Mapping perceived wilderness to support protected areas management in the San Juan National Forest, Colorado

Wilderness can be defined in both political and popular terms. Political wilderness is designated by a government and given a resultant protected status. Popular, or perceived, wilderness is wilderness as defined in the mind of an individual. We investigated the potential for maps of perceived wilderness created in a geographic information systems (GIS) environment to be used in the management of politically designated wilderness and other protected areas. Using data gathered through a questionnaire survey of the wilderness preferences of recreational users of Colorado's San Juan National Forest (SJNF), we divided users into four “purism groups” that reflect the discrimination demonstrated by the user in personally defining the wilderness setting. We determined specific conditions considered by each group to be undesirable in the wilderness setting, and using GIS, mapped the extent of perceived wilderness in the SJNF for each purism group with a method that excluded areas of the National Forest demonstrating undesirable conditions. We assessed the potential for maps of perceived wilderness to be used in the management of political wilderness and other protected areas by comparing the extent of perceived wilderness in the SJNF to recreation opportunity spectrum (ROS) class groupings, the extent of politically designated wilderness, and inventoried roadless areas in the National Forest.