished paper, Jan.

Marlatt, W.E., E.A. Howard, I. Steinhardt and

M.IC. Harbert.

1975. An analysis of the air pollution
potential of the Owl Creek Valley, Pitkin
County, Colorado. Report for Mitchell
Development Corporation of the Southwest.

Panofsky, H., and B. Prasad.

1967. The effect of meteorological factors
on air pollution in a narrow valley.

Journal of Applied Meteorology, 6(3)493-
499.

Reeser, W. , and W.E. Marlatt.

1973. An analysis of air pollution within
the Colorado airshed using the Divergent
Pollutant Dispersion Index (DPDI) . Report
to Ken R. White, Inc., Denver, Colorado.

Roth, P.M., P.J.W. Roberts, Mike Liu,

S.D. Reynolds and J.H. Sheinfeld.

1974. Atmos. Environ., 8(97).

Shir, C.C., and L.J. Shieh.

1974. Journal of Appl. Meteor., 13.

234

Z

Air Pollution Potential in Arizona1

2

Neil S. Berman /

Abstract. — Background and urban levels of present air
quality are presented for reference. Wind speeds and mixing
heights, the important parameters in air pollution potential
are discussed for the state. These are used in models to
evaluate air pollution potential for several locations.

INTRODUCTION

Air pollution potential has been defined
as "the inability of the atmosphere to disperse
and dilute contaminants which may be emitted
into it." On a local scale unacceptable lev¬
els of pollution may mean one level in a cer¬
tain location and a quite different level in
another. Air quality in Arizona is often very
visible. The plume from a stack is visible in
the early morning when the atmosphere is sta¬
ble. The urban haze in the afternoon can be
seen 50 miles north of Phoenix. However, at
ground level the concentrations of pollutants
are very low in these two cases. We can see
small quantities of pollutants in the atmos¬
phere because the present air quality is good.
Atmosphere conditions and topography in Arizona
generally lead to visibilities in excess of 50
miles .

Although air pollution potential does not
depend on current levels of pollutants, this
discussion will start with present urban and
background levels. Then the geographical and
meteorological factors important in the evalu¬
ation of air pollution potential will be pre¬
sented. The final part of the presentation
describes the use of models in the prediction
of pollution potential.

Arizona is divided geographically into
three regions: the northeast, a part of the
Colorado Plateau; the Mexican Highland region
cutting a diagonal path from the northwest to
southeast; and the southwest Sonora desert.

_/Paper presented at the symposium on
Man, Leisure, and Wildlands: A Complex Inter¬
action, Vail, Colorado, Sept. 14-19, 1975.

^/Professor of Engineering, School of
Engineering, Arizona State University, Tempe,
Arizona 85281.

Most of the recent growth of Arizona has occur¬
red in the southwestern area where the large
urban areas are located. In the mountain re¬
gion, the interaction of man and wildlands is
most intense. The permanent population density
of 5 persons per square mile swells manyfold
during the seasons of recreational activity.

It will be important to remember these loca¬
tions in the discussion that follows.

Present Air Quality

Measurements of total suspended particu¬
lates and sulfur dioxide have been taken at
many locations in the state of Arizona over a
period of years. Other pollutants such as
carbon monoxide, hydrocarbons, nitrogen oxides
and oxidants are only measured at urban sites
in Phoenix and Tucson. Standard techniques for
nitrogen oxides and oxidants have only been
available for a short time so the interpreta¬
tion of past data for these contaminants is
questionable.

The generally accepted method for the
measurement of suspended particulate matter is
the net weight of material collected on a 20-
by 25-centimeter glass fiber filter through
which approximately 2200 cubic meters of air
have been drawn over a 24-hour period. At
least one such determination each six days for
a year is necessary to obtain the yearly aver¬
age. Figure 1 shows the yearly average in
Arizona for 1973 in the commonly accepted units
of micrograms of particulates per cubic meter
of air. These data and the data for other pol¬
lutants were obtained from the Arizona State
Department of Health Services (1974) and the
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (1974).

For particulates the U.S. national background
sites average is 30 micrograms per cubic meter
and the total U.S. average is 68. The Arizona
State standard is 60 (all based on the yearly
average) .

235

Figure 1. — Total suspended particulates in Ari¬
zona on a map showing county boundaries and
typical annual average concentrations at the
approximate measurement location. Units are
micrograms of solids per cubic meter of air.

The Arizona background varies from approx¬
imately 30 micrograms per cubic meter in the
plateau and mountains of the northern part of
the state to approximately 50 micrograms per
cubic meter in the southern deserts. Grand
Canyon National Park registers 22, Montezuma's
Castle National Monument 28, Petrified Forest
National Monument 26, and Organ Pipe National
Monument 37. Particulates above these back¬
ground levels are locally generated and annual
averages are functions of the urban size and
activity and the local wind speeds. More will
be said about wind speed later. Here it is
noted that the desert areas have much lower
wind speeds than the mountain and high plateau
regions .

Significant trends toward decreased levels
of suspended particulates as shown in figure 2
have been evident in the major urban areas of
the state in spite of the rapid growth of pop¬
ulation. Among the reasons for the decline are
paving of roads and decreases in agricultural
and building activity near the monitoring sites
Phoenix remains quite high, although not unrea¬
sonable for an urban area of 1.2 million people
Even small urban areas lead to increases in the
particulate count above the background as shown
in figure 3. The valley type of desert areas
show consistently higher values than the moun¬
tain group. Some very high values for small
towns are due to the large amount of industrial
or mining activity in the area.

Figure 2. — Trend of total suspended particu¬
lates at stations in Phoenix and Tucson which
have a record of data for a number of years.
Concentration units are micrograms per cubic
meter .

Very extensive monitoring of sulfur diox¬
ide in the air is carried out in Arizona.

Figure 4 shows the average concentrations at
typical sites. Except for copper mining areas
and nearby locations the measurements are below
the U.S. background site average of 10 micro¬
grams per cubic meter. The locations marked
with the triangles each have several monitors
and concentrations are high in certain direc¬
tions only. The U.S. national average is 25
and the state standard 50. Note that Phoenix
with 9 and Tucson with 7 are not much different
from the Grand Canyon with 6 and that mining
activities in the state show up only locally.

The other contaminants are significant in
urban air pollution and have significant vari¬
ations with the diurnal cycles of sunlight,

Figure 3. — Total suspended particulates as a
function of urban population on log-log
scales. Concentration units are micrograms
per cubic meter.

236

Figure 4. — Sulfur dioxide concentrations in
Arizona. Typical annual average concentra¬
tion in micrograms per cubic meter are shown
at approximate measurement locations. Tri¬
angles are copper mining areas .

automobile traffic and winds. Annual averages
are generally near background even in the urban
areas except for NO2. However, carbon monoxide
concentrations in parts of Phoenix exceed the
8-hour standard of 10 parts per million (11,456
micrograms per cubic meter) in the late evening
when wind speeds are low in the winter months .
Over 95% of the carbon monoxide is generated by
automobiles. Hydrocarbons and nitrogen oxides
are also high during the times of high carbon
monoxide concentrations but the amounts are far
below the standards. Oxidant concentrations
can be high from noon to 4 p.m. when wind
speeds are low. The oxidants are produced by
reactions involving nitrogen oxides, hydrocar¬
bons, air, water vapor and sunlight. The nec¬
essary concentrations or amount of these con¬
stituents to produce oxidant concentrations
approaching the standards are present on sev¬
eral days in spring and summer in Phoenix and
Tucson. Aerosols produced by these same reac¬
tions even in small concentrations drop the
visibility markedly, however, so little amounts
are easily noticeable. These aerosols and ni¬
trogen dioxide are responsible for the urban
haze which spreads over considerable areas at
times .

The mean visibility in the Petrified
Forest National Park in 1973-1974 was found to
be 70 miles (Roberts et al 1974) during the
daylight hours. During the year the best vis¬

ibility occurred in winter with an average 78
miles with fall and spring giving 70 miles and
summer 60 miles. Nitrogen dioxide concentra¬
tions in the Petrified Forest average 13 micro¬
grams per cubic meter on an annual basis, but
the highest 24-hour average was 53 in 1973.
Using the analysis presented by Robinson (1968)
it can be shown that an observer looking at the
horizon will definitely see a brownish colora¬
tion due to the nitrogen dioxide when the vis¬
ibility is 70 miles and the nitrogen dioxide
concentration is at the maximum. Such condi¬
tions of high visibility exist in all parts of
Arizona including the urban areas. In Phoenix,
the NO2 discoloration is observable in the
early morning in the western part of the Salt-
Gila River valley when the visibility is high
and small amounts of NO2 remain in the air from
the previous day's traffic. In most other
urban areas of the U.S., normal visibilities
are much lower and higher concentrations of NO2
are needed to discolor the air.

Another consequence of the urban atmo¬
sphere is the absence of oxidants at night when
the reverse of the day reactions occur. Al¬
though few measurements have been made in rural
areas, we suspect that a small level of oxi¬
dants persist as a background at all times.

The much different diurnal pattern of nitrogen
oxides and oxidants in the urban atmosphere is
just beginning to be studied.

Present air quality in Arizona is there¬
fore generally quite good with respect to air
quality standards. Only local problems exist
and there is a definite improvement trend.
Improvements in the aesthetic appearance of
the air require different standards than the
present ones related to health.

AIR POLLUTION POTENTIAL
Important Parameters

The concentration of pollutants in the
local atmosphere is governed by the amount of
emissions and the dilution of these emissions
by mixing and removal in the atmosphere. If
the emissions are at ground level in relative¬
ly flat terrain, the problem can be related to
mixing in a box whose height is set by the
mixing characteristics of the atmosphere and
the horizontal dimensions determined by the
wind speed. The smaller the box, the higher
the concentration of pollutant will be.

Atmospheric conditions are not predictable
in advance so we can only deal with probabili¬
ties based on past experience. Any given com¬
bination of atmospheric conditions will never
occur again in precisely the same way. Thus
air pollution potential deals with maximum

237

expected concentrations, averages or typical
exposures and large deviations from these can
be expected.

First we will define and discuss condi¬
tions of importance in the prediction of air
pollution potential in Arizona: wind speed and
wind direction; and atmospheric conditions re¬
sponsible for mixing height.

Wind Speed and Direction

Records of wind speed and direction are
not abundant for Arizona. Ideally, we would
like to have data on wind speed, direction and
atmospheric stability in the form of joint
probability distributions. Such information is
available from the National Climatic Center for
six cities in Arizona. However, we cannot ex¬
trapolate very far from the location of the
measurement and any use of the data requires
familiarity with local topography.

Wind direction probabilities based on at
least one year's data of hourly measurements
are more readily available. In general, south¬
west winds are most frequent across the entire
state. Figure 5 shows the average wind speed
at several locations and the direction second
most frequent. Wind speeds are higher in the
northern part of the state compared to the
south. The direction shown on the map often
corresponds to the night drainage wind.

Frequencies of wind direction are reported
for 16 compass directions or sectors. If we

compare the wind direction frequency for the
three sectors in the southwesterly direction
for the northern and southern parts of the
state, we find that between 30 and 40 percent
of the time winds are from these directions in
the north compared to approximately 20 percent
in the south. Definite drainage winds account
for 30-40 percent of the frequency distribution
in the south but only 10-20 percent in the
north. Terrain-influenced upslope winds appear
in the frequency distributions in the south
also. The terrain influence on local wind
climatology of Arizona cities is much more im¬
portant in the southern desert part of the
state than in the mountain or plateau regions
of the north. This is generally attributed to
the higher elevation of the north and the in¬
creased contact with the prevailing winds char¬
acteristic of this higher elevation. Some mod¬
ifications would have to be made to these ob¬
servations for some rugged areas of the state
like the rim area.

In the river valley areas of the state, a
definite drainage wind develops at night. Cold
air from the higher elevations flows down the
slopes and down the river also. In Phoenix,
these drainage winds as shown on figure 6 de¬
velop between 6 and 8 p.m. in the winter and
last until noon the next day. In the summer,
only poorly developed drainage winds form be¬
tween 2 and 4 a.m. and last about 8 hours.
Daytime heating of the valley upper floor and
the slopes leads to upslope and upriver winds
in the afternoon. Again in Phoenix, as shown
on figure 7, these upslope winds start at noon
and last until six in winter and until midnight
in summer. The winter afternoon winds are
light, poorly developed and highly affected by
low mountains while the summer afternoon winds

Figure 6. — Drainage winds in the Salt River
Valley near Phoenix.

238

4000

Figure 7. — Upslope winds in the Salt River
Valley near Phoenix in winter. The curved
arrow in the center becomes straight and
directed to the north in summer.

are much stronger and blow over the low hills
and mountains. Tucson winds are similarly
influenced by the terrain and have a somewhat
higher speed at the airport compared to Phoenix.
Different spots in Phoenix and Tucson show
widely varying wind patterns with average ve¬
locities ranging from 3 to 8 miles per hour at
locations less than 10 miles apart. Obviously
accurate predictions of air quality are possi¬
ble only after detailed studies of a particular
location. Wind frequencies and speeds at a
single point can only provide a qualitative
basis for comparison for long-term averages.

Mixing Height

Holzworth (1972) has compiled data on mix¬
ing heights and wind speeds for the United
States. The wind speed graphs for Arizona are
misleading and the discussion in the previous
section should be used. Mixing height presen¬
tations, however, are reasonable. Only two
upper air stations are presently operating in
Arizona and these were used by Holzworth. In
Arizona, unless a front producing rain or winds
with accompanying mixing is present, there is
a strong ground-based inversion from sunset to
sunrise. After sunrise the solar heating leads
to breakup of the inversion and finally to a
very unstable atmosphere in the afternoon. For
only about 10% of the time are fronts present.
Therefore monthly average upper level data can
be used to evaluate the mixing characteristics.

A set of typical observations of tempera¬
ture vs. height for Tucson is shown on figure
8. Although this is for a single day, the

Figure 8. — Tucson Radiosonde November 26, 1974
at 0430 and 1630 time.

averages are similar. An inversion is indica¬
ted when the temperature increases with height
as on the early morning observation. On this
particular day the height is 720 meters (which
is very high for Tucson) before the temperature
begins to decrease with altitude. At upper
levels, the temperature profile does not change
much between early morning and afternoon. The
"urban morning mixing height" is found by in¬
creasing the minimum surface temperature by one
degree or so and drawing a line with a slope
equal to the dry adiabatic lapse rate until the
line intersects the measured curve shown. The
height above the surface is called the mixing
height. The afternoon mixing height is found
in a similar manner using the maximum tempera¬
ture at the surface and intersecting a dry
adiabatic line with the afternoon radiosonde.
Sometimes the morning radiosonde is used for
both mixing heights. These mixing heights are
not true representations of the heights to
which pollutants will mix, but the afternoon
one is qualitatively representative. The morn¬
ing mixing height is best calculated from tern-

239

0 4 8 12 16 20 24

Time

Figure 9. — Diurnal vertical temperature dif¬
ferences at two locations near Phoenix,
Arizona, November 26, 1974.

perature measurements near the ground for ex¬
tremely stable conditions and the urban heat
island in Arizona can be ignored. Figure 9
shows the temperature difference between two
heights at two locations in Phoenix. The ex¬
tent and duration of strong stability, strong
instability and abrupt changes between are
shown. The diurnal cycle of vertical stabil¬
ity does not correspond to the wind shift
cycle .

It is sufficient to use the temperature
data of figure 9 to obtain the morning mixing
characteristics along with a dispersion model.
In the afternoon, upper level mixing heights
calculated as described would be more valuable
than figure 9. Also, the inversion depth in
the morning can be used in stack design evalu¬
ation. This inversion depth is the same all
year at four locations in Arizona and the aver¬
age values are shown below.

Location Inversion Depth

(meters)

Phoenix

210

Tucson

223

Winslow

514

Yuma

407

There is a tendency toward shallower inversions
during the spring and summer in the desert
areas. The monthly variation of afternoon mix¬
ing height is shown on figure 10. Dry air and

J FmAmjj asond
Month

Figure 10. — Afternoon mixing heights in meters
above the surface at four locations in Ari¬
zona. Yuma and Phoenix based on two years
data; Winslow and Tucson, five years.

high solar heat flux in the spring months give
the highest mixing heights.

There is a possibility that the afternoon
mixing will be limited by an upper level inver¬
sion. Holzworth has tabulated the number of
days of limited mixing at Tucson over a period
of five years and at Winslow for three years.

It is apparent from figure 10 that to avoid
common winter values afternoon mixing heights
of less than 500 meters only would be signifi¬
cant. During this period Tucson had only one
period of two days duration when the afternoon
mixing height was less than 500 meters. The
wind speed was between 4 and 6 meters per
second during the two-day period. Winslow in
the three-year span had 13 periods with mixing
heights less than 500 meters and wind speeds
less than 6 meters per second. Two periods
were for greater than 5 days and a total of 49
days were involved. Las Vegas, Nevada had 7
episodes for a total of 16 days with mixing
heights less than 500 meters and wind speeds
less than 6 meters per second. At both Las
Vegas and Winslow, most of the wind speeds
were between 2 and 4 meters per second. The
potential for prolonged episodes is thus
greater in the northern and western parts of
the state and is small in the south central
area.

240

Prediction of Air Pollution Potential

One criterion in air pollution potential
has just been discussed — the potential for
prolonged episodes of low afternoon mixing
heights and low wind speeds. Several episodes
can be expected each winter in the northeast
part of the state and perhaps one each winter
in the southwest. The probability of an epi¬
sode in the central and southeast parts of the
state appears to be one in five or more years.
In addition, large point sources such as power
plant stacks could be located above the top of
the nighttime ground-based inversion layer in
the central and south central deserts since the
inversion layer is less than 300 meters high.
However, the deeper inversion layers in the
west and north would prohibit this strategy.
When emissions are released above the inversion
layer, they will not mix to the ground until
after the inversion breaks up. Release within
the stable inversion layer also tends to limit
mixing to the ground, but high concentrations
can exist at the time of inversion breakup.

Inversion breakup is a condition which
calls for estimation of pollution concentration
on a short time average basis. Exact estimates
of the average exposure at ground level at dif¬
ferent distances from the point source are not
possible at the present time. An idealized
procedure called a Gaussian Plume Model can be
used in this case and also for yearly averages
based on the wind frequency data for planning
purposes. The justification for the model,
illustrations of its use and tables of param¬
eters corresponding to different atmospheric
conditions can be found in Pasquill (1974),
Slade (1968), Smith (1974) and Turner (1970)
and other similar references. We will use the
Gaussian model to compare air pollution poten¬
tial at different locations in Arizona for a
point source and an area source. Short-term
concentrations when influences of changing
wind patterns, terrain, chemical reactions in
the atmosphere and variations in emissions are
important cannot be modeled as easily. We will
discuss this problem and present some results
for diurnal carbon monoxide concentrations in
Phoenix, Arizona.

