Definition of Terms

NVUM has standardized definitions of visitor use measurement to ensure that all national forest visitor measurements are comparable. These definitions are the same as established by the forest Service since the 1970s, however the application of the definition is stricter. Visitors must pursue a recreation activity physically located “on” Forest Service managed land in order to be counted. They cannot be passing through; viewing from non-Forest Service managed roads, or just using restroom facilities. The NVUM basic use measurements are national forest visits and site visits. In addition, information about the visitor’s trip is also collected. Along with these use measurements basic statistics, which indicate the precision of the estimate, are given. These statistics include the confidence level, and error rate. The definitions of these terms follow.

National forest visit - the entry of one person upon a national forest to participate in recreation activities for an unspecified period of time. A national forest visit can be composed of multiple site visits.

Site visit - the entry of one person onto a national forest site or area to participate in recreation activities for an unspecified period of time.

Recreation trip – the duration of time beginning when the visitor left their home and ending when they got back to their home.

Confidence level and error rate - used together these two terms define the reliability of the estimated visits. The confidence interval defines the range of values around the estimated visits with a specified level of certainty. The error rate (which is never a bad thing like making an error on a test) is the upper and lower bounds of the confidence interval. The lower the error rate and the higher the confidence level the better the estimate. An 80 percent confidence interval is very acceptable at a broad national or forest scale. The two terms are used to statistically describe the estimate. For example: At the 80 percent confidence level there are 209 million national forest visits plus or minus 17 percent. In other words we are 80 percent confident that the true number of national forest visits lies between 173.5 million and 244.5 million.

CHAPTER 1: SAMPLE DESIGN AND IMPLEMENTATION

The NVUM Process and Definition of Terms

To participate in the NVUM process, forests first categorized all recreation sites and areas into six basic categories called “site types”: Day Use Developed Sites (DUDS), Overnight Use Developed Sites (OUDS), Wilderness, General Forest Areas (GFA), On-Forest Viewing Corridors (OFVC), and Off-Forest Recreation Activities. Only the first four categories are considered “true” national forest visits and were included in the estimate provided. Within these broad categories every open day of the year for each site/area was rated as either high, medium or low exiting recreation use. Sites and areas that were closed or had “0” use was also identified. Each day on which a site or area is open is called a site day and is the basic sampling unit for the survey. Results of this forest categorization are shown in Table 1.

A map showing all General Forest Exit locations and On-Forest Viewing Corridors was prepared. Both the categorization and the map are archived with the NVUM data for use in future sample years. NVUM also provided training materials, equipment, survey forms, funding, and the protocol necessary for the forest to gather visitor use information.

NVUM terms used in the site categorization framework are defined below:

Site day - a day that a recreation site or area is open to the public for recreation purposes.

Site types -- stratification of a forest recreation site or area into one of six broad categories as defined in the paper: Forest Service National Visitor Use Monitoring Process: Research Method Documentation, May 2001, English et al. The six categories are Day Use Developed sites (DUDS), Overnight Use Developed Sites (OUDS), General Forest Areas (GFA), Wilderness (WILD), On-Forest View Corridors (OFVC), and Off-Forest Recreation Activities (Off Forest).

Proxy – information collected at a recreation site or area that is related to the amount of recreation visitation received. The proxy information must pertain to all users of the site, it must be an exact tally of use and it must be one of the proxy types allowed in the NVUM pre-work directions (fee receipts, fee envelopes, mandatory permits, permanent traffic counters, ticket sales, and daily use records).

Nonproxy – a recreation site or area that does not have proxy information. At these sites a 24-hour traffic count is taken to measure total use for one day at the sample site.

Use level strata - for either proxy or nonproxy sites, each day that a recreation site or area was open for recreation, the site day was categorized as either high, medium or low exiting recreation traffic, or closed. Closed was defined as either administratively closed or “0” use. For example Sabino Picnic Area (a DUDS nonproxy site) is closed for 120 days, has high exiting use on open weekends (70 days) and medium exiting recreation use on open midweek days (175 days). This accounts for all 365 days of the year at Sabino Picnic area. This process was repeated for every developed site and area on the forest.

