Recreation Facility Analysis

Glossary of Terms

Accessibility

A term referring to the degree to which recreation opportunities, facilities, or programs meet current legal, social, and design requirements to be utilized by persons of varying physical and mental abilities.

Actual Expenditure

The amount of operating funds actually spent, whether or not National Quality Standards are met.

Admin Org

The Infra data entry code for the organization upon which the Recreation Site falls geographically.

Allocated Dollars

Funds distributed by WO by budget line item.

Appropriation

Funding received at agency level through Congressional action. Agencies, in turn, make allocations.

Backlog

The term “backlog” is no longer in use by the agency – the proper term is “deferred maintenance”. From the 10/98 Deferred Maintenance Standard Definitions, page 6: “The backlog estimate predated the standard definitions and represents a mix of repair, rehabilitation, replacement, decommissioning, and capital improvement, including expansion And provision of new, complementary facilities.”

BFES

Budget Formulation and Execution System is an allocation-driven field-based capability driven budget process.

BLI

Budget line item; an identifiable group of activities recognized in the budget appropriation process and by Congress. See budget program codes.

Budget Program Code

CMFC – Includes maintenance and capital improvement for FA&O, research, developed recreation facilities, and dams.

CMTL – Includes operations, maintenance, and capital improvement of new and existing system trails, trail bridges, and associated trail appurtenances.

NFRW – Includes operation of developed sites, management of general Forest areas, provision of interpretation and education, administration of recreation special use authorizations, management of wildernesses, and management of heritage resources.

Capital Improvement

The construction, installation or assembly of a new fixed asset, or the significant alteration, expansion, or extension of an existing fixed asset to accommodate a change of purpose.

CIP

The Capital Investment Program

Concentrated use area (CUA)

A relatively undeveloped recreation site or area receiving expenditures of management time and/or dollars because recreation use leaves evident impacts such as litter, vandalism, or soil compaction. Any amenities in a CUA are placed and managed primarily for resource protection rather than user convenience.

Contributed Services

Work accomplished through volunteers, hosts, partners, concessionaires, etc; monetary value can be based on the cost of the same amount of work accomplished through force account. Sometimes referred to as “contributed program”.

Cost Pool

Aggregated deductions from the recreation program allocation usually associated with the indirect expenses of the program.

Cost to meet National Quality Standards, Direct

Labor, supplies & materials, and service costs directly associated with meeting national quality standards in a specific developed site, trail, general Forest area, and for the administration of existing recreation special use permits and the providing of specific existing Interpretive services. These costs are captured in the following recreation components:

• DEVELOPED SITES
• GENERAL FOREST AREAS
• HERITAGE RESOURCES
• INTERPRETIVE SERVICES
• RECREATION SPECIAL-USE PERMIT ADMINISTRATION TRAILS

Cost to meet National Quality Standards, Indirect

The costs that support but cannot be directly associated with specific projects in the meeting of national quality standards for the recreation program components: Developed Sites, Trails, General Forest Areas, Recreation Special-use Permit Administration, Heritage, and Interpretive Services. The indirect cost for each component is an additive cost to the “direct” costs to meet standards in each of the five field components.

Cost to meet National Quality Standards, Maintenance

The cost to meet standards in the Key Measure: Condition of Facilities. Funds needed to support work performed to ensure service or repair of facilities during the year in which they occur, including preventive and/or cyclic maintenance performed in the year it is scheduled to occur. Unscheduled or catastrophic failures of components or assets may need to be repaired as part of annual maintenance.

Cost to meet National Quality Standards, Operations

The cost to meet standards in the Key Measures: Health & Cleanliness, Resource Setting, Safety & Security, and Responsiveness in each management component (e.g.: Developed Sites, Trials, GFAs, and the operations areas of the components IS, Heritage, Wilderness, and RSUP).