Gaussian Plume Models

Hanna's (1973) computer program was used
to calculate concentrations from a point source
located at the center of a nine-by-nine grid
with each grid square five kilometers on a
side. The concentration, C, is related to
other variables by the equation

where A is a constant, f is the wind direction
frequency, R is a function of source height,
distance from source and characteristics of
the atmospheric mixing, Q is the emissions
rate, and U is the velocity. If we hold the
function R and also Q constant, the ratio of
f/U determines the concentration. Maximum
concentrations of neutral stability correspond¬
ing to a yearly average estimate are shown on
figure 11. This representation of air pollu¬
tion potential shows higher possible pollution
exposures in the low wind speed areas of the
state. The relative values shown on figure 11
would apply for a single point source at any
height. For a specific source at a specific
height and a specific location, a graph can be
prepared as shown in figure 12 for Winslow.

We have constructed such graphs for many loca¬
tions in the state so that they can be over-
layed on U.S. Geological Survey maps. The
southwestern prevailing wind leads to the loca¬
tion of maximum concentration to the northeast
of the source. At Winslow the drainage winds
blow from the southeast giving a second high
concentration region northwest of the source.
Since similar wind frequencies occur over most
of the mountain and plateau of northern and
eastern Arizona, such an overlay can be useful
for air quality potential evaluation over a
wide area.

C = AfRQ/U

Figure 11. — Maximum annual average pollution
concentration due to a 100-meter stack
emitting 100 grams per second; units are
micrograms per cubic meter.

241

Figure 12. — Isopleths of concentration for a
point source at Winslow, Arizona. Conditions
are the same as for figure 11. The source is
at the center dot; north is at the top.

The same computer program will also eval¬
uate the average concentration for an area
source. Automobiles, small industries and home
burning and heating all combine to give a wide-

Figure 13. — Annual average urban x/Q> seconds
per meter. Relative values shown for a one-
kilometer-square emissions area.

ly spread ground level emission. For compari¬
son purposes, we used emissions in a one-ki¬
lometer square to obtain the ratio of concen¬
tration per unit area to emissions rate, x/Q>
for the same locations as the point sources.

The results are shown on figure 13 for the
emissions square. On this yearly average basis
neighboring squares had negligible concentra¬
tions. The numbers on figure 13 correspond to
30 to 50 second homes in the one-kilometer-
square area if the units were micrograms per
cubic meter and the contaminant carbon monoxide.
In metropolitan Phoenix, the levels would be a
factor of 50 higher for the yearly average.

The highest local concentrations on an
hourly average basis can be determined from the
equations in the references. In general, these
will be 100 times higher for the point sources
at the location of maximum ground level concen¬
trations. For such calculations, the wind is
assumed to blow in the same direction for the
entire time and the breakup is accompanied by
unstable mixing conditions. Actual inversion
breakup occurs with variable winds, but maxi¬
mum pollution concentrations would occur at the
time of breakup. Since early morning inver¬
sions are present over 90% of the time in all
parts of the state, this problem exists equally
throughout Arizona.

Airshed Modeling

Many of the aspects of urban airshed
modeling are discussed by Seinfeld, Reynolds
and Roth (1972) . Here we want to look at some
results and the application to pollution poten¬
tial. A complete study includes solving the
equations of motion, energy and mass transport
for the airshed in question. In general, this
is not possible at present so the wind field
and energy effects must be known. For simula¬
tion of a current day or series of days, the
emissions amounts and distributions are also
known. For prediction of future concentra¬
tions, the emission amounts and locations are
forecast and used also as known quantities.

Then modeling programs solve for concentrations
throughout the airshed numerically. These pro¬
grams use some approximation for the turbulent
vertical mixing usually related to atmospheric
experiments .

When terrain effects on the wind field are
pronounced, some form of airshed modeling is
necessary for urban areas. The success of this
type of modeling is dependent on extensive
knowledge of the local wind field. Information
on Phoenix was gathered by Berman and DeLaney
(1975) and used in a "box model" to show the
distribution of carbon monoxide in the Phoenix
area during a typical winter day when no fronts
influenced the weather. A box model uses a lid
on the valley with pollutants well mixed below
the lid. The lid height can be varied with

242

time to account for changes in mixing from the
stable (limited mixing) inversion at night to
the unstable midafternoon. Carbon monoxide is
produced almost entirely by automobiles so the
emissions vary during the period of the simu¬
lation also.

Results are computer maps as shown on
figures 14 and 15. Some pockets of high pol¬
lution potential can be pinpointed on these
maps and in Phoenix show up in the summaries
of monitoring sites. We found that the weakly
developed upslope winds were an important
factor leading to high concentrations of carbon
monoxide and these winds were much less impor¬
tant on the measured wind direction distribu¬
tion. The weak upslope winds were unable to
push the pollutants generated in the central
part of Phoenix over the low mountain barriers
to the north, so the concentration would build
up after sunset when limited vertical mixing
began. Figure 14 shows the concentrations
near their peak level and figure 15 shows the

Figure 14. — Carbon monoxide concentrations in
the greater Phoenix area on November 26,

1974. Average between 8 and 9 p.m. Inner¬
most area has over 19 parts per million (ppm).

Figure 15. — Early morning (3-4 a.m.) concentra¬
tions of carbon monoxide in Phoenix. Inner¬
most area is over 4 ppm.

cloud moving out of the valley along the drain¬
age winds .

Comparison of the computer model with
measurements near downtown Phoenix are shown
in figure 16. Such airshed studies can be used
for rural areas and the cost for simple models
is comparable to that for the Gaussian Plume
Analysis .

The detailed analysis can also be used to
show the importance of transport and production
mechanisms at any location within the grid.
Figure 17 shows the results for the maximum
emission location in Phoenix. When the night
wind is dominant, most of the carbon monoxide
found at this location comes from upwind areas.
During the afternoon and evening when the day
wind is present, most is produced within the
area itself and remains. Note that the switch
occurs precisely at the time of wind reversal,
approximately 8 p.m.

When pollutants must be tracked on an hour-
to-hour basis, airshed modeling can give excel¬
lent results. Although we have discussed one
particular day, this day represents one of the
worst in Phoenix in the 1974-75 winter. The

Figure 16. — Comparison of computer model carbon
monoxide concentration with measured data at
18th and Roosevelt location in Phoenix,
Arizona.

243

Figure 17. — Transport mechanisms in the grid
square responsible for the maximum emissions
from automobiles in Phoenix. (November 26,
1974 simulation.)

wind height variations with time are represent¬
ative of days with potentially high carbon
monoxide levels at times in the future. If we
feed projected automobile emissions for the
future into the model, the airshed technique
can be used to predict air pollution potential
and aid in planning.

CONCLUSION

In this report, summaries of current and
potential air pollution in Arizona have been
presented. This work represents a considerable
improvement over previously available wind
speed and mixing height tabulations for the
evaluation of sites in the state for industrial
or housing development. The abrupt change in
wind direction north to south across the entire
state and early morning inversion depth east to
west across the southern half of the state need
more clarification. Studies are needed in the
Mogollon Rim area; between Phoenix and Yuma;
and in the southeast part of the state to pro¬
vide improved maps which can be used to estimate
air pollution potential.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This work was supported in part by a grant
from the Eisenhower Consortium for Western
Environmental Forestry Research and the Univer¬
sity Grants Committee of Arizona State Univer¬
sity. Assistance from the Maricopa County
Health Department, the Arizona State Health
Department, the Maricopa Association of Govern¬
ments, the Salt River Project, and Arizona
Public Service Company is gratefully acknowl¬
edged .

LITERATURE CITED

Arizona Department of Health Services.

1974. 1973 Air Quality Data for Arizona,

37 p.

Berman, Neil S. and Kenyon G. DeLaney.

1975. Atmospheric Modeling for Phoenix,
Arizona. Arizona State University Engi¬
neering Research Center Technical Report
ERC-R-75009 .

Hanna, Steven R.

1973. Description of ATDL Computer Model
for Dispersion from Multiple Sources. In
Noll and Duncan ed. Industrial Air Pollu¬
tion Control Ann Arbor Science Publishers,
23-32.

Holzworth, George C.

1972. Mixing Heights, Wind Speeds, and
Potential for Urban Air Pollution Through¬
out the Contiguous United States. U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency AP-101,

118 p.

Pasquill, F.

1974. Atmospheric Diffusion, Halstead
Press, 429 p.

Roberts, E. M. , J. L. Gordon and R. E. Kary.

1974. Visibility Measurements in the
Painted Desert. Unpublished report.
Robinson, Elmer.

1968. Effect on the Physical Properties of
the Atmosphere, Chapter 11 in A. C. Stern,
ed. Air Pollution, 349-400.

Seinfeld, John H. , Stephen D. Reynolds and

Phillip M. Roth. 1972. Simulation of Urban
Air Pollution in American Chemical Society,
Advances in Chemistry Series 113, 58-100.
Slade, David H. ed.

1968. Meteorology and Atomic Energy TID-
24190, NTIS , 445 p.

Smith, Maynard E.

1973. Recommended Guide for the Prediction
of the Dispersion of Airborne Effluents.
ASME, 85 p.

Turner, D. Bruce.

1970. Workbook of Atmospheric Dispersion
Estimates. U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency, 84 p.

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

1974. Monitoring and Air Quality Trends

Report, 1973. EPA-450/1-74-007 .

244

Evaluation of Impacts of Various Recreation Uses
on Air Quality in Northern Arizona:

The Scenic Suburban Forests and Their Aesthetic Values1

Thomas H. Bedwell2

Abstract. — The impact of human activity related to the
aesthetic values is discussed with respect to suburban forests.
Air quality in various recreation areas of Northern Arizona is
reviewed. The visibility as a means for measuring manmade
pollutants is reported for various recreational areas. A simple
and inexpensive ion method for detection of pollutant build-up
in nonurban areas is explored.

INTRODUCTION

The role of the recreation residential
homeowner in the local community in many
areas of the United States is an increasingly
important one. With the effects of higher
disposable incomes, shorter working weeks and
better transportation, the significance of
this segment of the leisure industry will
increase much more rapidly in the future,
Snyder and Adams (1967). The primary agent
that contributes to the demand for recreation
homes is our rising national productivity.

It has enabled us to increase our material
standard of living while at the same time
making it possible to have leisure time for
play, relaxation, enjoyment, and personal
self-fulfillment, Clawson (1967).

At the same time, there is occuring a
growing emphasis on a life-style that empha¬
sizes physical fitness, scenic beauty, and a
return to nature. Many of these vacation-
recreation homes are havens from hectic urban
life. They are relaxing places where people
come for emotional renewal and physical rest.
For those who are activity oriented, these
homes are nothing more than refueling stops,
(Outdoor USA, Yearbook of Agriculture, 1967).
For others , the recreation home is a culmina¬
tion of a lifetime of work. U . S . News and
World Report, (1969), a leading news reporting
magazine, reported results of a survey that
best sum up the magnitude of the recreation
home movement. The two items in the leisure

'Paper presented at the symposium on Man,
Leisure, and Wildlands: A Complex Interaction,
Vail, Colorado, Sept. 14-19, 1975.

2Professor of Physics, Northern Arizona
University, Flagstaff.

industry that have experienced the most rapid
growth between 1967 and 1969 were second
homes, with a 67 percent increase in invest¬
ment, and vacation land and lots with an 86
percent increase in investments.

Investigations of the air quality and
recreational areas of Northern Arizona has
influenced the writer to consider not only
air quality but also other factors relating
to the entire ecological problem which
surround these areas. Basic examination of
the quantity and types of air pollution has
influenced the approach taken in this paper.

Population Increase

By the year 2000, the population of the
United States is expected to reach approxi¬
mately 293.5 million people. Some estimates
indicate that it will be as high as 321
million. Unfortunately, many of the projec¬
tions made in the past regarding expected
population increases have been low. Even if
the lower estimate proves to be more nearly
correct and we attempt to maintain our current
standard of living and life styles, the impli¬
cations with respect to our natural resources
are staggering.

Pressure on Natural Resources

In the United States, we are blessed
with a greater quantity of natural resources
of many kinds than many of our less fortunate
neighbors. In addition, the rate at which our
population is increasing is well below the
alarming rates of increase in many other
countries. In spite of these facts, our

245

exceedingly high level of consumption in the
United States has created a dependency for
natural resources on many other countries
around the world and we are already beginning
to experience rather severe problems and
pressures in many areas.

Not the least of these are demands
being placed on land, including suburban
forest land. Former President Lyndon B.

Johnson expressed concern about certain of
these pressures in his 1965 White House
Message on Natural Beauty when he said, "A
growing population is swallowing up areas of
natural beauty with its demands for living
space, and is placing an increased demand on
our everburdened areas of recreation and
pleasure ."

Along with the unprecedented growth in
many urban areas, there is an accompanying
redistribution of urban populations in pro¬
gress. The "flight to the fringe" from the
urban core or "urban sprawl" is, paradoxically,
an attempt to by many segments of the
population to surround themselves with
natural beauty, not swallow it up. These
people are meeting with varying degrees of
success and the natural beauty they seek is
frequently the countryside with its forests.

The Problem as Related to Forests

Our forest lands have not been, and
certainly will not be exempt from the demands
of an increasing population. In fact, our
forests will have to bear much greater
pressure in the future than many of our other
natural resources. Many of these pressures
are and will continue to be the consequence
of persons invading forested areas seeking
places of residence, recreation and relaxa¬
tion. In addition, these forests will be
dissected by the highways needed to transport
these people to jobs, schools, and the like.

Other Demands

In addition to supplying timber,
forests are expected to provide habitat and
food for many of the wildlife species we
harvest or otherwise enjoy, protect our
watersheds, heal abused land and grace our
landscape. The forest is a place where we
camp, ski, hike, picnic, and pursue a host
of other recreational activities. We seek
privacy, solitude, and relief from extremes
in the weather in the forests. In the
opinion of many, forests present physically
relaxing and mentally refreshing conditions
which are taking on greater and greater
importance in the fast moving world in which

we live. These and other uses were already
recognized and discussed during the Forest
Land Use Conference in 1961 (American Forest
Products Industries, Inc., 1962).

One aspect of the overall problem of
increasing pressures being placed upon our
land is that, in light of our present
attitudes and methods of management, not all
the uses demanded of the forest land are
compatible. We simply cannot have everything
from and do everything in the same piece of
land at the same moment in time.

An aspect expressed by Garratt (1961),
in that "Today's forest acreage is more than
we shall have in the future." He cites
statistics which indicate that in spite of
the reversion of some agricultural lands to
forest, the area of commercial forest land
has declined from 525 million acres in 1900
to 489 million acres at the time of the con¬
ference, 1961. Should this trend continue,
it will only serve to compound existing
problems .

The U.S. Forest Service, approaching
this aspect a bit differently, reports that
by the year 2000 and particularly in sub¬
sequent years, substantial areas of forest
land could be lost to uses other than wood
products production.

Outdoor Recreation

This country is presently experiencing
an outdoor recreation boom such as no one
has seen before. This is certainly not re¬
stricted to Arizona forests but the problems
that result are more acute in the East.
Camping, skiing, motorcylcing and snowmobiling
have exploded into the outdoor recreation
arena. Motorized vehicles have rendered what
were relatively inaccessible areas almost as
accessible as an individual's back yard.

Still other recreation interests compete
for a place in the southwestern forests.
Picnicking, hiking, nature study, hunting,
field archery and fishing are some of these
interests .

Two things can be inferred regarding
this surge in outdoor recreation. First, it
should serve as some kind of index regarding
the affluence of our society. Babeau, Rhodes,
and MacDonnell (1965) stated, "Because many
woodland owners in the county enjoy a good
high income, it appears that Insufficient
capital is not an obstacle to management in
most cases." Even the well-managed woodland
of relatively small size provides little
annual income when selectively managed on a

246

10 to 15 year cycle .

Second, while an increased number of
individuals are viewing the suburban forest
in the light of wood products production, an
even larger number of individuals and
industries are concerned about the suburban
forest as an environment for outdoor
recreation .

This whole problem in Northern Arizona
has been dramatically emphasized by the
conflict of interests concerning the develop¬
ment of the Hart Prairie land.

AESTHETICS

Importance of Aesthetics

We have seen the term "aesthetics"
appear more than once in recent and current
thinking about recreation forest management.

It has been judged important in connection
with small forest landowners (Hamilton, 1966),
the suburban forest (Spurr, 1962), and the
urban forest (Goddard, 1969) .

At this point it might be well to define
the term "aesthetics." Bullough (1957)
credited Baumgarten as being the "father of
aesthetics." Baumgarten' s definition which
appeared in the 1750' s literally meant "to
test likes and dislikes, pleasure and dis¬
pleasure. "

Definitions like the preceding only
lead to further difficulty when one tries to
define pleasure, beauty, and the like.

President Johnson (1965) said:

Beauty is not an easy thing to measure.
It does not show up in the gross
national product, in the weekly pay
check or in profit and loss statements.
But these things are not ends in
themselves. They are a road to
satisfaction and pleasure and the good
life. Beauty makes its own direct
contribution to these final ends.
Therefore it is one of the most
important components of our true
national income, not to be left out
simply because statisticians cannot
calculate its worth.

For each individual the meaning of
aesthetic or beauty is somewhat different,
and while there are broad areas of agreement,
and while there are probably as many areas
of disagreement as to what is pleasant or
beautiful .

Odum (1962) in discussing the ecological
roots of aesthetics, said:

Deep within man's physical and cultural
inheritances are environmental pre¬
ferences that create strong desires
even in modern times. One may
speculate about instinctive drives and
their possible significance for survival
in the former eras when man's energy
supplies were ecologically different.

Kates (1966) suggests that it might be
easier to identify that which is ugly than
that which is beautiful and defines ugliness
in terms of what it can do rather than what
it is. He states, "That which is truly ugly
has the power to destroy for us the pleasant
and agreeable. The key to this destructive
power is the misfit."

The lack of control of the homes and
second homes in and near recreational areas
(National Forests), along with the visable
air quality is a destructive force in main¬
taining the beauty of the area, "misfit."

