Leadership Team for the Statewide Forest Plan
Minimizing Recreational Use Conflicts in Wisconsin's Forests
More people than ever before are using Wisconsin's forests for a wide array of recreational activities, leading to increased conflicts among forest users. With the increase in popularity of motorized forms of recreation, such as off-highway vehicles (ATVs, snowmobiles, etc.), conflict with non-motorized forest users increases, as does concern over safety and environmental impacts. Careful planning will be critical to meet these diverse and often competing needs and to minimize conflicts among forest based recreationists.
Key Issues:
- More people than ever are using Wisconsin's forests for recreational activities, leading to increased conflicts among forest users.
- Motorized forms of recreation (snowmobiles, off-highway vehicles, ATVs, etc.) are increasingly popular and can conflict with non-motorized forest users and have adverse environmental impacts.
- The amount of forest land open for public use is decreasing, which affects the future of public hunting, fishing and other forms of recreation.
Current Plan of Action
Contact:
Dave Marcouiller, Professor, Department of Urban and Regional Planning
University of Wisconsin Madison
106 Music Hall 925 Bascom Mall, Madison, WI 53706
(608) 262-2998, [email protected]
Department of Urban and Regional Planning
Recent Initiatives
- Recreational compatibility study proposal (pdf, 83k)
- Recreational Compatibility Study Literature Review (pdf, 226k)