Cost, Critical

The cost of labor, supplies, and materials to meet “critical” National Quality Standards for operations activities. Critical standards are defined as those that, if not met, the resulting conditions pose a high probability of immediate or permanent loss to people or property. If they cannot be met, due to budget or other constraints, immediate action must be taken to correct or mitigate the problem. Immediate action may include closing to public use the facility, site, trail, area, permit, or portions of the affected site, trail or area. National critical standards include those that address: (1) Visitors are not exposed to human waste; (2) Water, wastewater, and sewage treatment systems meet federal, state and local water quality regulations; (3) Effects from recreation use do not conflict with environmental laws (such as ESA, NHPA, Clean Water, TES, etc); (4) High-risk conditions do not exist in developed recreation sites; and (5) Utility inspections meet federal, state, and local requirements. Regional critical standards may be developed.

Cost, Needed

The cost to meet National Quality Standards--including “critical” standards--assuming some or all of the work to meet standard is accomplished at the hourly rate of the current workforce, including alternative sources such as contributed labor. The work to meet standard that is NOT accomplished by the current crew is costed at the hourly rate of properly graded employees (Reference Crew).

Cost, Reference

The cost to meet National Quality Standards (including “critical” standards) assuming all of the work to meet standard is accomplished at the hourly rate of a properly graded Force Account workforce and selected services are provided by appropriate vendors per current national business rules.

Demand

Demand terms are those that describe who (NVUM, age, ethnicity, etc.) is coming from where (zip code maps) to do what (NVUM activity popularity), where (location part of supply), for how long (activity duration), and how often (frequency). Demand also asks what the future demand is likely to be (Census/growth projections). Demand can be summarized by answering these 8 questions:

1. How many are visiting?
2. Where are they from?
3. What is happening in that Market Zone?
4. What is happening in the region (small “r”)?
5. Who Lives There?
6. What Are Recreation Preferences?
7. What is visitor satisfaction now?
8. Description of National Forest visits

Developed Site

A discrete place containing a concentration of facilities and services used to provide recreation opportunities to the public and evidencing a significant investment in facilities and management under the direction of an administrative unit in the National Forest System.

Development Scale

The classification of the scale of development of recreation facilities. Scale ranges from 1, “Almost No Site Modification” to 5, “Extensive Site modification. Development scales are defined by levels of site modifications, type of construction material, management controls, design style, development density, and services offered and site modification allowed.

FA&O

Fire, Administrative and Other, referring to facilities other than recreation, includes ranger stations, work centers, other administrative facilities, and Forest headquarters.

FDFD

Budget Line item for Recreation fees revenue. Includes

• Recreation fees Demonstration Site Revenue). 80% of visitor use fees collected though Recreation Recreation feesnstration authority. This budget code denotes only the portion of recreation fees revenue that is available at the point of collection for use on-site.
• FDCL (15% for collections) and
• FDAS (5% to be used at agency discretion).

Fee Demo

A pilot study, Recreation Fee Demonstration Program, authorized by Congress in 1996 (PL-104-134) that directs Federal land-management agencies to demonstrate the feasibility of user generated cost recovery for operating and maintaining recreation areas sites, and habitat enhancement projects on Federal lands administered through the Departments o Agriculture and Interior. Eighty percent of the user fees stay at the collecting site to be used for repair and deferred maintenance projects, interpretation and signage, habitat or facility enhancement, and annual operation, maintenance and law enforcement purposes relating to public use.

Recreation fees Expenditures

Include the following categories:

• Repairs and deferred maintenance, including projects relating to health and
• Safety. Work categories include:
  • Interpretation and signage
  • Habitat and facility enhancement
  • Resource preservation
  • Annual operation, including fee collection
  • Maintenance
  • Law enforcement related to public use

[See Omnibus Consolidated Rescissions and Appropriation Act of 1996 (PL 104-1134), sec 315(c)(3); RO file letter 4/24/96]

FTE

Full time equivalent of an employee, generally based on 260 working days.

Gap

The difference between the work activities funded to be accomplished at a site or a program and what is required to meet National Quality Standards.