Concern for Aesthetics

It is encouraging to note that the con¬
cern for aesthetics has appeared within
certain of the federal agencies concerned
with the management of the nation's forest
recreational lands. Eyer (1965) said that
the Bureau of Land Mangement allows for de¬
partures from standard procedures for the
sake of asethetics.

The U.S. Forest Service is vitally con¬
cerned about trying to reconcile the con¬
flicts created by the multitude of demands
being placed on our recreational and forest
areas. The Forest Service is showing an
increased concern for aesthetics.

Lynch (1966) indicated that the national
forests have a series of classified recreational
categories that require modified silvicultural
treatment. These range from intensively used
camp grounds to high mountain areas and in¬
clude wilderness areas where no logging is
permitted .

Neighborhood Growth

Housing construction is taking place
in Northern Arizona city neighborhoods, and
this trend is expected to continue. However,
the scarcity of vacant land in existing re¬
sidential areas has given rise to the
planning of new neighborhoods.

247

Hoff and Shahen (1973) have made a
study of this problem in the Flagstaff area.
The areas include three within the city
limits: Switzer Terrace, Continental Country

Club, and University Heights; and four areas
within commuting distance of Flagstaff:
Kachina Village-Mountainaire , Pinewood, and
Fort Valley. These neighborhoods are not
the only developments planned in Flagstaff,
but they are expected to have a major impact
on the scenic beauty in and near the recrea¬
tional areas.

Kachina Village.

Kachina Village is located five miles
south of Flagstaff off U.S. Interstate 17.

The area is surrounded by Coconino National
Forest. Construction began in 1965.

At the present the development has 80
families who reside there year-round. During
the summer months up to 150 families are
located in the area. The development has
1,500 acres with current plans calling for
2,000 lots in the development, ranging in size
from 1/4 to 2 acres. The development plans
for 1/3 of its lots to go for mobile homes
and 2/3 for homesites.

The development is primarily a second-
home resort area. On the development site is
a lodge, recreation area for children, fishing
lake, horseback riding and swimming pool.

Pinewood

Pinewood is located 18 miles south of
Flagstaff, off U.S. Interstate 17, surrounded
by Coconino National Forest. Construction
began in 1968.

Currently the area has 650 units, of
which 150 are mobile homes. Pinewood is
currently a second-home resort development.

The development provides a 18-hole golf course,
restaurant, swimming pool, children's play¬
ground, youth center, and stables.

Fort Valley

Fort Valley an early homestead area, is
located six miles northwest of Flagstaff off
U.S. Highway 180. The area is surrounded by
Coconino National Forest. Construction of
homes ite began early in the 1960 's.

At the present the development has 50
families who reside there year-round. During
the summer months up to 100 families are
located in the area. The development has

nearly 1000 acres. It is a sprawling develop¬
ment located at the base of the San Francisco
Peaks on both sides of U.S. Highway 180.

The development is both home and second
home are a .

Photos 1 and 2 illustrate the variance
in compliance to the aesthetic beauty and the
poor construction which damages the aesthetic
value in the areas.

Photo 1

248

AIR QUALITY - RECREATION AREAS

Visibility Degradation and Air Pollution

Perhaps one of the most significant
effects of air pollution is an acute degra¬
dation of visibility caused by it. The problem
of visibility degradation as a function of
atmospheric mass loading has been investigated
extensively. Generally, the approach has been
to try and correlate the local mass loading
due to suspended particulates with the ob¬
served visibility or some measured value
indicative of visibility such as a light
scatter coefficient. Since most of the
studies find good correlations between the
aerosol mass loading and visibility, it seems
logical, that under certain conditions visi¬
bility data can be used as a reasonable tracer
of the larger scale advection of suspended
pollutants. Therefore, the relationship of
visibility (and degradation of it) to aerosol
mass loading is examined.

The effects of air pollutants on visi¬
bility are actually the results of the vari¬
ations in radiation caused by them. Suspended
particulates in the atmosphere, as well as
gaseous molecules, cause visible radiation to
be scattered or absorbed. In general, light
passing through a polluted mass will be
characterized by some attenuation. In the
case of an observer viewing an object at a
distance, the contrast between the object
and its background is what is perceived. The
main limiting factors in the perception of an
object are the distance between object and
observer, the illumination of the object,
and the alteration of light intensity along
the sight path due to the absorption and
scattering of the light. The greatest dis¬
tance at which an object can be seen (at which
a perceivable contrast exists) is the visible
limit. This limit is often referred to as
the visibility. However, visual range or
meteorological range are probably more
correct. Although the terms visual range,
meteorological range, and visibility are
often used synonomously in the literature,
they actually mean something different.

According to The Glossary of Meteorology
(1959) :

Vis ibility — In United States weather
observing practice, the greatest distance in
a given direction at which it is just possible
to see and identify with the unaided eye (a)
in the daytime, a prominent dark object against
the sky at the horizon, and (b) at night, a
known, preferably unfocused, moderately
intense light source. After visibilities have
been determined around the entire horizon

circle, they are resolved into a single value
of prevailing visibility. There are inherent
difficulties with the conventional requirement
that visibility markers be both detected and
identified. If the recognition requirements
are dropped, the visibility could be defined
as a subjective estimate of visual range.

Visual Range — The distance, under
daylight conditions, at which the apparent
contrast between a specified type of target
and its background becomes just equal to the
threshold contrast of an observer.

Meteorological Range — An empirically
consistent measure of the visual range of a
target; a concept developed to eliminate from
consideration, the threshold contrast and
the adaptation luminance, both of which vary
from observer to observer.

From the above definitions, it is seen
that the meanings of these different terms
are actually quite similar. Meteorological
range represents the most objective measure,
and is often referred to as standard visibility
or standard visual range. The concept of
meteorological range is generally used as the
basis in studies attempting to correlate
visibility with pollution. However, since
visibility is a good subjective indicator of
actual meteorological range, the synonomous
use of the terms is readily acceptable.

The meteorological range, Middleton
(1952) has been defined as that distance at
which the contrast between an object and the
background has decreased to 2% of the contrast
observed when the object is close at hand.

Contrast is defined in terms of the
brightness B of the object and the brightness
B' of the background by the equation

C = (B-B ' ) /B ' (1)

When the object is close, the contrast is

C = (B - B')/B' (2)

o o o' o

and when the object is at a distance equal
to the visible range, the contrast is is

C = (B - B')/B' (3)

r r r r '

and C is 1/50 C .
r o

249

Visibility Studies in the Grand Canyon*

Middleton (1952) discusses many ways of
determining the visible range including using
available landmarks and backgrounds. The
system to be described here uses a laser beam
of known brightness operating against a back¬
ground of essentially zero brightness (i.e.

= 0) . By measuring the amount of light
in the beam at a known distance from the
source, one can determine the visible range.

For the system to operate properly, there are
three conditions one must consider:

1) The background light must always be
zero whenever and wherever the beam
power is measured.

2) All the power in the beam is collected
when measured at both close range and
far range.

3) The light scattered out of the beam is
not collected when the beam power is
measured .

Condition (1) can be satisfied by using
interference filters of very narrow bandwidth.
However a better method is to use a beam whose
intensity is varying in time. Using a
moderately high frequency of modulation of the
intensity, it is possible to block out the
essentially steady background lights as well
as the low frequency man made lights. In
addition, AC techniques of amplification of
the signal from a weak laser will give a
usable output signal .

Condition (2) can be satisfied by using
a collimated beam of a single wave-length.

With this it is possible to keep the light
energy in a small enough beam so that it can
be entirely collected using not unreasonably
expensive lenses or mirrors.

Condition (3) is more complex and
actually has two parts. First, the beam power
reading coming from scattered light of the
collector has a large aperture. Second,
some of the light scattered out of the beam
could be scattered back into the collector if
it has a large field of view. If the collector
is not too large and is collimated so that it
accepts parallel light, or nearly so, condition
(3) should be satisfied.

Grand Canyon System

The system that has been devised for

* Direct consultation with K. O'Dell , R.
Layton and W. Willis, Physics Department,
Northern Arizona University.

measurements made at the Grand Canyon consists
of a He-Ne laser modulated on and off at a
frequency of about 5,000 Hz using a mechanical
chopper. This laser has a wavelength of
632.8 nm and an output power of about 3.5
milliwatts. The small diameter beam from the
laser is expanded to a collimated beam of
about 6 inch diameter. The central 3 1/2
inches of the beam is blocked by an obstruc¬
tion in the colliamtor thus giving a ring of
light as the output. The total power in this
ring is about 0.1 milliwatts. The entire
apparatus is mounted on a concrete pier and
alignment of the beam is accomplished with
micrometer adjustments. This system is
located in a building near Phantom Ranch at
the bottom of the canyon.

The beam from the transmitter is sent
5.2 km to the top of the canyon, 1500 meters
higher, and into a cave located just below
Yavapai Museum. A beam collector is located
here and consists of a 16 by 24 inch Fresnel
lens of 24 inch focal length which focuses
the energy collected onto a 1 inch diameter
solar cell. The electrical output from this
cell is sent to a system that electronically
filters the 5000 Hz signal, amplifies it,
converts it to a DC signal, and sends it to
an inkless recorder.

The Fresnel lens is small enough to
satisfy condition (3) and yet large enough to
satisfy condition (2) . With the AC signal,
condition (1) is satisfied.

With this system, the visible range is
that distance at which the beam power has
fallen to 1/50 of the beam power at the trans¬
mitter. In general the beam power decreases
with distance according to the equation.

P = P^exp-ax (4)

Where a is the extinction coefficient and x
is the distance from the transmitter. The
extinction coefficient is made up of two
parts, the absorption oa and scattering as
coefficients, Middleton (1952),

a = aa + as (5)

At some fixed distance D, a measured trans¬
mittance T = P/P will yield
o

T = exp-aD (sa) or a = -InT/D (6b) (6)

The visible range is that distance at which T
is 1/50, or

1/50 = exp-aR (7a)

or

R = -In 0.02/a or R = In 50/a (7b)

250

or, using equation (6b)

R = -D In 50/ln T (8)

Results of Grand Canyon System

The system described has yielded many
short periods of good results over the past
two years in the Grand Canyon. The transmit¬
tance over the 5.2 Kin path is approximately
82% which corresponds to a visible range of
about 100 km. In April, 1973 one measured
transmission was less th an 92% for a visible
range of at least 240 Km. Most of the ex¬
tinction coefficient is probably caused by
scattering from dust. Additional information
about the causes of the extinction could be
obtained by using a two wavelength system and
by sampling the material in the air. The
transmitter is designed so that a blue laser
could be installed without altering the present
setup. This laser would be modulated at a
different frequency so that its signal could
be separated electronically. Because of the
higher cost and shorter life of this laser it
must operate for short periods but simultane¬
ously with the red laser and with the same
collimator. The red laser would then be used
for continuous transmission measurements, with
additional information coming periodically
from the blue laser. In addition to the laser
measurements, air sampling along the path and
chemical and physical analysis of the collected
samples would give information on the kind,
amount, and size of the particles causing the
ext inction .

The laser system is designed to operate
on a continuous basis with the other measure¬
ments being made periodically. Two major
problems have been encountered with the present
system, however, and require some discussion.
First, the lasers have been found to be not as
constant in their output as is desired, and
so an output monitor or some electric
system must be used to stabilize the output.
Second, the beam alignment cannot be maintained
due to atmospheric refraction. This can also
be corrected by electronically controlling
the beam alignment, or the collector position.
Other solutions to this problem exist but they
are most costly, and at the present time are
under consideration.

Additional Experiments

Additional information being gathered to
be used in conjunction with the laser data
include, weather data at the bottom and top
of the Canyon, and on the Tonto Platform,
also high volume sampling and analysis at the
bottom of the Canoyn. Other information

being gathered include continuous atmospheric
conductivity and Aitken nuclei counting. The
conductivity measurements at this writing
indicate very clean air at the bottom of the
Canyon. It is hoped that a correlation will
exist between the data and the laser results.

A Comparative Visibility Study

In this study Hall and Riley (1975) used
astronomical photometric techniques to deter¬
mine the atmospheric visibility over horizontal
paths of several kilometers and in the wave¬
length domain bounded by ozone and watervapor
absorption (0.32 to 0.66 um) .

The had three objectives in mind. 1) To
determine very accurate extinction coefficients
(visibility) first at Flagstaff, and then in
other areas of different elevation in the
United States where clear air is most likely
to be found, in order to establish an early-
warning system for the detection of manmade
pollutants. 2) To determine, if possible, the
nature of the aerosols responsible for the
extinction observed in each environmental
situation. 3) To find a simple means of making
accurate measurements of both background in¬
tensity and extinction in full daylight for
the purpose of determining reliable and
objective values of visibility.

Most of the measurements presented in
their paper represent data obtained under
various conditions within the City of Flagstaff
(elevation 2.2 km). A few spectropho tome trie
measures made at Gila Bend (0.2 km) are also
presented .

Flagstaff Measurements

Observations were made at Flagstaff in
the Fall of 1973 with two light sources with
a difference in distance of 3.32 km. The
light path was about 100 meters above a re¬
sidential part of the City in a northeasterly
direction from the Lowell Observatory at an
elevation of 2.18 km.

Gila Bend Measurements

Portable equipment was used to make
visibility measures at an elevation of 0.2 km
on grazing land fifteen miles west-northwest
of Gila Bend in southwestern Arizona.

The data observed on two occasions at
this site include one when a dust storm was
in progress, and the next when the visibility
by the naked eye was very good.

251

The dust storm encompassed an area of
hundreds of square miles .

Findings

They found under favorable conditions a
visibility (a scale distance) over the City
of 55 km while that found at Gila Bend during
clear weather to be 25 km. During the dust
storm the visibility (scale distance) was
about 2.1 km. The mountains 6 or 7 km away
during the dust storm could not be seen.

Burning of slash by the Forest Service
several miles to the north of Flagstaff was
easily detected. The change in visibility
from burning depended greatly on meteorological
conditions. To be reliable these measurements
require additional research.

LAKE POWELL RECREATION AREA

Lake Powell Research Project

The Lake Powell Research Project is a
consortium of university groups funded by the
Division of Environmental Systems and Resources
in RANN in the National Science Foundation.

Researchers in the consortium bring a
wide range of expertise in natural and social
sciences to bear on the general problem of the
effects and ramifications of resource manage¬
ment in the Lake Powell region. The region
currently is experiencing converging demands
for water and energy resource development,
preservation of nationally unique scenic
features, expansion of recreation facilities,
and economic growth and modernization in
previously isolated rural areas.

In the Lake Powell region, concern about
the conflict between maintaining environmental
quality and developing coal-fired thermal-
electric generating stations has led to
measurement of present air quality to provide
a reference for determining future changes.

In addition to powerplants, other air pollu¬
tion sources of less concern but no less
importance to the existing air quality in the
area include automobiles, motorboats, long-
range transport, and blowing sand.

Walther, et.al. (1974) defined air
quality in terms of constituent aerosol,
gases, and integrated characteristics.
Measurement sites and methods are described
and evaluated.

Construction of Glen Canyon Dam on the
Colorado River led not only to the birth of

Lake Powell but also to creation of the nearby
construction towns of Page, Arizona, and Glen
Canyon City, Utah.

The rise in the level of Lake Powell
since its creation in 1964 has been accompanied
by an increase in recreational use, involving
both automobiles and motorboats. The assured
supply of cooling water available in Lake
Powell is allowing construction of the 2,310-
megawatt Navajo Generating Station near Page,
Arizona. The municipalities, automobiles,
and motorboats are superimposing their
effluents on the background air quality of
the region. Of course, the background air
quality also changes, without the direct
influence of man, by the natural variation
of wind-blown dust, emission of terpenes by
vegetation, and weather.

An evaluation of the background air
quality, its variation, and the air quality
change caused by man's activity on and around
Lake Powell is necessary to determine the
impact of the impoundment and its resulting
activities upon the quality of life in the
Lake Powell region; the effect of resultant
air quality upon the Lake Powell recreational
area; and interactions between the atmosphere
and the lake. Visibility is the most obvious
example of an air quality parameter which is
crucial to the recreational value of the Lake
Powell area. If man degrades visibility
there, the recreational value may similarly
be degraded.

Air Quality

Concerning the air quality portion of
the Lake Powell Study specifically, the
Bureau of Mines and the U.S. Geological
Survey analyzed the chemical compositions of
the various coals in the region. The utility
companies provided information on the designs
of existing and planned coal-fired thermal-
electric generating stations, including rates
of coal consumption, furnace design, air
pollution control devices, and expected stack
emissions. EPA calculated the prevalence of
stack emissions while NOAA developed a model
of atmospheric dispersion. Combining these
efforts, the expected ground-level concentra¬
tions were calculated at various locations
and under various meteorological conditions.
The important meteorological conditions are
wind velocity and atmopsheric stability, the
latter depending on the wind speed and
temperature variation with elevation above
ground. Under the worst conditions of low
wind speed, high terrain nearby, and limited
mixing of the atmosphere, some of the cal¬
culated maximum ground-level concentrations

252

were calculated at various locations and under
various meteorological conditions. The
important meteorological conditions are wind
velocity and atmospheric stability, the
latter depending on the wind speed and temper¬
ature variation with elevation above ground.
Under the worst conditions of low wind speed,
high terrain nearby, and limited mixing of
the atmosphere, some of the calculated maxi¬
mum ground-level concentrations exceed certain
Federal ambient air quality standards for sul¬
fur dioxide (S02) and nitrogen dioxide (NC^) .

The air quality portion of the study also
reported on the reduction of visibility caused,
at that time, by existing powerplants, partic¬
ularly the Four Corners Power Plant (located
several miles west of Farmington, New Mexico),
and predicted more such problems, emphasizing
the close proximity of the Navajo and of the
Kaiparowits Generating Stations to Lake
Powell. The Study's contention that the
plumes from these latter two generating
stations would interact and cause an air
quality problem worse than that from two such
plants isolated from each other was debated by
several meteorological consultants to the
utility companies in the Joint Meteorological-
Report (Dames & Moore et.al., 1971). These
consultants concluded from the available
meteorological data that the topgraphy of the
Southwest would separate some of the power-
plants from each other in areas called "air¬
sheds." An airshed is that volume of atmos¬
phere over a defined area of land in which
the air pollutants from groundlevel sources
are reasonably well-confined, even though
the overall air flow passes from one airshed
to another with the prevailing winds.

According to the definition of specific air¬
sheds in the Southwest used in the Dames &

Moore report, the Navajo and Kaiparowits
Generating Stations would both occupy the
same airshed around lower Lake Powell. Yet
analysis of wind velocity distributions led
the authors of the report to conclude that
the plumes from the two powerplants would
rarely combine to produce a greater effect
on air quality than would the plume from
each alone.