Constraints On Uses of the Results

The information presented here is valid and applicable at the forest level. It is not designed to be accurate at the district or site level. The quality of the visitation estimate is dependent on the preliminary sample design development, sampling unit selection, sample size and variability, and survey implementation. First, preliminary work conducted by forests to classify sites consistently according to the type and amount of visitation influences the quality of the estimate. Second, visitors sampled must be representative of the population of all visitors. Third, the number of visitors sampled must be large enough to adequately control variability. Finally, the success of the forest in accomplishing its assigned sample days, correctly filling out the interview forms, and following the sample protocol influence the error rate. The error rate and coefficient of variation will reflect all these factors. The smaller the error rate, the better the estimate. Interviewer error in asking the questions is not reflected in this error rate.

Some forest visitors were counted and included in the total forest use estimate but were not surveyed. This included visitors to recreation special events and organization camps.

The Forest Stratification Results

The results of the recreation site/area categorization and accomplished sample days done by this forest are displayed in Table 1. This table describes the population of available site days open for sampling. This information was obtained from work done by the forest prior to the actual surveys. Every site and area on the forest was categorized as high, medium, low, or closed exiting recreation use. This categorization was then used to randomly select sampling days for this forest. The project methods paper listed on page one describes the sampling process and sample allocation formulas in detail. Basically, at least eight sample days per stratum are randomly selected for sampling and more days are added if the stratum is very large. Also displayed on the table is the percentage of sample days per stratum accomplished by the forest.

Table 1. The population of available site days open for sampling and the percentage of days sampled within each stratum on the Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest.

	Nonproxy		Proxy
Strata	Total days in nonproxy population	Days sampled # percent	Total days in proxy population	Days sampled # percent
OUDS H	35	5 14.3
OUDS M	12	3 25.0	7334	11 0.1
OUDS L	195	7 3.4
DUDS H	212	10 4.7
DUDS M	181	9 4.9	572	4 0.7
DUDS L	4043	11 0.3
Wild H	220	3
Wild M	551	12	2080	3 0.1
Wild L	5814	15
GFA H	262	9 3.4
GFA M	653	16 2.4
GFA L	17255	19 0.1
TOTALS	29433	119	9986	18

CHAPTER 2: VISITATION ESTIMATES

Visitor Use Estimates

Nationally there were 209 million national forest visits plus or minus 17 percent error rate at the 80 percent confidence level. These visitors participated in 257 million site visits that included 14.3 million Wilderness visits. Additionally, another 258 million people enjoyed viewing national forest scenery from non-Forest Service managed travel ways. A national report with additional information is available (http://www.fs.fed.us/recreation/recuse/recuse.shtml).

Region 6, the “Pacific Northwest” region includes national forest units in Oregon and Washington. It received 33.9 million national forest visits +/-45.1 percent at the 80 percent confidence level. There were 41 million site visits and within these site visits were 3.1 million Wilderness site visits. As shown in Table 2, five national forests in region 6 were sampled in the first year of the project. The results from these Forests were then expanded to estimate total regional recreation use.

Table 2. Annual recreation use estimates by forest for region 6. 1/

	National Forest Visits		Site Visits		Wilderness Visits
Forest	Visits (millions)	Error Rate +/- %	Visits (millions)	Error Rate +/- %	Visits (millions)	Error Rate +/- %
Columbia River Gorge	2.0	14.7	3.2	13.9	0	0
Mt. Baker Snoqualmie	5.0	14.9	5.4	13.7	0.7	15.2
Ochoco	0.6	18.6	0.7	18.1	0.007	33.0
Okanogan	0.4	23.1	0.5	20.3	0.032	29.7
Olympic	0.5	13.9	0.5	12.7	0.04	34.2
R6 expanded use estimate for CY 2000 2/	33.9	45.1	40.9	14.6	3.1	75.8

1/ Region 6, the “Pacific Northwest” region includes national forest units in Oregon and Washington.