General Forest Area (GFA)

General Forest Areas are all lands available for recreation use and outside of Wilderness, developed sites, trails and administrative sites. The General Forest Areas are comprised of concentrated use areas [CUAs] (see Concentrated Use Areas). CUAs can include front- and/or backcountry campsites, parking areas, pullouts and landings, river and road corridors, lake surfaces, and day use areas such as OHV areas, climbing areas, target shooting areas, etc. Amenities or constructed features inside GFAs are primarily for resource protection.

Heritage Sites/Assets

Remnants of past cultures that remind us of the centuries-old relationship between people and the land (from National Heritage Strategy); property, plant, or equipment that are unique for one or more of the following reasons: (1) historical or natural significance; (2) cultural, educational or artistic/aesthetic significance; or (3) significant architectural characteristics.

I&E

(Formerly known as Interpretation and Education) now termed “Interpretive Services” (IS). IS is one of five components that comprise the Recreation Program.

Infra

The Corporate Integrated Inventory System (CIIS). An integrated database for collection, storage, and use of feature, land unit, facility, utility, work item, cost, accessibility, and real property data. For recreation management, INFRA provides the opportunity to enter information to derive O&M costs, recreation funding shortfalls, recreation use data, accessibility information, and constructed feature inventory conditions. INFRA brings together tabular and spatial technology. INFRA provides information critical to utilizing the Meaningful Measures for Quality Recreation Management system.

Interpretive Association

A nonprofit, tax-exempt corporation or organization whose purpose is extending and enhancing the ability of the Forest Service to provide customer service to National Forest visitors. Interpretive Associations work cooperatively with the Forest Service in educating the public about natural and cultural issues on public lands.

Key Measure

A defined category of recreation management quality, responding to user preferences, needs and expectations. Each Key Measure is defined by a set of standards. Key Measures include Health and Cleanliness, Safety and Security, Resource Setting, Responsiveness and Condition of Facilities (Developed Sites, Trails, and GFA), Administration and Monitoring (Recreation Special-use Permits) and Communication Effectiveness, Responsiveness, and Safety & Security (Interpretive Services).

Leveling

The process of reaching concurrence among peers that each unit’s costs to meet standards are accurate and reflect consistent understanding and application of program business rules and data entry instruction; initially conducted between ranger districts (or Forest sub-units) to reach concurrence at the Forest level.

LRMP

Forest Land and Resource Management Plan, a plan that guides all natural resource management activities and establishes standards and guidelines for those activities on National Forest System lands of a given National Forest.

Maintenance, Annual

Work performed to maintain serviceability, or repair failures during the year in which they occur. Includes preventive and/or cyclic maintenance performed in the year in which it is scheduled to occur. Unscheduled or catastrophic failures of components or assets may need to be repaired as a part of annual maintenance.

Maintenance, Deferred

Maintenance that was not performed when it should have been or when it was scheduled and which, therefore, was put off or delayed for a future period. When allowed to accumulate without limits or consideration of useful life, deferred maintenance leads to deterioration of performance, increased costs to repair, and decrease in asset value. Code compliance (e.g. life safety, ADA, OSHA, environmental, etc.), Forest Plan Direction, Best Management Practices, Biological Evaluations, other regulatory or Executive Order compliance requirements, or applicable standards not met on schedule are considered deferred maintenance.

Maintenance, Preventive

Scheduled servicing, repairs, inspections, adjustments, and replacement of parts that result in fewer breakdowns and fewer premature replacements, and help achieve the expected life of the fixed asset. Inspections are a critical part of preventive maintenance as they provide the information for scheduling maintenance and evaluating its effectiveness.

Managing Org

The code for the organization that actually manages the site. Sometimes the managing unit is different from the legally responsible unit (Admin Org).

Meaningful Measures

The MEANINGFUL MEASURES FOR QUALITY RECREATION MANAGEMENT system (MM). MM is a six-step, cyclical, site and project level management system, and has been adopted by the FS-RH&WR as its overarching business system. Application of the MM system provides professional, accountable, and visitor-responsive site and project-level management. Accomplishment is measured through established standards of quality for recreation opportunity outputs. The system determines costs to attain quality outputs; sets priorities for work to be accomplished and budget allocations; and measures the actual success at producing quality opportunity outputs.