Conclusion

There is no clear consensus on the
expected effect on air quality from the
emissions of powerplants under construction
or from those to be built near Lake Powell.

In their report, they define the present air
quality of the region, using their c*m
measurements and those of others, taken before
large air pollution sources such as the power-
plants actually began operating. In this way,

it is possible to provide reference values for
any changes in air quality.

The results of their measurement program
show that the air is clean in the Lake Powell
region. Generating stations already in
operation, such as Cholla and Mohave, have
affected the concentration of aerosol and its
sulfate component. Remote areas near Page
are so clean as to be near or at the limit of
instrumental measurement. The excellent
average visibility of about 200 km (124 miles)
in the Lake Powell region is in stark contrast
to the visibility in our major cities, and by
Lowell Measurement even in Flagstaff, the
largest city in Northern Arizona.

Definition of Air Quality

Air quality is determined by measurement
of aerosol, gas concentration, noise, radio¬
activity, turbidity, and visibility (Table 1) .

The constituents of air comprise aerosol
and gases. Aerosol consists of all those
solid particles and liquid droplets that range
in diameter from about (20 Angstroms (A) to
100 microns (p) . There are four important
aerosol parameters: chemical composition,
size distribution, number concentration, and
mass concentration. The first is chemical
composition, which usually varies with the
aerosol size. The health significance of

Table 1: Air Quality Parameters
1 . Aerosol

a.

Comp os it ion

b.

Concentration

i. Mass

ii. Number

c.

Size Distribution

Gas

Concentration

a.

Ammonia (NH^)

b.

Carbon Monoxide (CO)

c .

Hydrocarbons (HC)

i . Alkanes

ii. Alkenes — Terpenes

d.

Hydrogen Sulfide (^S)

e .

Nitrogen Sulfide (^S)

f .

Nitric Oxide (NO)

g-

Oxidant
i. Ozone

h.

Sulfur Dioxide (S02)

i.

Water Vapor (H^O)

Noise

253

4 . Radioactivity

5 . Turbidity

6 . Visibility

aerosol depends both on its size distribution,
which determines the distribution of aerosol
deposited in the respiratory tract, and on
its chemical composition, which determines
the health effect of a particle once it is
deposited on the wall of the respiratory
tract. The aerosol concentration may be
measured in terms of either number per unit
volume of air or mass per unit volume of air.
Additional information is contained in the
parameter size distribution, which is the
number or mass concentration in several size
intervals within the overall size range. In
the Lake Powell area, up to 1974, aerosol
had been generated mostly by automobiles,
motorboats, and blowing sand; after June 1974,
the 2,310-megawatt coal-fired Navajo Generating
Station became another source of aerosol.

The Arizona State Department of Health
Services (ASDHS) (1972) , includes the following
constituents in its analysis of aerosol
composition: benzene-soluble component,

nitrate, sulfate, arsenic, bismuth, cadmium,
chromium, cobalt, copper, iron, lead,
manganese, mercury, nickel, tin, titanium,
vanadium, and zinc.

Among the gases listed in Table 1 as
air quality parameters, the following
are of obvious significance for national
ambient air quality standards: carbon
monoxide (CO) , hydrocarbons (HC) , nitrogen
dioxide (NO2) , oxidant, and sulfur dioxide
(SO^). Nitric oxide (NO) is listed because
it is the important precursor of NC^ • Hydro¬
carbons are divided into various types
because of the importance of (1) methane,
an alkane, to the total hydrocarbon concen-
trat ion and (2) ethylene and terpenes, all
alkenes, to anthropogenic and natural
sources of reactants in gas-to-aerosol con¬
versions and in photochemical reactivity in
general. Water vapor is listed here as an
air quality parameter amongst the gases,
even thought it is usually listed as re¬
lative humidity, the meteorological parameter,
because it determines the aerosol size
distribution for an otherwise specified
aerosol chemistry. Ammonia (NH^) and
hydrogen sulfide (^S) are present in
extremely low concentrations. They play a
role in the nitrogen and sulfur cycles, and
NH^ can help convert SO2 to sulfate (SO^) .

The specific gases (listed in Table 1)
chosen as air quality parameters are emitted
by both natural and anthropogenic sources
and these gases are considered to be the most

important with regard to the health of regional
biota and the welfare of man. The main
sources of CO, HC, and NO2 around Northern
Arizona are automobiles and motorboats. The
terpene class of hydrocarbons comes from
aromatic vegetation. Oxidant is produced
naturally, but sources of HC and NO2 lead to
specific photochemical reactions that may
produce additional oxidant. The only signi¬
ficant sources of S0? is Power Generating
Stations. They are also a significant source
of NO and NC^ .

Although noise is not usually considered
as an air quality parameter, it is included
here because (1) it is so important to the
aesthetic quality of the environment around
recreational areas; (2) it will increase with
increasing population, industry, and recreation
(motorboats) ; and (3) it is transmitted
through the air medium.

Radioactivity in the atmosphere is
carried by gases and aerosol. Total beta-
activity in the aerosol collected on a filter
with a high -volume sampler at Page in 1969
was low enough to indicate to the Arizona
State Department of Health that there was no
threat to health and that such measurements
could be suspended. Testing of underground
nuclear devices in Nevada may be an occasional
source of leaked radioactive contamination in
the region, and is capable of elevating the
radioactivity of the atmosphere above the
background level for a relatively short period
of time. Since coal contains radioactive
elements, both the Navajo and the proposed
Kaiparowits Generating Stations.

Turbidity is the atmospheric aerosol
loading that attenuates incident solar ra¬
diation by scattering and absorption. Turbidity
is quantified by a coefficient, defined as

= bM

log10 si

B = - k

“h

from the transmission equation

1 . — 10 -<B + k)Mh - bH

s

where I = incident solar radiation intensity

I = extraterrestrial solar
radiation intensity

254

s = correction factor for actual

solar distance compared to mean
solar distance

k = absorption coefficient for ozone
b = scattering coefficient for air
M = absolute air mass along
p

observing path = - — M^

o

P = ambient pressure

P = sea level pressure
o

= relative air mass

Visibility is defined in some detail
in the Grand Canyon Study.

VISIBILITY AND SMALL-ION DENSITY

The electrical properties of atmospheric
air at low levels depend mainly on the
mobility and the nature of small ions. An
important factor in determining the concen¬
tration of small ions within exchange layer
is the presence of other comparatively heavy
airborne particles which do not contribute to
the now of electric current directly but upon
which small ions can recombine to destroy
carriers of electricity. Even above the
exchange layer the effect of such aeorsol
particles on the small-ion concentration is
noticeable. It is not strange, therefore,
that many investigators have noted a decrease
in ion density when clouds, fog, or haze
is present.

The study of airborne particles is
important to investigators of atmospheric
electricity, and it has also been the focal
point of many other disciplines. One major
characteristic of airborne particles is their
ability to scatter light and thus reduce
visibility. For this reason it seems to be
quite natural that a relationship exists
between the electrical and optical properties
of a turbid atmosphere.

Several papers, experiments and reports
have been published to establish under some
simplifying assumptions the light-scattering
process with the process of ion attachment.

The similarity seems most obvious for geome¬
tric scatters in an atmosphere where the mean
free path is large in comparison with the
particle diameter. This situation is
applicable not only for particles of nocti-
lucent clouds, but even at ground level for
haze and fog particles. A fair correlation
should exist between the scattering

coefficient and small-ion density. Serbu and
Trent (1958) and Reiter (1956) observed
electric fields, conductivity, and visibility
conditions particularly during periods of fog.
They found emperically that the presence of
fog can be derived and even predicted from
electrical measurements. We feel his technique
can be applied to other pollutants of very
small diameters. Minton (1960) has gone so
far as to establish forecasting rules for fog
and other pollutants, using electric field and
conductivity data.

In the past five years dramatic changes
have taken place in the utilization of private
land located within National Forests. Many
unused land parcels are being developed into
second home complexes. Over the past several
months the writer has observed a gradual de¬
gradation of the visibility and aesthetic
beauty of the forest areas adjoining the ex¬
panding home development areas. The type of
pollution does not appear to be the same as that
found in the Los Angeles and/or Phoenix areas.

It is quite impossible to make predictions for
the development of second home areas and the
continued aesthetic beauty of the forests with¬
out a basic understanding of the pollutants
causing a degradation of the clean air. The
objective of this research project is to de¬
termine the amounts and kinds of pollutants
which are having an effect on the aesthetic
beauty of the scenic Forest areas, and to
establish background data for visibility in
these areas .

SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS

A search of the literature indicates that
the recreational use as well as the economic
value of scenic urban forests is rapidly
becoming a critical problem throughout the
United States. The lack of control in building
and managing second home areas in and adjacent
to national forest recreation lands is rapidly
deteriorating the aesthetic values for users
of these controlled areas for rest and re¬
laxation. This has been a concern for about
the last fifteen years — with former President
Johnson in 1965 speaking in defense of pre¬
serving our suburban forests.

The investigation of the air quality
of Northern Arizona leads directly to a factor
in aesthetics — namely, visibility. According
to the weight of authority, visibility is a
definite indicator of the degree of pollution
in the area.

It is gratifying to report that the major
recreation areas in Northern Arizona at the
present time are virtually free of extensive
air pollution. Studies in the Grand Canyon

255

and the Lake Powell Region report average
visibilities of up to 200 km or 124 miles.

A study made at the Lowell Observatory
in Flagstaff over a residential section
indicates a visibility in the neighborhood
of 55 km or 80 miles. This is considered
by many as a very satisfactory degree of
atmospheric condition.

Aesthetic values and air pollution in
scenic forest areas which may be classified
as nonurban areas have been under investigation
by Northern Arizona University for the past
two years. A simple and inexpensive method
of ion detection of air pollution build-up
is being explored. Similarity of light
scattering process to the process of ion
attachment on air-borne scatterers is the
basis of this examination. The process
is under the assumption that particle
concentration and size are the main factors
influencing visibility and ion-density
fluctuations in the lower atmosphere.
Investigations of this process are still
being made but it is hoped that in the
near future a simplified nonurban pollution
build-up detector based on the above
principal can be designed and utilized.

Pictures of the small ion counters
given as Photos 3, 4, and 5 will appear
at the end of this paper. Additional
information pertaining to these counters
will be available from the Forest Service
early in 1975.

LITERATURE CITED

Arizona State Dept, of Health Service (ASDHS) .
Division of Air Pollution Control. 1972.

The State of Arizona Poolution Control
Implementation Plan.

Babeau, R. G. et. al .

1965. Forest owner characteristics and
attitudes in Berkshire County,
Massachusetts. Mass. Agri. Exp. Sta.
and Coop. Ex. Serv., College of Agri.,
Univ. of Mass. Bulletin No. 549, 55p .
Bullough, Edward.

1957. Aesthetics: Lecture and Essays.

Bowes and Bowes, London, 158p.

Clawson, Marion.

1963. Land and Water Recreation

Opportunities, Problems and Policies.

Rand McNally & Co., Chicago, 144p.

Dames and Moore, N.A. Weather Consultants,
Loren W. Craw, and University of Utah.

1971. Joint Meteorol. Report (second
edition) .

Dolaezalek, H. , Atmospheric electric parameter

study survey on an effect relating atmospheric
electric variations with formation and
dissipation of fog, RAD-TR-6 2-32 , Avco
Corp . , Wilmington, Mass., March 1962 .

Eyre , F . H .

1965. Must silviculture be ugly? Jour.

For. 63:464-465.

Forest Land Use Conference.

1962. Forest land use — everybody's concern.
Amer. For. Prod. Indus. Inc., Washington,
D.C. , 29pp.

Garret, George A.

1961. Keynote address, summary and analyses.
Amer. For. Prod. Indus. Inc., Washington,
D.C.

Goddard, M. K.

1969. Trees, forests and the human envi¬
ronment. Jour. For. 67(1): 11-13.

Hall, J.S. and L.A. Riley.

1975. Basic measures of air quality over
long light paths by spectrophotometric
methods. AIAA 10th Thermophysics Conf.,
Denver, May, 1975, AIAA Paper No. 75-673.

Hamilton, Lawrence S.

1966. Private woodlands, the suburban
forest and aesthetic timber harvesting.

The For. Chronicle 42 (2) : 162-166 .

Hamilton, Lawrence and Charles S. Larson.

1964. Trends in rural physical resource
use. Proceedings — . N.Y. State Coop.

Ex. Serv., Cornell Univ. and Co. Ex.

Serv. Assoc., pp . 2-9.

Hoff, Theodore A. and Timothy Shahen.

1973. The Flagstaff housing story.

Northern Ariz. Univ., Flagstaff,
pp . 90-93.

Johnson, L.B.

1965. The White House message on natural
beauty. Parks and Rec. 48: 146-47, 175,

179, 190-91.

Kates, Robert.

1966. The pursuit of beauty. Remarks at
the Symposium on the Price of Aesthetics
and Natural Beauty at Ohio State Univ. ,
pp. 34-50.

Lynch, D. W.

1966. Silviculture and special use
interests. Proceedings, S.A.F.,

Seattle, Wash., pp . 78-80.

Middleton, W. E.

1952. Visions Through the Atmosphere. Univ.
of Toronto Press, Toronto, pp . 210-214.

Minton, D.H., Forecasting with the atmospheric

electricity station at the U.S. Naval Air
Station, Lakehurst, New Jersey, NRL Mem.
Rept. 1020, 1960.

Reiter, R. , Results of two years' synoptic

atmospheric-electric recordings at seven
mountain stations between 700 and 3000
meters above sea level. Tech. Rept.,

Contract AF 61(514) -732C, ASTIA Doc.

98753, 1956.

256

Serbu, G.P. , and E.M. Trent, A study of the
use of atmospheric-electric measurements in
fog forecasting, Trans, Ame . Geophys.
Union, 39, 1034-1042, 1958.

_ . 1967. Second Homes. Outdoors USA,

Yearbook of Agri., U.S. Gov't Print. Office,
Washington, D.C., pp . 270-275.

Shafer, Elwood L. and William Rutherford.

1967. Effects of selection management on
forest aesthetics. Northeastern For.

Exp. Sta., Forest Service, U.S. Dept, of
Agri.

Snyder, Robert and Duane Adams.

1967. Seasonal recreation properties in
Minnesota. Minnesota Farm Business
Notes, No. 495. Insti. of Agri., Univ.
of Minn, pp . 1-3.

U.S. News and World Report.

1969. Growing boom in mobile homes.

Sept. 1, pp. 48-51.

Walther, E.G. et.al.

1975. Air quality in the Lake Powell
region. Lake Powell Research Project.
Bulletin No. 3, Aug., 1974.

Yoho, James G.

1962. Forest land use — everybody's
concern. Forest Land Use Conf. Amer .

For. Prod. Indus., Inc., Washington,

D.C., 29pp.

Figures 1 and 2 are recordings of the
ion counter which show the effect of conifer
pollution - terpenes. Taken over the same
interval of time, Figure 2 is 100 feet
from any conifer tree.

Figure 2.

)j,p OGOOO'OOQOOOOOC

257

Figure 3. This figure gives a recording from the ion counter which indicates automobile
pollution near a heavily-traveled highway junction in Flagstaff.

Photo 3 - Remote Counter Photo 4 - Breakdown of Counter and Case

Photo 5 - Turbidity meter, Gaertner Particle
Counter and Visibility Indicator

-p

0

2

T)

0

Si

Ch

-p

O

0

•

0

-p

-4"

O

o

£

s

Td

cd

Q

u

cd

cd

•

0

0

ftT=l

Ph

cd

0

cd

o

0

u

0

p

si

Td

5b

-p

0

•H

0

cd

0

cu e

-p

C

0

cd

p

0

o

*rl

i — 1

-P

Td

cd

0

G

u

S>

•H

3

£

0

£

JLi

c

0

H

o

-P

5b

-P

•H

0

cd

plH

tsl

O,

0

0

0

q

•H

u

•H

Eh

0

0

o

s

c

•

o

0

0

£h

0

0

s:

CH

-p

Ch

p

•H

•H

5b

£

Td

•H

•H

258

/

Impact of Concentrated Recreational Development

on Air Quality1

2/

Douglas G. Fox-

Abstract. — Air quality considerations necessary to evaluate
the environmental impact of mountain and wildland development
are presented. A procedure is suggested which provides an orderly
quantification of air pollutants emitted from concentrated recrea¬
tion facilities and identification of the effects of such pollu¬
tion. Our program utilizes existing data sources and modeling
techniques to provide a preliminary assessment capability, a "red
flag" analysis. Determination of specific impact, however,
requires onsite measurements. Finally, we suggest that air
quality maintenance plans be drawn and approved on a regional
basis and that the plans include continued monitoring to insure
the preservation of a quality environment.

INTRODUCTION

People are attracted in steadily increas¬
ing numbers to our National Forests and Parks.
They seek recreational experiences ranging from
wilderness camping, fishing, and picnicking to
cross-country and downhill skiing, and snow-
mobiling. Each of these activities has some
impact on the land and its use. Indeed, one
could consider each particular use and describe
in detail precisely how it might affect the
forest system.

A common thread responsible for the lion's
share of all the total impact, however, is the
presence of the people themselves. People bring
with them, if allowed, fossil fuels to be
burned for heating and cooking, and for trans¬
portation. These are the two major categories
which lead to air pollution and its resulting
effects. Ironically, the very values of scenic
beauty and pristine air and water which are the
attraction in the first place are those in most
danger of being degraded. Thus, it becomes
important to "protect us from ourselves" and
to develop public land management guidelines
which allow the maximum usage at the minimum
environmental cost. Because, concentrated

\J Paper presented at the symposium on
Man, Leisure, and Wildlands: A Complex Inter¬
action, Vail, Colorado, Sept. 14-19, 1975.

2/ Principal Meteorologist, Rocky Mountain
Forest and Range Experiment Station, USDA
Forest Service, Fort, Collins, Colorado.

developments tend to concentrate people impacts,
they deserve special consideration.

It is not our purpose to define how many
miles of road should be constructed in a given
area, or how many dwelling units can have fire¬
places. These decisions must be made by the
people who own the land — the public — through
the multitude of mechanisms established for
this purpose. Rather, we seek to develop tools
which will have the capability of providing
unambiguous numbers and of organizing existing
data into formats so that the public is pre¬
sented with a clear picture of the environ¬
mental cost of development. To this end, we
suggest here a procedure for developing the
air quality part of an environmental impact
statement .