2/ Calendar Year

The Mt. Baker- Snoqualmie National Forest participated in the National Visitor Use Monitoring (NVUM) project from January 1 through December 31, 2000. The main contact person was Dave Redman. The forest was assigned 185 sample days and accomplished 141 (76 percent) of them. Eleven forest service employees conducted the interviews. One person did about 60 percent of the interviews and one person did about 30 percent of them. The forest Coordinator reported that the K-Hill pneumatic tube counter gave inconsistent counts about 25 percent of the time. He also reported the infrared counter over-counted about 25 percent of the time because of snow, leaves, and other weather related events. During the first winter of the sample (Jan 2000) the forest experienced the highest snowfall in 100 years. This meant snow closed trails, Wilderness access and some campgrounds until later than usual. Winter use was more sporadic because of access to the ski areas and poor weather for recreation.

Recreation use on the Mt. Baker- Snoqualmie National Forest for calendar year 2000 at the 80 percent confidence level was 5,006,932 national forest visits +/-14.9 percent. There were 5,379,362 site visits, an average of 1.1 site visits per national forest visit. Included in the site visit estimate are 700,814 Wilderness visits.

A total of 1489 visitors were contacted on the Mt. Baker- Snoqualmie National Forest during the sample year. Of these, 11.8 percent refused to be interviewed. Of the 1314 people who agreed to be interviewed, about 14.1 percent were not recreating, including 2.3 percent who just stopped to use the bathroom, 2.7 percent were working, 8.2 percent were just passing through, and 2.8 percent had some other reason to be there. About 85.9 percent of those interviewed said their primary purpose on the forest was recreation and 93.5 percent of them were exiting for the last time. Of the visitors leaving the forest agreeing to be interviewed, about 80 percent were last exiting recreation visitors (the target interview population).

Description of Visitors

Basic descriptors of the forest visitors were developed based upon those visitors interviewed then expanded to the national forestvisitor population. About sixty-two of the Mt. Baker- Snoqualmie National Forest visitors were male and 37.5 percent were female (Table 3). About eighteen percent of the visitors were under age 16 and not interviewed. About 2 percent of the visitors were over 70 years old and the 41-50 year old age group comprised almost 24 percent of the visitors. See Table 4 for a complete age group break-out.

Table 3. Gender distribution of Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest visitors.

Gender

62.5 percent males

37.5 percent females

Table 4. Age distribution of Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest visitors.

Age Group	Percent in group
Under 16	17.9
16-20	4.9
21-30	17.5
31-40	14.7
41-50	23.7
51-60	12.7
61-70	6.2
Over 70	2.4

Visitors categorized themselves into one of 7 race/ethnicity categories. Eighty-nine percent of the visitors were ethnically white and over six percent were Asian. Table 5 gives a detailed breakout by category.

Table 5. Race/ethnicity of Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest visitors.

Category	Total percent national forest visits
Black/African American	1.5
Asian	6.2
White	89.0
American Indian/Alaska Native	0.3
Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander	0.1
Spanish, Hispanic, or Latino	2.8
Other	0.1

Over nine percent (9.5 percent) of forest visitors were from another country. The survey did not collect country affiliation. Visitors most frequently reported zip codes are shown in Table 6. The forest can determine what percent of local visitor use they have by comparing the local forest zip codes to those listed. The zip code data for the forest will also soon be available on a database. There were 254 different zip codes reported. This information can be used with programs such as “fipzip” for more extensive analysis.

Table 6. Zip codes of Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest recreation visitors.

Zip Code	Frequency	Percent
98226	35	3.7
98115	25	2.6
98225	25	2.6
98103	19	2.0
98117	17	1.8
98052	15	1.6
98155	15	1.6
98270	14	1.5
98105	14	1.5
98223	13	1.4
98122	12	1.3
98026	11	1.2
98027	11	1.2
98002	11	1.2
98006	11	1.2
98012	11	1.2
98290	11	1.2
98022	10	1.1
98107	10	1.1
98102	10	1.1
98125	10	1.1
98208	10	1.1
98271	10	1.1
98272	10	1.1
230 other zip codes	1-9 each

Average number of people per vehicle and average axle count per vehicle in survey

There was an average of 2.9 people per vehicle on the forest. If buses at Day Use Developed sites were included in the forest average there are 5.8 people per vehicle. There was an average of 2.0 axles per vehicle for all site types combined. This information in conjunction with traffic counts was used to expand observations from individual interviews to the full forest population of recreation visitors. This information may be useful to forest engineers and others who use vehicle counters to conduct traffic studies.

