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The 3,000 "extra" visitors who traveled the Mormon Handcart Trail in Wyoming this summer may not know they were violating an agreement between The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and the Bureau of Land Management.
In 2003, the church and the BLM agreed to limit the number of LDS church groups using the trail, which extends from Sixth Crossing near Sweetwater Station to Martin's Cove. The deal was brokered in the wake of an environmental assessment that determined the thousands of people retracing the trail each year were causing too much damage.
Over the course of this summer, the agreed-upon limit of 7,500 people in church-sanctioned groups was exceeded by nearly half that number, leading to destruction of plants and widening of the trail, according to the BLM. While the extra visitors didn't have permits, the BLM is attempting to deal with the problem by educating trekkers, rather than demanding the permit fee of $4 per day per person.
"Right now it is not an intentional thing; we are just trying to help them be in compliance," said Jack Kelly, the manager of the BLM Lander, Wyo., field office. "Plus it is kind of new to everybody. This is the first year to experience that much use. It is new to us and we are adjusting."
The Mormon Handcart Trail was used by pioneers traveling to Utah during the late 1800s. Today, many LDS groups travel the 26-mile trail as they retrace the pioneers' voyage, pushing handcarts and sometimes dressing in pioneer-era clothing.
In 2002, about 12,000 people in Mormon church groups traveled the handcart trail. The traffic caused significant damage, leading to the cap of 7,500 people. In 2003, about 6,500 people in church groups hit the trail. But this summer, an additional 3,000 people from LDS churches walked the trail without the required permits or training that comes with them.
Kelly surmised that the groups without permits decided to trek anyway after discovering reservations could no longer be made.
Reservations for this summer were filled in 2003; now the soonest a group can book a spot is in 2006.
Lloyd Larsen, president of the Riverton, Wyo., LDS Stake, said the church has been working with the BLM, but didn't know for certain whether the additional people on the trail this summer were Mormons because those groups didn't register through the Sixth Crossing Visitors Center. The visitor center does not rent handcarts to groups that have not registered, Larson said.
"We are not aware of any [LDS] stakes sidestepping the process," Larson said. "My understanding is that [the groups] probably implied that they were church members. [The BLM] implied that the majority were members of the church, but I don't know how they determined that."
While the BLM normally issues about 2,000 permits to family groups or other recreationists, the BLM determined the additional visitors were organized church groups because they stayed at camping sites along the route owned by the LDS church, said Ray Hanson, outdoor recreation planner for the BLM Lander field office.
Officially sponsored handcart groups, which register through the Sixth Crossing Visitor Center, go through fairly intensive training, Hanson said. Those groups get to know the route and what they should and shouldn't do.
For example, some groups without permits had vehicles leading or following them, which is not allowed because of the damage vehicles cause. Some visitors drive on the trail during wet conditions or around wet areas on the road, destroying vegetation and widening the trail.
"Pretty soon you'll see a road expand from one vehicle to three vehicles," Hanson said.
And without instruction, groups can get lost. One group went 3.5 miles in the wrong direction, adding seven miles to what would normally be a 14-mile day.
In September, the church and the BLM will finalize trail rules based on results of the environmental assessment, which addressed maximum group size, length of the trekking season, staging areas and other factors that will help preserve the cultural and historical nature of the trail.