A proposal for a new facility begins the
process. The general design concept and initial
site are identified. This information is fed
into our procedure outlined in figure 1. Our
first step is a calculation (Preliminary
Assessment Capability) to red flag areas for
potential concern. This is done by using data
of an inventory nature along with the facility
plans. Output from our preliminary assessment
should go into design of an onsite measurement
program and if necessary, back into the facility
plan itself for iteration on the initial con¬
cept and its design and engineering. Onsite
data should be fed not only through analysis
and modeling, but also back into the original
plan and design, and engineering. All these

259

AIR POLLUTION EMISSIONS FROM
RECREATION FACILITIES

Figure 1. — A recommended procedural format for
air quality impact evaluation. A development
proposal (upper right) calls upon an inven¬
toried data base for topography, climate and
current air quality information. This in
turn provides input for an initial assessment
which in turn defines and specifies on site
data needs. Modeling extends the results of
data collection and provides the input for
an EIS. Equally important is a need to
monitor air pollution to insure maintenance
of a quality environment and to provide
improved information for the inventories
data base.

components feed directly into the EIS, and into a
regional AQMP (Air Quality Maintenance Plan)
with the requirement for a continuing monitor¬
ing program. Data from the monitoring program
in turn becomes a part of the future data base
to improve the preliminary assessment capability
of future developments. More significantly,
continued monitoring immediately identifies
degradation beyond an acceptable level of air
quality and thereby provides a means for miti¬
gating it.

Increasing development of recreational
facilities on forest and wildlands seems
inevitable in view of the demands of our popu¬
lation for outdoor recreational experiences.
Concentrated developments ranging from a simple
picnic ground to a major year-round resort can
produce considerable impacts on air quality.
Fortunately, this concentration allows the
expenditure of more money and effort on miti¬
gation of the impacts. Thus, if properly
designed, such concentrated development may
generate less overall negative impact than
heavily used dispersed recreation facilities.

To analyze air quality, we must first
consider which pollutants may potentially be
emitted, and in what amounts. Federal standards
for ambient air quality have been set at levels
which insure that neither health (primary stand¬
ards) nor welfare (secondary standards) are
impaired. Table 1 shows the Federal and Colorado
State standards.

The two pollutants which have received
greatest attention in Colorado are carbon
monoxide (CO) and total suspended particulates
(TSP) . Carbon monoxide is emitted mainly from
automobiles, and as such it is a consequence
of our internal-combustion-oriented transpor¬
tation system. The amount of CO emitted from
automobiles depends on the operation cycle, the
maintenance of the engine, and the load on the
engine. Because motors operating at higher alti¬
tude have less oxygen available, combustion is
less efficient, which results in a relatively
greater emission of CO. Estimates of the moun¬
tain air quality control regions of Colorado,
for example, indicate that approximatley 67
percent by weight of all air pollutants emitted
is CO. In the State at large, the total emission
of CO, according to the USEPA (1974), is 928,000
tons per year, of which 898,000 or 93 percent is
from transportation sources. These emissions
are about the same for other Rocky Mountain
states. CO is also emitted from area source
combustion, primarily space heating with wood,
coal, oil, or gas. Rarely does this emission
amount to more than 10 to 20 percent of the
mobile source emission, And that much only
when substantial amounts of wood are burned.
However, area sources must be considered
because of the timing of maximum emission with
poor meteorological dispersion conditions.
Nevertheless, consideration of the air quality
impact of a concentrated recreational develop¬
ment is largely based on the number of auto¬
mobiles the development will attract.

The particulate emission problem is more
complex, but fortunately it is not nearly so
critical a problem. The Federal standard for

260

Table 1. — Federal and State Air Quality Standards

Pollutant

Type of

Time

Compliance

Concentration

Standard

Interval

Date

pg/m3

ppm

Carbon Monoxide

Federal

Primary &

1 hour

1977

40,000

35

Secondary

8 hour

1977

10,000

9

Hydrocarbons

Federal

Primary &

3 hour

(see

160

0.24

Secondary

(6-9 a.m. only)

ozone)

Nitrogen dioxide

Federal

1 year

(undetermined) 100

0.05

Primary &
Secondary

(arith . )

Ozone

Federal

(Oxidants)

Primary &
Secondary

1 hour

1977

160

0.08

Sulfur dioxide

Federal

Primary

24 hour

1975

365

0.14

1

yr. (arith.)

1975

80

0.03

Secondary

3 hour

1975

1,300

0.5

State*

Non -Designated

24 hours

1970

15

0.005

areas

Designated

1 hour

1973

800

0.28

1976

300

0.10

24 hour

1973

300

0.10

1976

150

0.05

1980

55

0.02

1

yr. (arith.)

1973

60

0.02

1976

25

0.009

1980

10

0.004

Particulates

Federal

Primary

24 hour

1975

260

1

yr. (geo.)

1975

75

—

Secondary

24 hour

1975

150

—

1

yr. (geo.)

1975

60

—

State*

Non-Designated

24 hour

1970

150

areas

1

yr. (arith.)

1970

45

—

Designated

24 hour

1973

200

_

1976

180

—

1980

150

—

1

yr. (arith.)

1973

70

—

1976

55

—

1980

45

—

*State standards are currently subject to State APCD hearings and may change.

261

total suspended particulates (TSP) is perhaps
the least defensible of all EPA standards.

While health and welfare are affected
adversely by suspended particulates, it is
becoming clear that only some chemical composi¬
tions and some physical size ranges are critical.
Compounding this problem are two factors: (1)
there is a very large, poorly understood,
natural particulate mass present in our atmos¬
phere, and (2) these atmospheric particulates
result from both direct emissions (fly ash,
roadway dust, volcanic activity) and secondary
emissions (generated in place by atmospheric
chemical reactions) . Recreational developments
contribute primary particulate pollution
heavily during construction phases.

Particulates emitted from nonpaved roads
are dependent upon traffic volume. However
the major source of primary particulates is
most likely space heating, particularly fire¬
places, associated with winter recreational
developments. Automobile engines also add
significant amounts of primary particulates.

Their importance is compounded by the fact
that they are in the very small size range
considered to be most detrimental to health.

Secondary particulates create a much more
complex situation, and in many ways may prove
to be much more significant. Secondary partic¬
ulates are generated by a number of chemical
reactions which occur in both "clean" and
polluted air. Perhaps the most familiar of
these reactions are those associated with the
generation of photochemical smog in such cities
as Los Angeles and Denver. Although the details
are very complex, atmospheric reactions between
hydrocarbons and nitrogen oxides and ozone are
responsible for smog as well as for natural
phenomena such as the haze over the Great
Smokey Mountains in Virginia and North Carolina.

The compound identified as most damaging
to people and plants in smog is ozone (0») ,
produced as a result of an imbalance in the
NO^-NO-RHC equilibrium. While there are federal
standards for oxidant (0^) and hydrocarbon (P^, )
levels, within Colorado only the Denver metro¬
politan area has been considered to have an
oxidant pollution problem. Oxidants are
regularly monitored and occasionally exceed
standards in Denver (Colorado State Air
Pollution Control Program, 1974).

An analysis of oxidant pollution in moun¬
tainous Colorado is really much beyond the
scope of this paper. We wish to point out,
however, that the increase in elevation and
the associated increased solar radiation and
decreased atmospheric density may have pro¬
nounced effects on the photochemical reactions.
While the emission of reactive hydrocarbons
from automobiles may not be sufficient to
trigger substantial smog formation in moun¬

tainous areas, their addition to the emission
of natural reactive hydrocarbons from trees
and shrubs may prove more than sufficient to
trip the reaction chain (Maugh 1975). Clearly,
this is an area of potential impact which must
receive more attention. In Pennsylvania and
California, measurements of ozone have indicated
high values in remote mountain locations,
raising questions as to whether they were
transported to the location from populated
areas or were generated at the site.

A second class of reactions generates
significant particulate. They involve the
oxidation of sulfur dioxide (SO^) in the
atmosphere. Again, the chemistry is extremely
complex and poorly understood. There are,
however, two postulated mechanisms which are
somewhat distinct. One involves oxidation of
any S0? present by involvement with NO and
0^ and^reactive hydrocarbons, ultimately
yielding ^SO, , sulfuric acid. A second
involves catalytic reactions on the surface
of fine particulates, especially heavy metals,
resulting in the formation of S0~“ (sulfate ion)
at very long distances from the sources. These
reactions are likely responsible for an
increasing acidity in precipitation in certain
parts of the world (Dochinger and Seliga
1975) . Remote mountain streams in Norway
have a pH so low that they can no longer
support any life. Thus, although the develop¬
ments we are discussing are not large emitters
of SC>2 , they might suffer some secondary effects
if SO^ levels of emission are allowed to
increase .

The usual procedure for calculating
emissions from any source starts with an
emission factor. U. S. Environmental Protec¬
tion Agency emission factors for light-duty
vehicles are given in Table 2. To determine
the total mobile source emission from a pro¬
posed development, it is necessary to have
data on both the number of automobiles antici¬
pated and the average distance driven. An
expression such as:

E = f x N x L

CO CO

where f is the emission factor, N is number
of vehic?es, and L is the average distance
driven, yields the desired result. One can,
if necessary, be somewhat more specific by
breaking out appropriate emission factors for
light-duty vehicles, heavy-duty vehicles, trains,
motorcycles, and aircraft. The emission factor
also depends upon the vehicle age mix, since
the emissions from automobiles have been
decreasing year by year.

Another element is the need to adjust
the emission factor upward in high altitudes.

The Colorado Department of Health suggests a

262

Table 2. — Generalized Vehicular Emission Rates

(grams/mile)

Pollutant

Traffic

Pattern

1975

1980

1985

1990 & Later

CO

Urban

60

36.5

25.0

23.8

Other

35

14.2

9.8

9.3

HC

Urban

7.66

4.0

2.7

2.5

Other

5.66

2.0

1.3

1.2

N°x

Urban

4.9

2.8

1.8

1.6

Other

-

4.2

2.7

2.4

Emission rates pertain to the following vehicular mix:

° 90% Automobiles and light-duty vehicles

0 10% Heavy-duty Trucks

0 Current National Vehicular Age Distribution, pre-1960
and 1960 through 1973.

correction factor of 2 for an 8,000 foot
elevation, (personal communication, Warner
Resser, Colorado State Dept, of Health, 1974).

Calculating the emission from space heating
fuels is easier and more precise. Emission
factors exist for grams of pollutant per unit
volume of fuel burned. Thus, one need only
estimate fuel usage and apply the factors
shown in table 3. One unknown, however, is
the emission factor for wood burned in fire¬
places. The approach we have used is to
average the emission factors for wood in various
other combustion situations. These numbers
range from a low of 2 pounds of CO produced per
ton of wood for an optimumly designed boiler to
140 pounds per ton for open burning. Most
likely an emission factor of 100 pounds of CO
per ton is not far from correct for fireplace
combustion. Wood is typically burned at a
rate of about 10 pounds per fireplace hour.

The final step is to estimate the total fire¬
place hours. By a process similar to the one
for CO one can arrive at an emission factor
for release of particulate material from wood
combustion. A figure which seems reasonable
is 17 pound's of particulate per ton.

In summary, the impact of concentrated
recreational development is largely due to CO
emitted from automobiles. Minor additions of
CO due to wood combustion may also be a factor.
Suspended particulate matter from both space
heating and mobile sources is the other identi¬
fied impact. One should not ignore, however,
more subtle impacts which may result from
photochemical reaction between auto emissions
and hydrocarbons emitted from vegetation. The
quality of the air also depends upon any gener¬
ated pollutants mixing with low levels of
pollution transported from industrialized regions.

Table 3. — Emission Factors For Space Heating

OIL

LPG

NATURAL

GAS

lb/103

kg/103

lb/103

kg/103

lb/106

kg/106

gal.

liters

gal.

liters

ft.3

Particulates

10

12

1.8

0.22

19

302

Sulfur-oxides

144

17.25

0.09

0.01

0.6

9.6

Carbon monoxide

5

.6

1.9

0.23

20

320

Hydrocarbons

3

.35

0.7

0.084

8

128

Nitrogen oxides

12

1.5

(7 to

(0.8 to

(80 to

(1280 to

ID

1.3)

120)

1920)

Source: United States Environmental Protection Agency, Compilation of Air
Pollutant Emission Factors, Office of Air Programs, Publication
No. AP-42, February 1972; Revised, April 1973.

263

COLORADO

Figure 2. — Location of National Fire Weather
Stations in the State of Colorado. The
numbered dots locate the stations. These
stations report daily temperature, humidity,
precipitation, wind speed and wind direction

PRELIMINARY ASSESSMENT CAPABILITY

There is a pressing need to develop quick
and easy methods to identify potential air
pollution problem areas. The first step in
such a determination should be based upon an
intelligent use of any available information.
Local meteorology and climatology can be
roughly determined from historical weather
records. These determinations, in combination
with local terrain and surface features, are
often sufficient to suggest the existence or
nonexistence of a potential problem. Considera¬
tion of any local data on air quality completes
the rough determination of potential problem
areas .

This type of procedure is only as good

data as well as forest fuel moisture content
data. Information is organized, edited, and
filed automatically, and is available from
the USDA Computer Center in Fort Collins, CO.

as the data base it uses. Two difficulties
arise when attempting to apply such a procedure
to mountain lands. First, the data base for
meteorology in mountains is quite limited,
and available data on air quality are virtually
nonexistent. Secondly, the term "local" by
which we qualified all the data needs has a
special meaning in complex terrain. Local is
defined in our application as meaning homoge¬
neous. It is assumed that data are applicable
over an area of influence. This area is then
homogeneous with regard to the data in ques¬
tion. "Local" for a temperature measurement
in eastern Colorado might be 100 square miles,
while in mountains it more likely would not be
greater than 1 square mile.

The extreme heterogeneity of mountain

264

climate is a major concern of our research
group. We are actively pursuing the develop¬
ment of techniques to provide quantitative
information about mountain meteorology and
air quality. Among the research products we
are developing is the wind field model used
by Dr. Marlatt in his development of air
pollution potential maps. This model extends
the usefulness of available terrain data.

Other work is based on applying sophisti¬
cated statistical techniques to determine the
predictability of surface temperature and other
components of climate. One development of
particular significance is our recent comple¬
tion of a National Fire Weather Library. This
library is a computerized data inventory main¬
tained in the USDA Fort Collins Computer
Center. Information from all fire weather
stations (temperature, wind, precipitation) is
fed daily into the system. Figure 2 shows
the location of our data sources in Colorado.
Various access techniques have recently been
developed to allow an interested user to obtain
different kinds of information. There are two
limitations which should be stated: the data
are generally collected only during local fire
seasons, and access to the USDA computer is
necessary in order to use the system.

Three aspects of any air pollution analysis
are the emission of pollutants, the volume of
air into which the emission mixes and is dis¬
persed, and the background concentration in
the available volume of air. A preliminary
assessment of the first and third of these
factors is fairly straightforward. The
emissions can be quickly calculated from the
development plans and from emission factors
such as those outlined in the previous section.
Ambient air quality generally is excellent in
areas of concern for recreational development.
However, this assumption is obviously not valid
for an expansion of existing facilities. In
these cases, it is necessary to have data
available from an ongoing monitoring system.

Such a data requirement constitutes a major
recommendation of this paper and is discussed
in detail later.

Perhaps the most difficult component of
an assessment is the estimation of the avail¬
ability of air itself. Many factors enter
into a determination of the volume of air with
which pollutants mix. Mountains and valleys
strongly affect the local wind pattern. To
determine the degree of effect, one must first
consider the local topography. Elevations can
be readily obtained from USGS topographic maps.
While a most significant mountain topographic
feature is slope, the presence of a strong
slope is not a sufficient condition for severe
air pollution potential. The narrowness of
mountain valleys and the presence or absence
of openings are of greater importance.

The identification of separate drainages
has been essential to the development of
scientific watershed analysis. Early attempts
to define air sheds for air pollution studies,
however, met with very limited success. The
atmosphere is much too dynamic to allow defini¬
tion of an air shed, since air is generally
not constrained to follow the surface like
water runoff. In mountains, however, air
sheds can be roughly defined around watersheds,
and the concept is often useful. For a pre¬
liminary appraisal, particularly, it is appro¬
priate to consider that the available air is
limited to that in the immediate vicinity of
the proposed sources, namely the particular
drainage in which they are located.

Consider a proposal for a facility to be
located at point A on the map of figure 3.

While the development is at location A, all
the automobiles entering and leaving its park¬
ing lot at A must pass point B. A proper
analysis, especially in the preliminary phase,
must consider all the "secondary" drainages
which will be affected. The area of interest
for this case would include all of the tran¬
sects (1, 1), (1, 3), (3, 3) and (2, 2). A
conservative limit on available air volume
can be estimated by assuming a nonpermeable

Figure 3. — Topography map locating a hypothetical
development. Secondary impacts caused by
automobiles attracted to the facility
located at A, must be assessed in the narrow
valleys leading to A. Cross sections at (1, 1)
(1, 3), (3, 3) and (2, 2), are analyzed
according to methods described in the paper.

265

Elevation

2360

Figure 4. — Valley cross section. Plot of topog¬
raphy along line (2, 2) in figure 3. The

triangular cross section results with a
strongly varying valley column when different
lids (mixing or inversion height) are
assumed (dash dotted lines at 30m, 45m, and
60m) . Assuming the cross section can be
approximated by a triangle with a vertex
angle of 55 , the area is given by A=h T
(27.50) = .52h^. Respectively for h=30
45 and 60 m the cross sectioned area is 469m ,
l,054m2, and 1874m^, illustrating that a
factor of 2 change in mixing depth leads to
a factor of 4 change in mixing volume.

horizontal lid placed over the valley at
various depths, the mixing depth or inversion
depth. Figure 4 illustrates an actual valley
cross section. If we assume that the concen¬
tration of pollutants, x is given by uniformly
mixing the emission, Q , into the available
volume, V, then:

X = Qc/V = Qq/AL

where A is the average cross sectional area
over the length L of the valley. Since the
area A is a function of the location of the
lid height, h, a graph of this height plotted
against the area can be useful. From the
equation above, we obtain:

S,= Q0= 25,000 (jg/hr.
L = I km

XL Xu
Inverse area , , -r

^ 0

Figure 5. — Graphical estimates of limiting
mixing depth. Using actual valley cross
sections, such as shown in figure 4, a plot
of the inverse of valley area (1/A), against
the mixing height (h) can be produced. This
figure uses three idealized valley cross
sections, namely a triangle, a rectangle,
and a trapezoid, each of which is assumed
to have a 1 km^ area when the mixing depth
is 1 km. The horizontal axis becomes
concentration per unit emission times either
valley length or mean wind speed as explained
in the text. Use of the graph is illustrated
for an emission of 25.000 pg CO/m^, and a
valley length of 1 km. The 1 hr. standard
(40,000 pg/m^) for ambient concentration
produces the vertical dotted line; all areas
left of the line are larger so that concen¬
tration is below the standard. All areas
right of the line are smaller so that con¬
centration would exceed the standard. Quickly,
one can see that should mixing depths below
about 600 m occur, the standards would be
exceeded. Thus minimum mixing depths for
satisfying the standards can be determined from
the graph.