Monitoring

Techniques used to validate standards, determine visitor expectations, needs and preferences; determine customer satisfaction trends; measure program, such as recreation, outputs; and to assess resource conditions.

National Forest Visit

The entry of one person upon a National Forest to participate in recreation activities for an unspecified period of time. A recreation visit can be composed of visits to multiple sites.

National Register of Historic Places

The National Register of Historic Places is the Nation's official list of cultural resources worthy of preservation. Authorized under the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966,the National Register is part of a national program to coordinate and support public and private efforts to identify, evaluate, and protect our historic and archeological resources. Properties listed in the Register include districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects that are significant in American history, architecture, archeology, engineering, and culture. The National Register is administered by the National Park Service, which is part of the U.S. Department of the Interior.

National Visitor Use Monitoring (NVUM)

A systematic process to estimate annual recreation and other uses of National Forest lands through user surveys. See NVUS, below. The NVUM process includes a survey to develop statistically accurate estimates of national Forest visitor use; the survey began in 2000 and will continue indefinitely, during which 20% of all national forests will participate in a given year. Use information is gathered in five categories: day use developed sites (DUDS), overnight use developed sites (OUDS), general Forest areas (GFAs), Wilderness and viewing corridors.

Niche

Niche is the specific focus area within which the unit is most suited to add value to the agency and society and from which features in recreation sites facilitate the unique opportunities and benefits. Niche is the best “fit” in which to operate sites given the context in which they exist. It is simply another term to reflect how the broader agency role or mission is narrowed to provide a more precise interpretation of how the broader mission will be delivered by the recreation sites and opportunities on a specific unit within its unique context.

The Forest’s niche has been referred to as the overlap between “assets” and customer demand, both existing and potential, including new market segments. Assets may include geology, topography, climate, vegetation, and history that make the Forest attractive for specific activities and experiences. Assets are also “special places” that make the Forest unique and highly valued by communities. Frequently, these places have been nationally recognized by designations such as Wilderness Areas, Scenic Byways, Historic Sites, Wild and Scenic Rivers, or National Recreation Areas.

O&M

Operations and maintenance; includes the activities and resources required to annually operate and maintain recreation sites at a level of quality which meets their management objectives and customer satisfaction. Costs associated with O&M are generally recurrent, as opposed to capital investment costs that are generally one-time and non-recurrent.

Operating Season

The operating season is the number of days each year the developed site is operated for public use. Includes the High, Peak, Moderate, and Low Use Levels. Minimally, critical standards are being met. Do not include in the operating season those days the site is physically open but not being operated for use (meeting critical standards). If the site is not being managed to at least meet critical standards, it cannot be considered operational.

PAOT

An acronym for Persons-At-One-Time; a measure of facility or site designed recreation carrying capacity, particularly for developed sites. National conventions include 5 persons per family picnic/camp unit, 3.5 persons per parking lot stall at a trailhead or visitor center, 1.5 persons per motorcycle parking stall and 40 persons per tour bus parking stall.

Partnership

Voluntary, mutually beneficial and desired arrangement between the Forest Service and another or others to accomplish mutually agreed-on objectives consistent with the agency’s mission and serving the public’s interest.

Planned Expenditures

The planned expenditure of a unit’s existing NFRW budget dollars. May be equal to the combination of “needed” and/or “critical” costs.

Recreation Capacity

A measure of the number of people a site can reasonably accommodate at one time, sometimes measured as PAOT.

Recreation Management Systems

A range of systems developed by the Forest Service to assure the efficient, effective, and responsive provision of a wide spectrum of high quality and accessible outdoor recreation opportunities and related amenities. These systems are: Meaningful Measures for Quality Recreation Management (MM), the Scenery Management System (SMS), the Recreation Opportunity Spectrum (ROS), and Outcomes Based Management (OBM).

