Over the last 30 years, as demand for camping within the 1,821,495-acre Coconino National Forest has increased, more of it has been closed to camping.

Within the Red Rock Ranger District, camping is now prohibited on 15% of its total area.

Restricting camping within the forest began in 1987 with the preparation of the Coconino National Forest Plan. The plan and its later amendments called for prohibiting camping entirely in Boynton Canyon and dispersed camping in the West Fork of Oak Creek Canyon, with five designated campsites to be established in West Fork and limited to 1,300 visitors per year. The Banjo Bill and Bootlegger campgrounds in Oak Creek Canyon were to be converted to day-use areas, and camping prohibited throughout the Sedona and Oak Creek areas except in designated sites. Parking along State Route 89A in this vicinity was also prohibited.

The plan also created a 14-day stay limit for the Flagstaff and Lake Mary management areas.

To enact these recommendations, then-Forest Supervisor James Golden issued Forest Order No. 04-99-02R on Jan. 1, 1999, prohibiting camping and campfires except at designated sites within a broad area of the Sedona Ranger District, now known as the Red Rock Ranger District. The restricted area extended north to the switchbacks of State Route 89A in the canyon and the Secret Mountain Wilderness, south past the limits of the Village of Oak Creek, east to the Munds Mountain Wilderness and west to a point along SR 89A just past Sedona Pines, including an estimated 50,520 acres. The order was to remain in effect until further notice.

“Additional camping and campfires restrictions may be needed,” the Forest Service forecast in a set of corrections to the Sedona Amendment 12 to the forest plan issued in August 1999. The corrections set out guidelines for future camping management in the Sedona area, including “limit dispersed camping to locations that protect resources, provide neighborhood security and protect the National Forest visitor’s quality of experience” and “address local neighborhood concerns about the impacts of visitor use on residential quality of life. Use such methods as night-time closures, improving signs and limiting motorized access and the number of visitors.”

The Forest Service imposed additional camping limitations in September 2011 when creating a travel management plan for the forest.

“This decision authorizes motorized use on up to 300 feet along both sides of 581 miles of designated road and along one side of 32 miles of designated road,” the decision stated. In response to letters from the public, the 100-foot corridor “was expanded to 300 feet and changed from occurring on 100% of designated roads to 20% of designated roads … This decreased the amount of motorized dispersed camping corridors from 95,758 acres in the original proposed action to 43,313 acres.”

The decision stated that “where dispersed camping corridors are not designated, forest visitors may park up to 30 feet off the road edge to camp or pursue other activities.”

Another expansion of camping limitations came in 2015, when the U.S. Forest Service closed another area south of Kachina Village between SR 89A and I-17 “to protect public health and safety from unsanitary conditions and the threat of a wildfire.” The order instituting the closure will remain in effect until April 30, 2025.

The Forest Management Plan was updated in 2018 to replace the 1987 plan and codify Amendment 12. This version retained the previous version’s restrictions on camping in the Sedona area with some changes to the language: “Camping and campfire restrictions should be maintained to protect property and unique resources near roadways and neighborhoods and for the Dry Creek Basin and designated special areas.”

“Many sites in the canyon have been converted from overnight camping to day use per Amendment 12 in the 1987 plan,” the environmental impact statement summarized. “Decreased overnight use has not resulted in decreased visitation to Oak Creek Canyon; in fact, day use has increased … Overnight use has simply been displaced to other places with no decrease in overnight visitation on the forest.”

The estimated number of annual visitors to developed campsites given in the EIS was 51,624, and the estimated number of visitors who participated in car camping was 22,944.

The USFS imposed a number of additional temporary closures of trailheads and campgrounds between late March and late May 2020 as part of its response to the COVID-19 pandemic. On Aug. 19, 2022, the USFS issued Forest Order No. 03-04-06-22-25, closing an additional 32,130 acres west of Sedona to camping and bringing the total area closed to camping in the Red Rock Ranger District to 82,650 acres out of 550,000. The order is scheduled to expire on Aug. 31, 2024, which will reopen much of the area along Forest Road 525 to camping — unless the order is renewed.

“Higher dispersed camping participation has resulted in additional offroad vehicle travel along Forest Road 525 and the surrounding area between Cottonwood and Sedona,” the decision memo stated. “The convergence of this high level of use and the effects of multi-decadal drought expanded the ‘camping footprint’ along miles of designated camping corridors resulting in increasing conflict with landowners and permittees.”

A forest order issued on Oct. 25, 2022, extended the 14-day camping limit to the entirety of the Coconino National Forest.

The Forest Service also issued Forest Order No. 03-04-06-23-03 on Jan. 24, 2023, amending the restrictions on the use of campfires within the original 1999 closure area.

Similar actions have been taken by forest managers for the Prescott National Forest. Beginning in 1999, the Prescott NF imposed a seven-day stay limit on camping within the Prescott Basin area, a limitation that was renewed on Jan. 31, 2017, to run through Dec. 31, 2026, in combination with the addition of a prohibition on camping outside designated sites. A previous order issued on Sept. 14, 2015, instituted a 14-day stay limit for the forest as a whole.

On Jan. 6, 2023, the Verde Ranger District closed the eastern slope of the Mingus Mountains between Cottonwood and Jerome to camping until Jan. 7, 2025, “to mitigate natural resource degradation.”