Figure 5 is a plot of some idealized cross
sectional geometries (triangle, square, and
trapezoid) against mixing height. Such
a figure can be produced for actual terrain
using a graph like figure 4. 3ecause of the
equation above, the horizontal axis is essen¬
tially concentration per unit emission times
valley length. Its use is illustrated in the
following steps:

1. Calculate the emission, Q .

o

2. Consider the limiting values of volume
for the pollutant in question. For example,
for CO the standards are:

1/A = &/QJL

266

H8 - 8 hour limit = 10,000 pg/m3

HI - 1 hour limit = 40,000 yg/m3

3. Use an adaptation of figure 5 for the
specific geometry in question to determine
the mixing depth below which standards
will be violated.

An analysis, such as we have outlined,
provides an indication of what the minimum
mixing depth can be to satisfy ambient air
quality standards. The height of this mixing
depth can quickly identify a potential problem
when compared with a climatological analysis
of mean and extreme mixing depths in the area
in question.

Documented mixing depths in Colorado are
as low as 150 feet (Holzworth 1969) , and it is
likely that even lower mixing depth may occur
frequently in cold mountain valley configura¬
tions. Such extreme conditions might last only
a few hours, however. The concept of an
impermeable lid across a valley is, while some¬
what simplistic, a valid interpretation of how
the atmosphere behaves. That such lids exist
is evidenced by figure 6 which shows a valley
enclosed in its own pollution.

The actual mixing depth can only be
determined with meteorological instruments
capable of measuring the temperature structure
as a function of height above ground, or with
some other vertical "sounding" device. Roughly,
the mixing depth is determined by
the height of the lowest inversion, that is,
the point at which a layer of very stable air
overrides a layer of neutral or unstable air.

Low inversions in mountain valleys are caused
by rapid cooling of the earth's surface at
nightfall. The air in contact with the ground
cools, establishing a layer of stable air near
the surface. As time passes, the entire stable
layer rises above the ground. Pollutants are
dispersed relatively slowly in such a layer, and
it is nearly impossible to punch material through
the inversion itself. Thus pollutants are
trapped in the valley, and the analysis method
described here is appropriate although conserva¬
tive .

The above analysis is conservative because
the atmosphere is rarely if ever at rest. Wind
must be taken into account. Particularly in
mountains, wind direction may change rather
dramatically. The most obvious and
classical of these changes are the upslope,
downslope, and mountain valley winds shown in
figure 7. Figure 8 shows the wind measured at
a station in a mountain valley. The wind
clearly displays a classical pattern. The air
pollution potential maps shown and discussed
by Professor Marlatt were developed to provide

Figure 6. — Photograph of a ground based inversion
(low mixing depth) in a mountain valley.

an estimate of the speed and direction of winds
which blow in the mountains. While these maps
were not designed to give specific information,
the relative information they provide can be
extremely valuable. If an area is in a high
pollution potential zone, and also has a low
mixing depth limit, it clearly has a potential
air quality problem. On the other hand, a
region located in a low air pollution potential
zone should be analyzed with a different valley
volume model.

Since the pollution potential map is based
upon wind deflections, a low air pollution
potential indicates that the wind is usually
blowing fairly well. For such cases, a modi¬
fied box model can be derived to allow the
inclusion of a wind velocity. The resulting
equation is:

X = Qq/u A

where u is the average wind through the average
cross sectional area, A. This analysis can be
applied to figure 4. _If we estimate the mixing
depth, the value of xu may be determined on

Q

the horizontal axis of a figure such as figure
5, but for a specific valley. With knowledge
of the mean wind speed, we can estimate the
ambient concentration.

Use of the techniques we have described
can lead to a rapid indication of the likely
air quality degradation associated with a
proposed development. It would seem that
such procedures would be of greatest use when
closely tied to site selection and initial
planning of any development.

267

Figure 7. — Schematic illustration of the normal

diurnal variations of the air currents in

a valley (after F. Defant) :

a. Sunrise; onset of upslope winds (white
arrows) , continuation of mountain wind
(black arrows). Valley cold, plains
warm.

b. Forenoon (about 0900); strong slope
winds, transition from mountain wind
to valley wind. Valley temperature
same as plains.

c. Noon and early afternoon; diminishing
slope winds, fully developed valley
wind. Valley warmer than plains.

d. Late afternoon; slope winds have
ceased, valley wind continues. Valley
continues warmer than plains.

e. Evening; onset of downslope winds,
diminishing valley wind. Valley only
slightly warmer than plains.

f. Early night; well-developed downslope
winds, transition from valley wind to
mountain wind. Valley and plains at
same temperature.

g. Middle of night; downslope winds con¬
tinue, mountain wind fully developed.
Valley colder than plains.

h. Late night to morning; downslope winds
have ceased, mountain wind fills valley.
Valley colder than plains.

N

Figure 8. Measured surface winds in a mountain
valley. Time average for a month illustrates
that the flow is upslope at noon 74% of the
time with an average speed of 3.5 mps , and is
downslope 94% of the time with an average
speed of 3.6 mps at 9:00 pm.

ON-SITE DATA COLLECTION

On-site data collection is necessary in
most instances where an actual environmental
impact statement must be filed. A preliminary
assessment is helpful to indicate potential
areas of pollution and to define the extent
of any likely problems. On-site data collec¬
tion therefore, should be designed around the
results of a preliminary assessment.

268

The nature of on-site data collection
precludes the development of a general routine.
Rather, each situation must be studied. It
is possible, however, to define the principal
elements of a meteorological and climatological
study. The nature of the atmosphere is such
that it varies tremendously from day to day,
but also exhibits rather stable mean values
over time. The climatology of an area, repre¬
sented by these means, can be a most useful
set of information. Such climatology in
mountainous conditions, unfortunately, is
very specific to the measuring stations. It
is as useless for our purposes to say that
Colorado has an average snowfall of x inches
as it is to say that Vail has an average
snowfall of z inches, because in both cases
that average is composed of a widely varying
signal. Much more significant is a qualifica¬
tion of the average in terms of known variables
of significance. For example, Colorado above
10,000 ft, has an average snowfall of y inches
is a much more useful concept. Development of
such a local climatology requires a number of
measurement stations operating for a period
of time. It is well to recall that the air
quality standards are set on the basis of
annual averages not to be exceeded, and shorter
term (24-hour, 8 hour, 3 hours, 2 hour, and
1 hour) averages not to be exceeded more than
once in a 1-year period. One must collect
data for at least 1 year to determine the worst
meteorological intervals during that time.

Even then, because of the vast complexity of
atmospheric behavior, it is impossible to
determine whether your year of data is typical.

Clearly, the first question of on-site
collection is how long must one collect the
the data. "As long as possible" is an
unrealistic (though safe) answer because of
the expense of both collection and analysis.

Data collection during only a single season
is justifiable only if the development under
consideration will emit pollutants during only
that season. Thus, if available funds are
limited, it makes most sense to design a data
collection scheme which provides some infor¬
mation throughout the year. Three days of
data each month are, for most impact assessment
considerations, more useful than a single month
of continuous data.

One further point regarding time involves
the daily variations of our atmosphere.
Particularly in continental climates the
variations throughout the day are very large;
often more significant than day-to-day varia¬
tion. It is necessary, therefore, to collect
data throughout a few 24-hour periods to resolve
these diurnal variations.

What needs to be measured and where? Such
a question and the fact that it is unanswerable

|2 2
6 7%

Figure 9. — Measured surface winds about one mile
away from those of figure 8. This station
responds more to the wind field aloft than
does the earlier one. Nevertheless, the
downslope flow is quite effective in estab¬
lishing itself 67% of the time.

in general reflects our lack of knowledge about
mountain meteorology. Figure 9 is a record of
a wind measured approximately one mile (up a
steep slope, basically on a mountain top) away
from the measurements in figure 8. The fact
that these two are so dissimilar illustrates
how small the aforementioned area of influence
can be. Stations, in order to have any meaning
at all, must be very carefully located.
Particularly important are the immediate sur¬
roundings of the measurement, such as presence
or absence of forest and the characteristics
of the forest. Other components of the land

269

use pattern in the station vicinity must also
be considered — buildings, crops, grasslands,
all exhibit their own microclimate. Spatial
density of measurements required is probably
most meaningfully determined by the amount of
money available. Measurements should be made,
however, at all locations where the preliminary
analysis indicated problems. The number required
at each location is dependent upon the specific
site characteristics, and can only be determined
by onsite investigations by competent observers.

It is somewhat easier to be specific
regarding what needs to be measured. The variables
of meteorology are wind speed and direction,
temperature of the atmosphere, and the amount
of available water vapor. Each is a three-
dimensional continuously varying function.

Thus at best, we are able to measure one or two
points and hope they determine the functions.

Since most of the pollutants we are concerned
with are emitted at or near ground level, it is
necessary to measure the wind speed and direc¬
tion at or near ground level. Unfortunately,
wind changes with height are most dramatic in
mountains. Temperature is perhaps most signi¬
ficant as a function of height, for it is the
temperature variation with height whicl) defines
the inversion. Thus, not only surface/ measure¬
ments but also measurements at points above the
surface are necessary to complete the picture.

Such measurements are often difficult and
always expensive to obtain. A standard method
is to release a "radiosonde" or small balloon
with a trailing instrument package which sends
a periodic signal back to a receiving and
recording station. This gives wind information
of low quality, however, and only with great
effort. Recent remote techniques, such as the
acoustic sounder which sends and then receives
a reflected acoustic wave and other similar
concepts, hold promise of eventually providing
rapid and inexpensive vertical information.

The use of balloon-supported instrumentation
offers a cheaper, more versatile, alternative
to construction of a meteorological tower.

Our Project is experimenting with a number of
these devices in mountain environments.

It is difficult to say much more about
on-site data collection. This is really a
part of the impact analysis which requires
both experience and a good deal of trial and
error .

DATA ANALYSIS AND MODELING

The purpose of this component of the impact
assessment is to extend data collected on-site
to a wider region of validity, and to couple
the data with emissions to develop a model of
ambient air quality levels resulting from the
proposed development.

There are a number of methods generally
available which allow the calculation of ambient
concentration, given the source emission param¬
eters and some meteorological information.
Professor Berman, in his article in these pro¬
ceedings, mentions the two generally accepted
methods of calculating concentrations, namely
the Gaussian Plume model and the more general
air shed model. These are both based upon
applying the conservation of mass to the
material released from the source. The
Gaussian Plume model assumes that the material
is distributed according to^a Gaussian curve.

This specifies the spatial variation about the
crosswind coordinate. The only remaining
parameter is the downwind decrease in the
centerline concentration, which is determined
from the wind speed and atmospheric stability.

The Gaussian model has been used for many years,
and is particularly appropriate for situations
where the source distribution is simple and
the wind speed is steady and strong. These
conditions allow the assumptions made in the
Gaussian model to be valid. The model treats
the source region as being either a point, line,
or an area. Recreational facilities are approx¬
imated as area sources. Area sources are the
type for which the model used by Berman is
appropriate. Line sources are most appropriate
when a highway segment is under study. Since
there are a number of standard references for
the detailed formulas we will not pursue these
but refer the interested reader to the literature,
(Turner 1970 and Slade, 1968).

We mentioned the use of "box" models and venti- ■
lated box models in an earlier section. One
can develop such models to a high degree of
sophistication. Some of the limitations of
such models have been discussed in depth
(Fox 1975). Nevertheless, some words of caution
are appropriate.

In the mountains, wind fields respond to
local forcing due to thermal differences, as
we showed in figure 7. They are also influ¬
enced by physical barriers, each of which
influences the flow. The major difficulty in
modeling the air quality of a mountain valley
reduces to determining the wind field in the
required detail. An example of the complexity
which may exist is shown in figure 10, illus¬
trating that the actual flow is a combination
of general flow aloft, above the terrain, and
the local flow. The Mountain Meteorology pro¬
ject at the Rocky Mountain Station, is actively
pursuing methods to simulate such complex wind
fields. One early result has been the develop¬
ment of a model which incorporates the forcing
due to the physical presence of the terrain as
well as thermal influences for air near the
ground. This model (Fosberg et al. 1975) which
calculates alterations to a prescribed flow
field, has been used for environmental assess¬
ments in mountainous terrain. Roughly, the

270

Figure 10. — Characterization of the airflow
patterns within and over the Eagle River —
Mitchell Creek area, looking south. The
curved hatched arrow indicates the up-valley

movement in the helical rotors. The stippled
arrow represents the west-northwest gradient
flow above the peaks and ridges (after
Wooldridge and Orgill, 1975).

output from this model is valid over a range
of scales up to about 200 km and down to about
2 km. At scales larger and smaller than
these, assumptions made in developing the model
are violated. Currently we are working on
methods of incorporating a pollutant dispersion
calculation into the model. Other work includes
attempts to specify the precise nature of the
wind distribution in the canopy (Bergen 1971) .
Finally, we are attempting to develop methods
to delineate the magnitude of the classical
flow patterns which occur (fig. 7) in mountains
(Bergen 1969) . Hopefully in the near future
some of these techniques will be well enough
developed and documented that they will be as
easy to use as the Gaussian model is currently.

AIR QUALITY MAINTENANCE

The purpose of discussing and analyzing
environmental impacts is to develop the tools
and procedures for maintaining air quality at
an acceptable level. The determination of
that acceptable level, however, is not simply
a scientific question but must involve economics,
law, and most importantly, public participation.
The levels of air quality governed by federal
standards are set with a "factor of safety"
below the threshold of identifiable impairment
to health and welfare. As Kneese and
Schultze CL 9 75 , p. 51) point out, "The notation
of a threshold value can be regarded as a

politically convenient fiction which permits
the law to appear to require pollution damage
to be reduced to zero - an absolutely unambiguous
number . "

Unfortunately, we have insufficient knowl¬
edge about the effects of air pollutants on
terrestrial eocsystems to quantify the relation¬
ships between ambient concentration and damage.

It is naive to assume that an increment of
pollution has no effect until concentration
rises above a set level. The problem is more
complicated than that. Provisions of the Clean
Air Amendments of 1970 directed that certain
areas of the country be protected from signifi¬
cant degradation. The argument over what consti¬
tutes degradation has been waging since in the
courts. EPA has suggested three classes
(I, II, III) of allowable degradation. Class
III is a highly polluted area where it is
necessary only to satisfy the standards. Class
II is an area where some development is allowed
and is defined as "insignificant." Finally,

Class I areas are clean and virtually no develop¬
ment will be acceptable. The EPA has tentatively
designated all areas of the country, except
those already not meeting the standards as Class
II. It is up to the States to reclassify any
of these areas as Class I or Class III. The
advantage of a Class I designation is that pris¬
tine air quality would be guaranteed. Such
non-standard considerations as visibility reduc¬
tion due to particulates would be guarded

271

against. A classification of this sort can be
valuable to a community as a means of growth
control and air quality maintenance.

Regardless of the legality, the value of
clean air to any outdoor-oriented recreational
activity is obvious. As a means of ensuring
the maintenance of existing quality, it is
necessary to have a good idea at all times of
precisely what that quality is. A first step
in the development of an air quality maintenance
plan is to determine the current air quality by
the installation of monitoring equipment. With
two general exceptions, there is no air quality
monitoring in mountainous Colorado. The excep¬
tions are (1) a smattering of "high-volume"
samplers in various towns, and (2) intense data
collection for environmental impact statements
and federal lease requirements on major develop¬
ments (oil shale, coal, power plants, etc.).

A general air quality maintenance plan
should include monitoring of all pollutants
of concern. For a recreational community, a
high-volume sampler array for particulates
and CO monitoring equipment would meet minimum
data-gathering requirements. Meteorological
conditions should be measured in conjunction
with these.

The data collected from such monitoring
could be stored in an inventoried data base.

Among the many uses for such data, two should
be mentioned. First, development within a
particular community could be more meaningfully
evaluated in terms of its likely air quality
impact if current levels were known. It would
be relatively straight forward to determine
through modeling, the incremental loading due
to the development, and by comparison with
current air quality, determine its desirability
rather meaningfully. Secondly, we can use such
data as an aid in dynamic air quality maintenance.

Dynamic air quality maintenance or inter¬
mittent control, while a somewhat controversial
control procedure, can be very effective in
maintaining local air quality. Such a plan
would be based on monitoring the air quality
levels and developing forecast techniques
capable of determining when the ambient con¬
centrations are likely to reach unacceptable
levels. Such forecasting can be done routinely
by considering meteorological conditions
(availability of local meteorological informa¬
tion is necessary) a forecast of these
meteorological conditions and knowledge of the
emissions during the forecast period. On this
basis, a community might require that fire¬
places not be used or that automobile usage be
kept to a minimum during severe conditions.

Once a community decides what its air
quality should be, and it measures its current
situation, there are a few mechanisms available

to help it maintain a given quality. In con¬
sidering a recreational development, the two
sources of most concern are automobiles and
space heating, especially fireplaces. While I
know of no good technology immediately available,
it should be possible to devise various systems
for controlling fireplace emissions. One
word about economics in this situation is in
order. Kneese and Schultze (1975) make a
persuasive argument for taxation of emissions
as an equitable and workable mechanism for
pollution control. Individuals will not buy
an emission control system without some strong
incentive. They suggest the incentive be
applied negatively so that, for example, a
rather substantial and continuing tax be
charged against noncontrolled fireplaces. Thus,
it would be economically sensible to install
an emission control system.

Certainly an obvious resource which could
be utilized in mountain recreational developments,
and which would effectively reduce pollution,
is solar energy. Already, most ski lodges are
designed to take advantage of south-facing,
sunny locations. Solar heating systems have
developed to the extent that they can be
economically competitive with other heating
systems after 5 to 10 years in private dwellings.
Indeed, because of the high insolation (incoming
solar radiation) of mountains, solar energy
applications hold great promise.