CHAPTER 3: WILDERNESS VISITORS

Several questions on the NVUM survey form dealt directly with use of designated Wilderness. Wilderness was sampled 30 days on the forest. There were 66 percent male and 34 percent female visitors to Wilderness on the forest. See Table 7 for the age distribution.

Table 7. Age distribution of Wilderness visitors on Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest.

Age group	Percent in group
Under 16	12.2
16-20	0.4
21-30	70.3
31-40	4.6
41-50	10.5
51-60	1.5
61-70	0.4
Over 70	0.1

The majority of the Wilderness visitors were ethnically white (95.6 percent). See Table 8 for race/ethnicity distribution.

Table 8. Race/ethnicity of Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest Wilderness visitors.

Category	Total percent national forest visits
Black/African American	0.7
Asian	2.0
White	95.6
American Indian/Alaska Native	0
Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander	1.1
Spanish, Hispanic, or Latino	0
Other	0.6

The Wilderness visitors were from a wide variety of zip codes. There were 134 different zip codes reported. The distribution of Wilderness visitor zip codes is shown in Table 9.

Table 9. Zip codes of Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest Wilderness visitors.

Zip Code	Frequency	Percent
98225	12	4.2
98115	9	3.1
98117	9	3.1
98002	7	2.4
98027	7	2.4
98226	7	2.4
98052	6	2.1
98103	6	2.1
98107	6	2.1
98122	6	2.1
98011	5	1.7
98043	5	1.7
98109	5	1.7
98125	5	1.7
98031	4	1.4
98034	4	1.4
98102	4	1.4
98133	4	1.4
98155	4	1.4
98290	4	1.4
114 other zip codes	1-3 each

The average length of stay in Wilderness on the forest was 10.6 hours. In addition, all visitors were asked on how many different days they entered into designated Wilderness during their national forest visit even if we interviewed them at a developed recreation site or general forest area. Of those visitors who did enter designated Wilderness, they entered 1.1 different days.

Almost four percent (3.8) of those interviewed in Wilderness said they used the services of a commercial guide.

Table 10 gives detailed information about how the Wilderness visitors rated various aspects of the area. An example of how to interpret the information: None of the fourteen rated satisfaction categories for Wilderness shows that an item that was very important (5.0) to the visitor was also less than satisfactory (3.0 or less). However, looking at the cleanliness of restrooms 7 percent of visitors said the cleanliness was poor, 10 percent fair, 10 percent average, 37 percent good and 36 percent very good. Visitor satisfaction concerning cleanliness of restrooms in Wilderness may be improved.

Wilderness visitors on the average rated their visit 4.8 concerning crowding (on a scale from 1 to 10 where 1 means hardly anyone was there and 10 means the area was very crowded), meaning they felt there were an average number of people there. Twenty percent of visitors rated crowding a 5.

Table 10. Satisfaction of visitors at designated Wilderness on Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest.

Item Name	Item by percent response category by* P F A G VG	Mean Satisfaction Of visitors**	Mean Importance To visitors**
Scenery	0 0 2 13 85	4.8	4.8
Available parking	2 2 33 23 40	3.9	3.3
Parking lot condition	0 3 26 39 32	4.0	2.7
Cleanliness of restrooms	7 10 10 37 36	3.8	3.3
Condition of the natural environment	0 1 4 29 66	4.6	4.7
Condition of developed recreation facilities	1 0 8 50 41	4.3	3.5
Condition of forest roads	0 8 19 38 35	4.0	3.5
Condition of forest trails	0 3 4 51 42	4.3	3.8
Availability of information on recreation	0 3 28 46 23	3.9	3.2
Feeling of safety	0 0 9 34 57	4.5	3.6
Adequacy of signage	0 8 20 44 28	3.9	3.6
Helpfulness of employees	0 0 13 32 55	4.4	3.6
Attractiveness of the forest landscape	0 0 0 20 80	4.8	4.7
Value for fee paid	4 0 2 22 72	4.6	4.0

* Scale is: P = poor F = fair A = average G = good VG = very good

** Scale is: 1= not very satisfied /important 2 = somewhat satisfied/ important 3 = moderately satisfied/ important 4 = satisfied/ important 5 = very satisfied/ important

The Wilderness visitors on the forest spent an average of $175.57 within 50 miles of the Wilderness. They also spend an average of $1,836.05 annually on all outdoor recreation related expenditures (see Table 11).

