Program Summary

1994	In response to Executive Order 12862 issued on 11 September 1993, the Corps of Engineers initiated development of a comment card program for monitoring visitor satisfaction at Corps of Engineers lakes and projects.
1996-2003	The comment card program was widely implemented by projects throughout the Corps of Engineers to obtain visitor feedback associated with recreation areas and visitor groups of interest to project managers. Results of a survey of project natural resource managers conducted in 2000 indicated that the comment card was considered by project managers to be the most important source of visitor data for identifying recreation management needs on Corps projects.
2002-2003	A formal monitoring survey was implemented to track Corps-wide satisfaction of recreation visitors to Corps-managed recreation sites. The improved survey procedure was based on a probability sample of recreation visitors from Corps projects across the United States and a standardized survey process to ensure uniformity in the collection of visitor satisfaction data.
2004-2005	The formal survey was expanded to document visitor satisfaction at most Corps projects having one or more Corps-managed recreation areas. Project staff plan and conduct surveys on their project(s) using standardized survey planning, data entry, and reporting tools. In 2004, 288 Corps projects collected and submitted approximately 50,000 completed comment cards to the central customer satisfaction database.
2005-2006	Survey tools and procedures for conducting satisfaction surveys at Visitor Centers were developed and field tested in 2005. Routine monitoring at visitor centers begins in May 2006.
2008-2009	The requirements for the Comment Card program have been adjusted to make it mandatory for projects to conduct surveys only every third year see this memorandum for details.