One further concept in mountain town planning
might be mentioned. Most of our intensified
development has taken place at the valley base.
From an air pollution viewpoint, this is
probably the worst place to locate a source
since its emissions will often be trapped. On
the other hand, elevating the development even
a small distance up the valley walls might be
sufficient to eliminate many potential problems.

Automobiles appear to be the worst offenders
and are most responsible for air quality degra¬
dation in the United States. The simplest
method for minimizing their impact is
to reduce the number of vehicle miles driven.

A most effective way of doing this is through
intelligent urban planning so that automobiles
are not necessary, or indeed are not allowed,
in valley bottom towns. Where areas encompassed
are too large for walking access, mass transpor¬
tation and bike paths can be successfully
arranged.

For many years the European mountains have
been accessible mainly by rail and other mass
transport facilities. While the automobile is
still too inexpensive and available to most
Americans to make mass transportation a real
alternative, there seems little question but
that the future will see the development of
increased public transportation systems. An
innovative experience could be offered in

272

Colorado through renewed interest in the old
narrow gauge railroad system. These lines
served most of the old mining towns which
have recently struck it rich on the tourist
industry .

Finally, one concept should be mentioned
in closing. This is the idea of regional
maintenance plans. Duplication of data collec¬
tion and detailed environmental impact studies
seem pointless for similar areas. If regional
groups could be established with environmental
maintenance plans, the whole process might be
made significantly more acceptable to all
concerned .

CONCLUSIONS

Our approach to the analysis of impacts
of recreational development on air quality is
shown in figure 1. This procedure, and the
detailed discussions of its various components,
will allow a meaningful identification of
problem areas, and hopefully can indicate ways
to mitigate these problems.

All of the suggestions in this paper have
a cost. Environmental protection, as we have
learned only too well, is not free. Precisely
who pays the cost and how is not at issue here.
Our point is that, without spending the
necessary funds to continuously evaluate
environmental quality, the National Environ¬
mental Policy Act of 1969 and the Clean Air
Amendments of 1970 are pointless. It is
impossible to monitor air quality by simply
looking at the predicted incremental effects
due to a host of separate impact statements.

For this reason, we feelthat our procedures can
be most readily and meaningfully adopted
within the context of regional air quality
units. It makes more sense to apply the
techniques to multi- county units with geogra¬
phic, topographic, and climatologic homogeneity.
Such applications could yield a "carrying
capacity" for air pollutants so that each pro¬
posed development could be judged against this
capacity.

LITERATURE CITED

Bergen, J. D.

1969. Cold Air Drainage on a Forest Mountain
Slope. J. of Applied Met. J5, 6, 884-
895.

Bergen, J. D.

1971. Vertical Profiles of Wind Speed in
a Pine Stand. Forest Sci., 17,
314-321.

Colorado State Air Pollution Control Program
1974. Report to the Public. Air Pollution
Control Commission, Colo. Dep. of
Health.

Defant, F.

1951. Local Winds. Jin Compendium of

Meteorology, ed., T. F. Malone, Amer.
Met. Soc . , Boston, Mass.

Dochinger, L. S. and T. A. Seliga, ed.

1975. Proc. 1st Int . Symp . on Acid
Precipitation and the Forest
Ecosystem, Northeast. For. Exp.

Stn. [in press] .

Fosberg, M. A., W. E. Marlatt, and L. Krupnak.

1975. Estimation of Air Flow Patterns Over
Complex Terrain, Rocky Mtn. For. and
Range Exp. Stn. [in press].

Fox, D. G.

1975. Modeling Atmospheric Effects - An
Assessment of the Problems. 1st
Int. Conf. on Acid Precipitation
and the Forest Ecosystem, Northeast.
For. Exp. Stn. [in press].

Holzworth, G. C.

1972. Mixing Heights, Wind Speeds, and
Potential for Urban Air Pollution
throughout the Contiguous United
States, EPA, OAP AP-101

Kneese, A. V. and C. L. Schultze.

1975. Prices, Politics and Pollution.

Brookings Inst., Washington, D. C.

Maugh, Thomas H. II

1975. Air Pollution - Where Do Hydrocarbons
Come From? Science, 189 - 4199,
277-278 pp.

Slade , D . H . , ed .

1968. Meteorology and Atomic Energy, USAEC,
Technical Information Div. , Oak
Ridge, Tenn.

Turner, D. B.

1970. Workbook of Atmospheric Dispersion
Estimates, EPA, OAP, AP-26.

U. S. Environmental Protection Agency.

1974. National Emissions Report (1972).
EPA-450 12-74-012

Wooldridge, G. L. and M. M. Orgill.

1975. Airflow and Diffusion in High Moun¬
tainous Terrain. Presented at 1st
Conf. on Regional and Mesoscale
Modeling Analysis and Prediction,
Amer. Met. Soc., May 6-9.

273

Session III Discussion

Session HIA

William Welch, ASU: Dr. Kneese, do
you think we're still facing the large-scale
generation of electric power from coal that
was estimated from the 1970-71 figures?

Alan Kneese: I don't think electric power
generation will rise as quickly as was antici¬
pated at that time. Two things are happening
that might cause the development of coal in
the region to be even much larger than was
contemplated. One is the Federal Energy
Administration's feeling that coal is the re¬
source of the future. Second is that there is
an enormous amount of it. Our reserves are
greatly underestimated; we don't have any real
conception of how much there is. Another
thing is this business about increasing our
self-sufficiency in petroleum. Unless some¬
thing happens on the Continental Shelf and in
Alaska that we don't anticipate, we will be
facing a declining output of petroleum, prob¬
ably within the next 15 years. If we are to
continue to have an economy that is very
heavily based on liquid fuel and piping things
around, the only place such liquid fuel could
come from domestically is coal. Inevitably,
there will be a very large development of coal
resources in the western U. S.

Robert Dils, CSU: Can you give any com¬
parison between the Four Corners coal re¬
source and the potential for the Wyoming -
Dakota-western Montana area?

Welch: I think the coal resource might be
larger in the Wyoming area, but because of
transmission distances, electrical energy
deliverable might be larger in the Four Cor¬
ners. Incidentally, for various reasons, the
Geological Survey has drastically reduced its
estimates of off-shore oil reserves in the last
six months.

Loren Potter, UNM: Is there a movement
to use coal for fuel, and save petroleum for
production of chemicals? Many of us don't
appreciate the dependency of our chemical
industry on petroleum as a raw material .

Kneese: As time passes, the price of
readily available hydrocarbons in liquid and
gaseous forms is going to rise strongly to the
point where their manufacture from coal and
maybe from shale is economical. If the most
desirable raw material happens to be oil, it
will go into those uses that require high-
quality hydrocarbons. Price will be the deter¬
mining factor, I suspect.

Dils: A number of Colorado counties are
now requiring, for either second or first
homes, that an aerating system be associated
with septic tanks and drain fields in rural
areas. How effective are these systems?

Burton Segall: I think we're still in the
developmental stage right now.

Session IIIB

James Gosz, UNM: We've been talking a
lot about primary emissions. Has anyone
done any modeling of natural pollution decay
rates - -absorption by soil, by vegetation, that
sort of thing ?

Douglas Fox: At the Acid Precipitation
meeting we had a workshop on the transport,
and atmospheric chemistry and removal of
pollutants. The fundamental problem is, we
simply don't understand atmospheric chemistry.
It's extremely complex, and we know very
little about it. We do know that we get removal
in two ways: dry removal and wet removal.

We know something about the dry removal of
SO;?. If we multiply the concentration times
the deposition velocity we can account for the
decay rate of gaseous SO£. When the SO2
reacts for 5 to 8 hours in various photochemi¬
cal reactions in the atmosphere, however, we
generate extremely small sulfate parti culates
that don't fall out very well. They're removed
by precipitation. But we don't know the chem¬
istry by which these pollutants are absorbed
into the rainfall.

William Marlatt: In the West, the fact
that many of our surface soils are alkaline may
explain the higher apparent pH of rainfall.

274

Dust from these soils may collect in rain
gauge funnels between rains. Then rainfall,
especially a light one, which may have been
somewhat acidic is at least partially neutral¬
ized. Dust in the lower atmosphere may have
a similar effect.

I'd like to comment also that our models
really aren't sophisticated enough as yet to
handle decay. For example, the gaussian
plume model starts with the assumption that
wind speed stays the same in direction and
velocity from the top of the smoke stack
forever on down stream. We know that can't
be. Our box model has been applied here in
Vail. Generally, the pollution in Vail Village
flows up into East Vail during the day, then
turns around at night and flows back down to
West Vail, and they get the accumulation.
However, we don't know how long the drainage
winds flow compared to the upslope winds.

Question: It has been mentioned that only
carbon dioxide and particulates are being
measured. Do you feel there is a need to
measure parameters such as ozone, hydro¬
carbons, and CO in areas such as Vail?

Marlatt: It seems incongruous, but the

only place in Colorado, outside of Denver,
where extensive measurements are being
made is in the oil -shale regions, where
pollutant levels are barely at the threshhold
of measurability.

Fox: The question of ozone and photo¬
chemical pollutants at high elevations is an
interesting one because of the higher radiation
environment. Although carbon monoxide and
outside emissions from the highway are signi¬
ficant, if not substantial, everything we are
beginning to learn about the photochemical
reactions now points to the creation of ozone
and photochemical pollutants in natural areas
from the reactive hydrocarbons in the vegeta¬
tion.

Question: Do you see any worldwide
changes in the atmosphere?

Fox: Not really, on a worldwide basis;
the earth's atmosphere is a pretty big thing.
Levels of particulates do fluctuate widely,
however, due to agricultural cycles, volcanic
activity, and so forth. There are definite
regional trends, however. Norway, for in¬
stance, is suffering considerable damage to
forests and fish due to acidic precipitation.

275

276

SESSION IV

GROUP DISCUSSION OF IMPACTS OF DISPERSED AND
CONCENTRATED RECREATION DEVELOPMENT

Chairman: Floyd C. Mann, Director
Environmental Council
University of Colorado

Coordinator : H. William Welch, Associate Dean
College of Engineering Sciences
Arizona State University

For this session, the symposium participants divided into
four separate groups. Each group was charged with the
development of answers to two general questions related to
the research program, and one specific question related to
the role of the Eisenhower Consortium. Group leaders,
selected from the Symposium attendees with no Consortium
or research connections, reported the recommendations of each
group at the end of the session. General questions answered
by all four groups were:

What research topics do you recommend for future Eisenhower
Consortium activity?

Which of these research topics rank in the top five priority?

277

Group A Report

George W. Tourtillot, Leader

Director, Recreation and Lands
U.S. Forest Service, Region 2, Denver

Specific Question: How can the Eisenhower Consortium more
effectively involve the politician, local planner, and forest manager
in a researcher /user partnership?

When the President of the Consortium put
this series of specific questions together, he
recognized the four specific questions were
related. Generally, the members of Group A
agreed there are some basic problems in the
vehicles or mechanisms of how research re¬
sults get to the people who are going to use
them. What information is available? How
do I "get my hands on it?" What is this
relationship of the research torny specific
problem?

There are a lot of new people coming on
board, such as County Planners, County
Commissioners, other local and State political
figures. These folks are now getting into the
act that a lot of us have been involved in for
some time. All of us have quite literally been
flying by the seat of our pants over the years.
There is a new level of professional people in
the State and local governments. These people
are zeroing in on many of the specific prob¬
lems that we also are trying to come up with
answers for.

Our group dealt with the specific question:
"How cam the Eisenhower Consortium more
effectively involve the politicians, the local
planners, and the forest managers in a re¬
searcher-user partnership?"

The first suggestion dealt with " sympos -
ium structure". In a symposium configuration
it would appear that a more direct relationship
between the researcher giving the paper and
the people who are interested in that particular
subject area could benefit greatly by a discus¬
sion right then and there on a one-to-one basis.

The second suggestion, which is tied to
the first, is in essence a more informal
arrangement of the symposium. We under

stood that this Vail Symposium was set up to
serve a given purpose --to determine "where
we are after three years and how can we make
it better" .

The third suggestion deals with local
symposiums or meetings. We recognized that
the Vail Symposium was quite expensive. Per¬
haps many people who would have benefited
from the discussions were not able to attend.
There is an indication that a number of people,
such as County Commissioners, County
Planners, State officials, etc., did not know
the symposium was being held or were unaware
of its purpose and benefits. Therefore, to
have these "users" participate in future meet¬
ings, they might better be held on a more
local basis and deal with specific research
projects grouped so that "classes of users"
can identify with their problems more directly.

The fourth suggestion deals with "How can
we get a broader participation in future sym¬
posiums?" We constantly seem to talk to
"ourselves" at these meetings. Perhaps we
need the bankers and developers along with
the politicians in order to have a better under¬
standing of the problems and possible research
solutions for all concerned.

The fifth suggestion deals with the amount
of money available to the Consortium. The
Eisenhower Consortium had to start some¬
where, and it appears that over time financing
will get better. There is a need to recognize
greater financing capability, because we are
dealing with problems involving multi -million
dollar investments, epitomized by the Vails
and Aspens.

The sixth suggestion deals with "How are
research projects chosen?" We recognize

278

that National Forest Administration, National
Forest Research, and the universities have a
mechanism of inputs through the Consortium.
Because of the interest by other government
entities and our other users of the research,
there is a need for a mechanism by which they
can make an input into future research projects.
A broader input base would give a better clue
as to the projects the Consortium could fund,
and the time required relative to need.

The seventh suggestion deals with the dis¬
tribution of available monies . Presently, the
Consortium is obligating all of the available
funds to specific research projects. Because
of the time requirements to do research and
the speed with which questions seem to be
surfacing, there appear to be alternative ways
to get more for the dollar. Perhaps, then, a
portion of the available funds could be with¬
held (put in a pot) so that a "consultant" might
also be made available to a user on short
notice. The "consultant" might also be made
available on the front end of a problem discus -
sion wherein he could bring to the user avail¬
able knowledge along with a critique of the
project at its inception.

The eighth suggestion deals with the amount
of information available and the mechanisms
to make this information known to any user.

A lot of people are doing a lot of things, but a
lot of potential users do not know what and
where results-type information is available.

The ninth suggestion deals with a mechan¬
ism to take a highly technical document and
make it more understandable to the user. This
could be in the form of a "Readers' Digest"
version in layman's language, another element
of suggestion seven, wherein the individual
having done the research is available to the
user as a "consultant" to explain and help the
user implement the research.

Many of the above suggestions are of
course closely related to each other. There¬
fore, to answer the specific questions that
Group A dealt with, the officers of the Con¬
sortium might better consider them as a
single entity.

The following are Group A's suggestions
for research projects:

1. Transportation Systems. This project

would deal not only with roads on and into a
National Forest (or any other geographical
area), but could include impacts created by
the Interstate System, i.e. , the impacts on
the Rocky Mountains from Easterners using
the Interstate System.

2. Development of mechanisms to get
research data and other knowledge into the

hands of the user. Included in this project
would be knowledge, not only of new research,
that is available so that a "new user" does not
have to reinvent the wheel. For example,
Vermont may have resolved a given situation
that a user in Arizona is faced with --the trick
is to get Vermont's knowledge into the hands
of the Arizona user.

3. Water quality and quantity in the Rocky
Mountain Region. This element is so broad
that it would need to be broken down in specific
projects, i.e., criteria to evaluate stream
flows from recreation and esthetic standpoints.

4. Research capabilities. This project
would deal with who can best do different types
of research. There is a myriad of research
on-going at all levels of both governments and
universities as well as private sectors. This
project would then be to determine what types
of research can best be handled by whom. A
mechanism would also be needed to get the
research done after determining who can best
do it.

5. Energy. We are aware that the size
of the energy "iceberg" has not been deter¬
mined. We c an hypothesize that as national
energy policy is formulated and resolved,
there will be large impacts and demands for
recreation associated with new communities
and their citizens in new geographical loca¬
tions. It appears that, as the new communi¬
ties evolve, recreation demands will also
change. How predictable are these changes?
Do summer homes, after a period of time,
become permanent residences? As communi¬
ties evolve, different classes of people are
involved --are the demands of these different
classes predictable?

The above are not necessarily in order of
priority, but do represent a consensus of the
top five research projects from the many that
Group A came up with.

279

'y v

Group B Report ~) n

Dennis M. Thompson, Leader

Governor's Office of Planning and Development
Phoenix, Arizona

Specific Question: What could the Eisenhower Consortium do to
encourage the evolution of piecemeal planning efforts into a
coordinated approach?

I believe we were asking different sides of
the same question as Group A. We'll try to
add to their comments. We did ask the specific
question, and we'll start with that: "What can
the Eisenhower Consortium do to assist in the
evolution of piece -meal findings into a more
coordinated approach?"

There are four reasons. We raise this
question, "Why?" First of all, Mr. Conklin's
opening address indicated to us that it is un¬
likely that Congress will act within the near
future to establish comprehensive land use or
comprehensive resource planning legislation.
Secondly, state legislatures, specifically
Arizona, have recently dealt comprehensive
planning legislation a blow. Arizona's last
legislature defeated a bill to establish a com¬
prehensive planning mechanism. The bill had
been proposed by a commission under the
direction of a former legislature, so there are
continuing problems in legislation itself. The
third reason is the inability of the planning
profession to agree on what comprehensive
planning is. Until we can agree on what com¬
prehensive planning is and how it can be made
operational. Congress and the legislators are
correct in being skeptical. Fourthly, there is
limited effectiveness, as we all know, in the
local arena where comprehensive planning --
if it works at all- -is supposed to work.

Because of these factors, it seems that
we are stuck, within the near future at least,
with taking our piece -meal approach to plan¬
ning, taking the legislation we have on the
books, with some additions, taking the methods
we have, and somehow retaking them work. The
question for the Consortium is: "Can the Con¬
sortium participate in making our planning
processes, such as they are, more effective?"

The following are some of the suggestions
we came up with.

It might be appropriate for the Consortium
to inquire as to why our legislation has failed.

Is it because of lack of understanding on what
planning is, are we really that deficient in our
definition? Is it because of the political pro¬
cess itself? Is it because of inherent flaws in
legislation? In Arizona, for example, one of
the big issues facing the current legislature
was an inability to agree on what the "taking"
clause within that law meant. What does it
really mean in terms of taking private prop¬
erty? What does it really mean in terms of
State dollars that are going to be required to
compensate owners. That's a very specific
and timely research topic to be undertaken.

