Volunteer Solitude Monitoring

Citizen Science: Data collection monitoring Solitude on the Eastern Sierra

The U.S. Forest Service wants to make sure everyone visiting our wilderness areas has opportunities for solitude. It all begins with research, and Friends of the Inyo is assisting. And for that, we need YOU!

Help Friends of the Inyo conduct visitor data collection for the Forest Service in various designated Wildernesses on the Inyo National Forest.

What you will be doing: Hiking specific trails in specific areas recording how many other people you encounter, that’s it!

It is called Solitude Monitoring, and it helps inform the Forest Service on trail quotas, usage, and how well the “Wilderness Character” of a place is being managed. We need a wide variety of data: various days (weekdays vs. weekends vs. holidays) and usage over various months (April-November).

Where: The following is a list of specific Trails and Trail Sections for which we need to collect data. Please only submit records for these specific trails.

South Sierra

• PCT, South Sierra south- from the Kennedy Meadows wilderness boundary to Clover Meadow

• PCT, South Sierra north- from Clover Meadow to the Golden Trout wilderness boundary

• Olancha Pass- from the wilderness boundary to the PCT

Inyo Mountains

• Seephole Spring- off of Mazourka Canyon Road, from the wilderness boundary to the end of the trail.
• Tamarack Canyon- off of Mazourka Canyon Road, from the wilderness boundary to the end of the trail.

Boundary Peak

• Boundary Peak Route- the user created trail from Queen Canyon to the summit of Boundary Peak.

• Trail Canyon- from the wilderness boundary to the end of the system trail.

Hoover

• Lundy Canyon- from the wilderness boundary to the end of the maintained trail.
• Gardisky Lake Trail- from the wilderness boundary to the end of the trail.
• 20 Lakes Basin Loop- from the wilderness boundary, the whole loop (not the trail around Saddlebag Lake).

Are you excited about helping out?! Contact Friends of the Inyo’s Stewardship Director, Lindsay Butcher, at Lindsay@friendsoftheinyo.org. She will be happy to answer any questions and help you get started! 

• Below is the monitoring protocol to follow, so you get an idea of what is involved.
  – Download this document so you can see what the very simple monitoring form looks like.
  – Here are the monitoring maps to help you.

1. At the beginning of each monitoring session, record initial information at the top of the form including:

• The monitoring area name
• The observer’s name
• The date
• The time when data collection started
• Whether data are being collected on a weekday, weekend, or holiday

2. Tally the number of people encountered within the monitoring area. Count all people seen or heard, no matter how close or far you are from them. If you hike past a camping group, include the number of people you see as traveling encounters (this includes administrative or outfitted camps – the idea is to document the impacts to visitors’ experiences).
   a. If you can’t get an exact count of the number of people, make your best estimate.
   b. If you see the same group more than once during a monitoring session, record the number of people as another (new) encounter if more than 15 minutes have passed since the first time you saw the group.

3. At the end of the monitoring session, fill out the final information on the form:

• Record the time when data collection for this monitoring session stopped
• Calculate the total amount of time during which data were collected
• Record the total number of people encountered

Then you would simply submit recorded trail data to Lindsay by using the email address  Lindsay@friendsoftheinyo.org and including “Solitude Monitoring ’24” in the the subject line. That’s it!

We hope you will help us during your meanderings of discovery in any of these areas anytime between now and November (or when snow makes it less desireable).