News Release

Guadalupe Mountains Staff Recognized for Work in Wilderness Stewardship

Date: September 1, 2023
Contact: Theresa Moore, [phone] ext. 2300

Guadalupe Mountains Staff Recognized for Work in Wilderness Stewardship

GUADALUPE MOUNTAINS NATIONAL PARK, TEXAS – Guadalupe Mountains National Park staff was recognized this week for their work in enhancing wilderness stewardship at a ceremony in Washington, D.C. by the National Park Service and its philanthropic partner the National Park Foundation. Present to accept the NPS Director’s 2022 Wes Henry Excellence in Wilderness Stewardship Team Award on behalf of park staff was Acting Superintendent Theresa Moore and Chief of Law Enforcement William Uphouse.

Guadalupe Mountains National Park was authorized by an act of Congress in 1966 to preserve “an area possessing outstanding geological values together with scenic and other natural values of great significance.” The park was formally established in 1972 with an area of 76,293 acres. Today, Guadalupe Mountains National Park includes 86,416 acres in far West Texas. In 1978, 46,850 acres of the park’s backcountry were formally designated by Congress as Wilderness.

In 2022, Guadalupe Mountains National Park implemented new human waste policies park-wide. In the previous year a pilot restriction requiring use of commercial toilet bags at the Guadalupe Peak Wilderness Campsite was implemented. By the spring of 2022, this pilot had succeeded so well in improving the visitor experience and protecting the natural environment, that field-level staff asked to make these restrictions a park-wide requirement.

Since the mid-2000’s, use of high-traffic areas in designated or eligible wilderness lands within the park have significantly increased. In the fall of 2020, toilet paper on wilderness surfaces and surface waste was observable throughout the park, as a visible impact of increased use. Human waste management was suddenly a crisis. Field staff, including members of the park’s Wilderness Committee proposed the commercial toilet bag requirement as a solution to this challenge that involved the visitor in active co-stewardship. The management team and Wilderness Committee fleshed out the proposal. The primary enforcement mechanism is that for permitted overnight use of the wilderness, visitors must physically show that they possess one toilet bag per person, per night; without the bags in hand, the permit will not be issued. Before implementation park staff approached the Western National Parks Association who operate the park store, as it would be necessary to stock these items for those visitors who did not arrive prepared. ”Our success with our WAG Bag policy truly is a team effort. Every ranger, volunteer, and WNPA employee supports it.” said Acting Superintendent Theresa Moore, “This policy engages visitors as active stewards of the wilderness and our Wilderness is the better for it.”

For those interested in the Wilderness Stewardship Award Recipients visit 2022 Wilderness Stewardship Award Recipients; and to learn more about wilderness in the national parks, visit National Park Service Wilderness. For more information on Guadalupe Mountains National Park, please visit www.nps.gov/gumo

www.nps.gov

About the National Park Service: More than 20,000 National Park Service employees care for America’s more than 400 national park units and work with communities across the nation to help preserve local history and create close-to-home recreational opportunities. Learn more at www.nps.gov