A second area for Consortium activity is
to become more active in disseminating re¬
search information for the planning and political
community. How do we bridge the gaps between
the generator of information and the ultimate
user of that information? We've found that
this is already a mandate of the Consortium.
How can this disseminating be improved? Per¬
haps in a variety of ways: Through conferences
such as this, through reports, through proceed¬
ings, etc. Then we zeroed in, as Group A did,
that if we want to communicate we have to get
maximum participation and attendance. We
can do that more effectively, perhaps, in our
own states by having either State -wide or sub-
State workshops. We need to get our research
information before planners, legislators, and
consumators, and get some inputs from them
within the workshop context, rather than a
Consortium context, on what their research
needs are.

During the course of our deliberations, we
saw a book the Consortium has sponsored en¬
titled "Research Priorities in the Rocky Moun¬
tain Area". Some of us had not seen it, and we
think part of the communications gap could be
bridged if that book could be made available.

A third area of activity in which the Con¬
sortium might become involved, is to conduct
and evaluate - -evaluate is a key word-research

280

on the policies, plans, and programs that are
already on-line within government. This gets
into the political arena, but if agencies of
government and even legislatures desire this
sort of evaluation of on-line programs, the
Consortium- -as an impartial research agency
--might very well become involved.

Fourthly, again considering the commu¬
nication gap, the Consortium could serve as
a clearing house of intra -unive rsity and inter -
university research, serving as a focal point,
or funnel if you will, bringing the various re -
search activities within the university to that
focal point. Then when legislators, planners,
county officials, etc., are dealing with ques¬
tions such as energy, land use, or whatever,
they do not have to scout the entire university
terrain to find out what sort of research is
being done. A clearinghouse role is not a
monitoring role of research that goes on within
the university. That would immediately get
the Consortium into political problems within
its own community.

These are the four basic recommendations.
We agree that the basic theme running through
all of them is that piece -meal planning will
work more effectively in an atmosphere of
maximum communication among politicians,
planning communities, researchers, and their
large academic communities.

When we turned to the specific research
suggestions, we listed four, one of which was
sort of analytic in nature, and three others
which were a little larger.

First, the fairly narrow analytic one:

Some research has already been done by the
Consortium into tax problems of developing
communities. We think this inquiry should be
continued, focusing on taxes and revenues, not
only of recreation communities but of develop¬
ing communities as a larger generic class.
These would include the retirement communi¬
ties in Arizona, the recreational communities
which are developing in new towns, and boom
towns which are already developing or are
going to develop in response to the energy
crisis.

The second topic is an inquiry into the
social, economic, and political impacts of
these developing communities. This is sepa¬
rate and apart from the taxing problem. Just
what will this development mean in terms of
social and political impacts?

Participants worked in small teams to evaluate
the symposium and develop recommendations for
future research and programs for the Consortium.

Thirdly, we need research into planning
methods and regulation which will take energy
problems into account. Planning research
never has done this very effectively. We
pointed out the example that mass transit, which
has always been a favorite child of the planning
profession, has usually been advanced in terms
of esthetics - -it makes your community more
esthetic, it improves the community lifestyle.
But whether or not it is energy-efficient has
not been examined closely.

Fourthly, we toyed with the concept of
carrying capacity, human carrying capacity of
land. We are not sure we understand what it
means. One of our participants suggested that
a better concept might be assimilative capacity
of the land, in terms of assimilating the human
beings who wish to dwell upon the land and use
the resources. Is carrying capacity really an
operational concept? If so, how can it be made
useful to the planners and the political commu¬
nity?

One of our members suggested that we're
throwing out new ideas for research, but the
Consortium should not overlook the ongoing
research, and specifically mentioned his own
interest in stream flow methodology. An¬
other member suggested that we do not want
to lose sight of the bits and pieces of research
that are underway, and that we should not lose
sight of the importance of regional data banks
or information banks. Another member sug¬
gested that the research which has been done
to date was well and good, but we might argue
that this has been single -disciplinary. He sug¬
gests we look at the possibility of interdisci¬
plinary teams, working as team members on
assigned research problems .

281

Group C Report

Robert F. Reiske, Leader

Environmental Review Officer
Department of the Interior, Washington, D.C.

(David B. Thorud, University of Arizona, Reporter)

Specific Question: What can the Eisenhower Consortium do to make
the NEPA process more effective in reflecting local and regional
concerns?

When we started dealing with this question,
it immediately broadened into some greater
issues. We found ourselves in agreement with
the report that Dennis Thompson just pre¬
sented, in that we felt there may be great merit
in developing some type of "workshop" mech¬
anism so that the Eisenhower Consortium
could work with other cooperators to develop
local programs on a State-wide basis. These
workshops could deal with particular topics of
interest to State and local planners. Also,
perhaps we could develop a continuing struc¬
ture of some sort at a local or State level
where local planners and State agencies could
contact one central point on problems of parti¬
cular interest to them.

One way to start this kind of enterprise
would be to have a workshop on a particular
topic of interest. In Arizona, for example,
the three universities could get together with
the Fore s t Service and other land management
agencies, and--working with the State planning
offices and local and county government--
sponsor a workshop. This sort of effort would
be more than a mechanism for recording
Eisenhower Consortium research results, or
research at the other Arizona universities. It
would be a mechanism for providing particular
expertise that may be available at our univer¬
sities and elsewhere, expertise that may be
useful to the State and local planner s . It would
go beyond just the recording of research re¬
sults.

Chances of success for this type of an
effort would be at least partly dependent upon
State and local receptivity to the suggestion.

We think this type of a mechanism, this type
of a localization mechanism, would also pro¬
vide an opportunity for dealing with activities
involving NEPA. It would appear to be en¬

tirely consis tent with the Eisenhower Consor¬
tium concept, which embraces local function
as well as the broader regional function, which
I think this particular symposium represents.
Our efforts in dealing with that particular
question represent the essence of our discus¬
sion.

We also came up with three research areas
that we think merit consideration. We didn't
assign priority to these three areas because of
time. One of the general research areas we
titled approximately as follows: Social, eco¬
nomic, and legal implications of the merging
land policy and planning systems, considering
the rights, privileges, and responsibilities of
land ownership, and also including the inter¬
actions between public and private wildlands
and related properties. It would appear that
what we can do as owners of private land may
be changing now, and probably is going to
change a lot more in the future. Therefore,
we can expect some very significant social
and economic problems associated with these
changes.

A second research area we titled approxi¬
mately: Studies of human behavior aimed at
the development of improved resource man¬
agement guidelines and practices for
recreation use of wildlands. The objective
here would be to reduce management costs, to
reduce personal conflicts between users of
different interests, and to enhance the quality
of the recreation experience for all parties
concerned. If we had a better understanding of
how humans behave in a wildland environment
we might be able - -through our management
techniques, campground design, how we sepa¬
rate different kinds of users, so on and so
forth--to provide a happier experience. As
an added benefit, maybe we can reduce costs

282

due to vandalism and other expressions of
frustration.

There really hasn't been much work done
on this aspect of human behavior. Presumably
it would involve psychologists and sociologists
at our universities, as well as our resource -
managing personnel.

Our third and last specific recommenda¬
tion is stated approximately as follows:
Development of regional recreation plans which
integrate the opportunities, facilities, and con¬
tributions provided by the public and private
sectors in a particular region. Here we felt

a very important step would be to consider the
alternative trade-off relationships that can
occur between the private and public sectors:
What should the private sector handle in a
particular region, and what should public sec¬
tors handle. This is another knotty problem
we're facing in wildland management, with
particular reference to recreational facilities
and opportunities. What should be the trade
offs between the public and private develop¬
ments? We felt this would be a legitimate
Eisenhower Consortium research topic, and
probably of considerable interest to every
State in the region.

Group D Report

fc'

Keith W. j Hubbard, Leader

Arizona House of Representatives
Phoenix, Arizona

Specific Question : How could the Eisenhower Consortium help improve
the process of public involvement in land management decisions j?

Our group addressed itself to the question
of the processes of public involvement. We
concluded that one of the real problems is
creating a desire, an awareness among the
public.

One of the problems we have in obtaining
public involvement is the matter of question¬
naires. We're specifically concerned about
the apparent restrictions placed on the use of
questionnaires by the Invasion of Privacy Act.
We would like to suggest that the Consortium
go on record as requesting a review of that
Act. To be specific, we could contact our
forest experiment stations, regional foresters,
and others who might have an influence in
making whatever changes might be appropriate.

Another item we felt would be very impor¬
tant in strengthening public involvement is
creating awareness on the part of the public
that there are now existing systems of becom¬
ing involved. A large portion of the public is
not even aware of what the methods are, or

the systems that various organizations or
States or groups may use. Perhaps money
could be spent in television, newspapers,
whatever way would be most effective to reach
the public.

Another way of improving the process
would be to improve our public meetings that
are held for the very purpose of public involve¬
ment. It was pointed out in one of the papers
yesterday that sometimes the things that are
said in a meeting are just the opposite of what
should be said.

We then spent the remainder of our time
generating the five following recommendations
for Eisenhower Consortium research:

First: Develop an educational curriculum
to develop public knowledge of the concepts
and agencies of resource and land management.
Also in this educational curriculum we should
develop early, similar to the Wildwood School
that we saw in Aspen, an awareness in young

283

children of environmental considerations. We
need to create an awareness in students, early
in their lives, that they are needed in the public
process of making decisions. And we should
attempt to inform them of the methods by
which they can become involved.

Second: Evaluate the in-house Forest
Service training process on public involvement.

Third: Develop a regional working resource
registry for consulting on short-run research
problems. Many times the Forest Service or
State or local planners need answers quickly.
Perhaps the participating universities could
develop a registry of their resources, and
perhaps other related resources. They could
then react on a short response basis, on a

consulting basis, to help out where needed.

Fourth: Institute a comparative econo¬
mic and resource study, including resource
costs, of the various types of recreation.

This general type of study has probably been
done many times, but it was specifically
pointed out that we should study the cost rela¬
tive to the nonrenewable aspects of our
natural resources, and the effects different
types of recreation would have upon these
resour ces .

Fifth: Establish a survey of the regional
population expectations and impacts on
resource and land management. The research
could perhaps investigate polls and other
methods of determining these impacts.

Symposium Wrap-Up and Concluding Remarks

Loren Potter, Biology Department
University of New Mexico

I have been asked to summarize what the
Eisenhower Consortium is all about. I will
therefore give you a brief historical summary
to provide a base for proper evaluation of the
Consortium, and the deliberations in which
you have been engaged. We purposely did not
give you this background earlier, in order not
to prejudice you, or confine or restrict your
innovative ideas. You will be able to find a
little more of the philosophy and objectives of
the Consortium in the preface to be printed at
the beginning of the proceedings of this sym¬
posium.

In the beginning, we were fortunate in
that the motivation came from above; some¬
body up in Washington said let us see the
light, which made it easier than starting from
below. So the program got going extremely
fast, in 1972 we obtained some money through
the Forest Service, we had a signed charter,
and we had the goals that you have seen and

heard about. They related to the role of man
and forest and related environments. The
charge was to do that kind of research which
is not the function of the Rocky Mountain For¬
est and Range Experiment Station- -with the
principal emphasis on man, his impact, and
the effects of such environments on man. The
first year we had undesignated topics, 15 of
them. The next year we picked out a theme,
much of which has been reported here: The
environmental costs and social benefits of
second-home developments. We still wanted
to keep the way open, however, for innovative
new proposals, for which some money was
designated, as well as some money which had
to be used for particular purposes because of
the source of funding. The third year we
changed the emphasis to systems to move
people to, through, within, and from wild¬
land areas - -basically transportation. We
approved eight proposals with that theme,
eleven proposals of new innovative ideas.

284

some renewals, and a number of projects
which were controlled because of the source
of funding. The growth in approved research
proposals was from 15 to 22 to 34.

The current-year research is being done
under a different kind of funding. An appeal
was made to the Congress for an appropria¬
tion for the Eisenhower Consortium;

$300, 000 was awarded. So, a device was
derived to start more consorting between the
universities, to set up a system where there
was an assurance that there would be an em¬
phasis of research in each of three regions
involving three universities. In each region,
three topics would be worked on, so that at
the end of a three -year period, we would be
able to bring together the results of three
regions and thus integrate the research in that
way. This pattern assured that each univer¬
sity would be involved.

The mission which was selected, based
on the appeal to Congress, was to evaluate the
interactions of recreation use of forest areas
and water quality, and to develop the techno¬
logy, methodology, and guidelines for con¬
trolling undesirable effects. This was broken
down into three attacks, or three approaches.
The study of second -home development, other
than high density; the development of high-
density resort developments; and road-design
developments and maintenance. The major
thrust of the current year is in those direc¬
tions. We are continuing some renewal pro¬
posals, if they fit into the general thrust, and
we encourage smaller research proposals
from people in law, sociology, behavior, and
economics, as they relate to the major thrust.

That is where we are today: The emphasis
is on interaction: both within the university and
between universities, between the regions of
the entire Consortium representation of nine
universities, and with the Forest Service
which is a member of the Consortium.

I would now like to summarize a few
observations of my own. This is prejudice
based on my own observations, but I cannot
do otherwise. I will touch on some things
which will summarize some of the ideas that
have been presented. First, I perceive some
various, apparent contradictions, that in
truth turn out to be compatible interactions.

For example, as one comes into Vail and sees

the results of the investment of a great deal of
money, it is a logical criticism to say this is
a facilty of the wealthy. I would remind you
very briefly of how this could be turned around
quite differently. Historically, low-income
skiiers using these recreational facilities
would come to an area and sleep in a dormitory
at a cost of $4. 00 or $5. 00. The changes in
the values of real estate and the development
of luxury accommodations made it impossible
for such people to stay in this area. There
was then a move to go to some other area for
overnight lodging. Interestingly, however,
recently there has been a move to come back
and occupy the very luxurious condominiums
which wealth has provided. For today the
cheapest way for a low -income skiier to stay
in the area on-site is for a group of six or
eight to rent a condominium and enjoy the
luxuries that have been provided by someone
else. So the very thing which could be criti¬
cized as exclusive for the wealthy now be¬
comes available and can be used as economical
and practical lodging in luxurious style. I
would remind you also that, in the middle of
winter, this place is really buzzing, that this
place is not run without thousands of young
people who are able to enjoy the recreational
facilities because there is employment.

As a second example or observation, we
are looking at a very valuable mountain resort,
under the regulation here and in many areas
of the Forest Service. I would have you con¬
sider the number of people which are served
by the recreational facility of the ski area per
year. The density use is tremendous, and it
is not any longer just seasonal. Compare
that to other uses of forest areas in the West,
and don't forget there is a responsibility to
provide a facility for a high-quality experience
to a lot of people, which is surely being done.
Because of the large investment, it is possible
for the operators of such areas to maintain a
high-quality professional staff, and it is only
possible to maintain the quality of the environ¬
ment because of that fact. I am sure that the
Forest Service would agree that their greatest
problems are in areas which are being run on
a shoestring.

Another interesting behavioral and socio¬
logical effect is that many of the resort areas
such as this area, are run by people who are
not just recreational managers or businessmen.
Many of them are run by people who were

285

trained by the military at Camp Hale for the
Tenth Mountain Division. Their love and
interest in skiing resulted in their develop¬
ment of many of the western ski areas. If you
want to look at sociological interaction, isn't
this an interesting one? The point I really
want to make is that they are a particular kind
of people. They are a kind of people who are
interested in maintaining the quality of the
environment and a quality ski experience.

This I do not think is true of the people who
run Coney Island and many other recreational
facilities. I think it's important to realize
the nature and kind of a person involved.

I'd also like to make one other point
relating a biological concept to politics. We
have a very important concept in ecology of
the balance of interacting factors or compensa¬
tion effects. This is true in natural systems
in biology more than it is in physical sciences.
Natural systems evolve and they resolve the
incompatibility by eliminating those incom¬
patible aspects. They allow any successful
varying combinations to exist. In other words,
there are lots of different combinations of the
factors to result in the same product. My
point is this: man is now trying to set up
legal restrictions to regulate specific factors
in specific amounts without a proper recogni¬
tion of the problem, and it may be an impos¬
sibility for man to set up such regulatory
systems fixing the sets of combinations to
accomplish the total product. So one has to
be a bit careful about criticism of the legal
profession for not properly establishing a set
of laws to properly consider the totality of the
operation, which one of the reporters just
made reference to.

There is another very important aspect
which makes it difficult to approach the total
system, and that is the matter of adaptability.
Natural systems change, they evolve. A
great problem is that man has so greatly
accelerated the changes that the system has
not been able to evolve fast enough. Further¬
more, man has become not only the principal
manipulator but the principal user, and man
is adapting faster than the change. The
change that has occurred with recreational
area development is amazing, how people be¬
come so satisfied with degradation; it is im¬
possible to say that people require a particular
experience. Their value judgments cover such
a great range that it's impossible to establish

any standard. In a recreational area, one
person who wants solitude has been known to
shoot at another person who wants to camp
nearby. Other people will not camp unless
there are 15 or more people a few feet away.

I think one other thing which has impres¬
sed me in this symposium is the need for
some way to properly judicate the essence
and real value of remarks and statements.

For example, how does one evaluate the state¬
ment, "The ski areas cause a serious degra¬
dation of the area". How serious? In rela¬
tion to what? It's like when someone asks
you how's your wife, and you say in relation to
what? What about the degradation of low-
density areas, for example, grasslands on
the Navajo Reservation? From what we have
seen on this trip there's no comparison; in
fact, the ski resort areas that we have seen
on the field trip might be taken as model
examples of preventing the degradation of the
environment.

A couple of ideas relate to hypotheses in
the future. I would like to emphasize to you,
in regard to your experience in this symposium,
that you weigh carefully the goal of the sympo¬
sium and the breadth of the symposium
approach. Do not use the same criteria that
you would use if the symposium had been on a
very specialized topic, where the depth of
your increased knowledge would have been
greatly advanced. If you will look back on the
last days and realize what a tremendous gamut
of ideas and problems you have seen, then you
must use the criteria of evaluation appropriate
for that experience. In that regard I would
like to remind you that educational experience
is principally learning, not teaching. I would
like to emphasize the importance, for the
future, of people going through this experience
of learning on-site --having the technical
knowledge which you have received in a more
formal way in the last two presented days on¬
site, so that there can be a greater exchange
of ideas, of argumentation and learning, after
recognizing the problems and getting suggested
solutions from the experts. I think what is
learned will be remembered a great deal
longer. And lastly, an impression that no
matter what plan anyone comes up with to
accomplish anything, it really depends upon
high-quality personalities and people who are
greatly devoted. Some things therefore are
beyond mere planning.

236