Recreational Facility Analysis
Public Participation
Your participation is important to ensure that the results of the RSFMP process meet
visitor needs and offer the best recreation opportunities in places
important to people.
Recreation managers invite you to work with them to identify how
to best address these sites and specifically react to their proposed
programs of work. We recognize the importance of these sites and welcome
your comments and suggestions during this process. For more information
about RFA,
or to contact a national forest recreation manager, please refer to our contact list.
Background
Many of the developed recreation sites in the Southwestern Region national forests
and grasslands were built 30-50 years ago. Since then, visitor preferences and
demographics have changed. Some sites no longer serve projected recreation
demand; some facilities are in poor shape and do not meet visitors'
expectations.
To respond to these conditions and national direction, national forests and grasslands
in the Southwestern Region and throughout the nation, are implementing the Recreation Facility Analysis (RFA) process for developed recreation
sites.
The result of RFA is a
proposed program of work with a list of prioritized actions to more
effectively manage recreation sites on each national forest.
What is RFA?
RFA is
an analysis tool developed nationally to help forests align their
developed recreation sites with the unique characteristics of the forest,
projected recreation demand, visitor expectations, and revenue. RFA is driven by
three strategic goals:
- Provide recreation opportunities best suited to each national
forest and grasslands;
- Operate and maintain recreation sites to meet national quality
standards;
- Eliminate/reduce the current maintenance backlog by 20 percent in the next 5 years.
A seven-step
process is used to evaluate and prioritize sites for action. The
results are contained in 5-year proposed program of work (PPOW). Public feedback
is sought to ensure that these actions are sound and responsive to visitor
needs. Annually, as phases of the programs of work are implemented;
additional public participation will be conducted at that time. The national
deadline for preparing programs of work for implementation is December 31,
2008. |