Campsite condition data for the Bob Marshall Wilderness

This data publication contains conditions of 36 campsites in low- to mid- elevation forests and grasslands in the Bob Marshall Wilderness, Montana. Campsites used in this study were used primarily by backpackers, private individuals with packstock, and commercial outfitters and their clients. Campsites were assessed in 1981 and 1990. Camp area, bare area, and extent of tree damage were measured. Tree seedlings, ground vegetation, duff, mineral soil exposure and compaction, species composition, and infiltration rates were also measured on campsites and comparable control sites.
The purposes of this study were: (1) to document campsite condition for future monitoring, (2) to compare the condition of sites subjected to the three major categories of user (backpackers, private individuals with packstock, and commercial outfitters and their clients), and (3) to test the hypothesis that low-elevation campsites are less fragile than high-elevation campsites.
These data were originally made available on the Aldo Leopold Wilderness Research Institute site: http://leopold.wilderness.net. The data were converted from XLS to XLSX files in April 2012, metadata created, data packaged into 1 zip file, and made available via the Forest Service Research Data Archive. Minor metadata updates on 12/07/2016.