Resource: Recreational Carrying Capacity of Lakes

Title:	Recreational Carrying Capacity of Lakes
Resource type:	Report/study
Topics:	Ecosystems, Individual Choices, Water
Keywords:	lake use, lake impact, boat, boating, recreation, carrying capacity
Audience:	All
Region:	Minnesota Statewide, Outside Minnesota
Summary:	Recreational carrying capacity on lakes can be defined as that threshold at which the number, type and manner of operating watercraft will adversely impact boater safety, user satisfaction, and ecologic sustainability of the lake, and was measured by a study of Wisconsin's Lake Ripley.
Content:	A lake's capacity for safe and enjoyable use is finite. It is a function of user types, preferences and perceptions, as well as the actual physical limitations of the lake and shoreland. Recreational carrying capacity on lakes can be defined as that threshold at which the number, type and manner of operating watercraft will adversely impact boater safety, user satisfaction, and ecologic sustainability of the lake. Increasing numbers of watercraft on MN lakes (6,300 in 1990; 42,000 in 2004) and increasing size and speed of MN watercraft (horsepower of new boats registered between 1981 and 1999 doubled) has lead to anecdotal carrying capacity "overshoot" on some MN lakes, and on SW Wisconsin's Lake Ripley, a 418-acre lake. Concern about this lead the Lake Ripley Management District to conduct an extensive, and relatively rare, carrying capacity study. This informative study, available for free reading and downloading at the web site below. This study was also highlighted by the MN Lakes Association in their August 2005 newsletter, concluded that "recreational safety and environmental quality are likely to be jeopardized absent ... local policy makers [devising] effective and reasonably equitable regulatory mechanisms .... Common measures used to manage overcrowding include land-use and riparian access controls, public access limitations, pier ordinances, and any number of watercraft restrictions (i.e. outright bans, speed and horsepower limits, and lake-use zoning) -- just to name a few." 40 pages of study methodology, theory and data, and 25 pages of appendices, make this report useful to those working to make use of their lakes sustainable. Parks and Carrying Capacity: Commons Without Tragedy addresses recreational land use. See http://tinyurl.com/38tlt9f to access excerpts from this 2007 book published by Island Press.
Website:	http://lakeripley1.homestead.com/files/Lake_Ripley_Carrying_Capacity_Report.pdf
Suggested by:	Philipp Muessig
Added:	08/29/05
Updated:	08/30/12