Recreation Program Management (RPM)

RPM categorizes the cost of management activities (generally overhead or indirect costs) required to support the production of field level quality opportunity outputs in the five recreation field components (Developed Sites, Trails, GFA, IS, RSUP). RPM has two categories: Program Management and Program Support. Program Management represents the costs for all the tasks and activities associated with providing recreation program leadership at the district, Forest, regional, and national levels. Program Support is the expense incurred by the Recreation program for workforce management services and support. Indirect support includes administrative services, rents, utilities, communications, fleet and property, training, and other workforce management costs associated with the positions providing those support services. The RPM cost for each category is an additive cost to the costs to meet standards in each of the five field components. The RPM cost is additive at and for each level of the agency: district, Forest, regional, national.

Recreation Site

A discrete area on a Forest that provides recreation opportunities, receives use, and requires a management investment to operate and/or maintain to standard.

Site Type

The type of recreation site. Recreation sites are divided into several categories (i.e., “Family Campground”, “Fishing Site”, “Trailhead”, “Interpretive Site Minor”, “Horse Camp”, etc.).

Site Visit

In context of NVUM, the entry of one person to a National Forest site or area to participate in recreation activities for an unspecified period of time.

Special-Use Authorization

A permit, term permit, temporary permit, lease, or easement, or other written instrument that grants rights or privileges of occupancy and use subject to specified terms and conditions on National Forest System land.

Standard, National Quality (as in maintaining/managed/operated/provided/administered to standard)

A measurement of quality based on visitor expectations, needs, preferences, and resource condition for a particular component; a baseline measure that helps define the corporate level of quality the Forest Service wants to provide the public at full service levels; used for estimating the total cost of providing quality opportunities for visitors. The Meaningful Measures management system provides a structure that identifies five (5) recreation program components. Each component is comprised of several Key Measures; each Key Measure is a category made up of several standards (National Quality Standards); and each Standard is defined by a set of work tasks.

Standard, Regional Required

Prior to initiating the Recreation Facility Analysis Process, each Region must identify from the Recreation Site National Quality Standards those standards that must be met to keep a site open. At a minimum, each Region must meet the National ‘Critical’ Standards, but the Region may choose to expand the critical standard set for the purpose of Facility Master Planning. This standard set is the Regional Required Standards.

If a site cannot be operated to at least meet the regionally required standards, it must be closed. The Regional RHWR Director and key Recreation Site staff determine the required standards.

Supply

Supply terms are ones of settings in ROS terms with unique (SOP) descriptions; and should have capacity and opportunity terms. Supply also speaks to features that facilitate opportunities.

Use Level

Four levels of customer use that necessitates different workforce composition and site visit frequencies to meet National Quality Standards. Use Levels include “Peak”, “High”, “Moderate”, “Low”, and “Closed”.

Visitor demographics

The profile of visitors as described by such factors as race, ethnicity, gender, age, etc.

Visitor satisfaction

A measurement, from the visitor perspective, of how well the FS is meeting the visitor expectations in delivering quality recreation opportunities. The outcome is a measure of how satisfied the visitor is with the agency delivery of particular recreation opportunities. Visitor satisfaction is also measured in comparison with Visitor Importance. Visitor importance measures on the same scale as visitor satisfaction how relatively important the visitor perceives each of the measured recreation opportunities.

Wild & Scenic River

A river selected for nomination and/or designation through the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act of 1968 for possessing outstandingly remarkable scenic, recreational, geologic, fish and wildlife, historic, cultural or other similar values.

Wilderness

A Congressionally-designated area that is part of the National Wilderness Preservation System established through Wilderness Act of 1964; generally larger than 5000 acres and retaining its primeval character, where nature and its forces work undisturbed by human activity.

YCC

Youth Conservation Corps, a human resource program that provides natural resource opportunities for young people.

Contents

• Seven Step Process
• RFA Overview
• Glossary of Terms

More Information

• Region 5 RFA Links and Contacts
• National RFA webpage

Contact Information

If you would like to learn more about Region 5's (California) Recreation Facility Analysis (RFA) process please contact the Regional RFA Coordinator at: