Educating Visitors to Protect Natural Resources in an Intensively Used Landscape

String Lake continues to be a popular destination for boating, swimming, and hiking access. Due to the increasing popularity of this area, over time-sensitive natural resources have been degraded, including high rates of black bears acquiring improperly stored human food. The combination of easy access for large numbers of visitors picnicking, swimming, and hiking in an area of excellent bear habitat makes String Lake a particularly challenging park destination to manage. Through high rates of visitor contacts, the String Lake Volunteers help prevent food rewards for bears, orient visitors, and provide a variety of resource-sensitive recreation tips. In addition to funding the Lakers volunteer program, in 2022 GTNPF will support the installation of permanent signage where temporary signage has existed to date. This signage will supplement and reinforce visitor contacts by conveying safety messages, orienting visitors, and describing how to prevent resource degradation.