Table 11. Average per person national forest trip expenditures within 50 miles of recreation site for Wilderness visitors to Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest.

Expenditure category	Average expenditure $00.00
Government owned lodging	0.00
Privately owned lodging	.013
Food/drink at restaurants and bars	18.43
Other food and beverages	7.68
Gasoline and oil	148.56
Other transportation (plane, bus, etc.)	.00
Activities (including guide fees and equipment rental)	.00
Entry, parking, or recreation use fees	.96
Souvenirs/ clothing	.04
Any other expenses	.00

CHAPTER 4: DESCRIPTION OF THE VISIT

Through the interview process a description of what visitors did during their national forest visit was also developed. This basic information includes participation in various recreation activities, length of stay on the national forest and at recreation sites, visitor satisfaction with national forest facilities and services, and economic expenditures.

The average length of stay on Mt. Baker- Snoqualmie National Forest for a national forest visit was 65.4 hours. Fourteen percent of visitors stayed overnight on the forest.

In addition, visitors reported how much time they spent on the specific recreation site at which they were interviewed. Average time spent varied considerably by site and is displayed in Table 12.

Table 12. Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest site visit length of stay (in hours) by site/type.

Site Visit Average	DUDS	OUDS	Wilderness	GFA
8.0	5.7	26.9	10.6	11.9

The average Mt. Baker- Snoqualmie National Forest visitor went to 1.1 sites during their national forest visit. Forest visitors sometimes go to just one national forest site or area during their visit. For example, downhill skiers may just go the ski area and nowhere else. Almost seventy-eight percent of visitors went only to the site at which they were interviewed.

During their visit to Mt. Baker- Snoqualmie National Forest the top five recreation activities of the visitors were downhill skiing/snowboarding, general relaxing, viewing wildlife/nature, viewing scenery, and hiking/walking. The visitor picked one of these activities as their primary activity for their current recreation visit to the forest. The top primary activities were downhill skiing/snowboarding, hiking/walking, general relaxing, viewing wildlife, and cross-county skiing/snow shoeing (Table 13). Please note that the results of the NVUM activity analysis DO NOT identify the types of activities visitors would like to have offered on the national forests. It also does not tell us about displaced forest visitors, those who no longer visit the forest because the activities they desire are not offered.

Table 13. Activity participation and primary activity for the Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest.

Activity	Percent participation	Percent who said it was their primary activity
Camping in developed sites (family or group)	4	1
Primitive camping	2	2
Backpacking, camping in unroaded areas	3	3
Resorts, cabins and other accommodations on Forest Service managed lands (private or Forest Service run)	4	2
Picnicking and family day gatherings in developed sites (family or group)	6	1
**Viewing wildlife, birds, fish, etc on national forest system lands	35	8
**Viewing natural features such as scenery, flowers, etc on national forest system lands	23	2
Visiting historic and prehistoric sites/area	0	0
Visiting a nature center, nature trail or visitor information services	6	0
Nature Study	4	0
General/other- relaxing, hanging out, escaping noise and heat, etc,	36	12
Fishing- all types	2	2
Hunting- all types	1	1
Off-highway vehicle travel (4-wheelers, dirt bikes, etc)	4	2
Driving for pleasure on roads	7	3
Snowmobile travel	4	3
Motorized water travel (boats, ski sleds, etc)	0	0
Other motorized land/air activities (plane, other)	0	0
Hiking or walking	21	13
Horseback riding	0	0
Bicycling, including mountain bikes	1	1
Non-motorized water travel (canoe, raft, etc.)	0	0
Downhill skiing or snowboarding	64	60
Cross-country skiing, snow shoeing	4	5
Other non-motorized activities (swimming, games and sports)	1	0
Gathering mushrooms, berries, firewood, or other natural products	2	1

* less than 1 percent participation

** first version of survey form used October through March had these two viewing categories combined as viewing scenery

Use of constructed facilities and designated areas

Twenty-five percent of the last exiting recreation visitors interviewed were asked about the types of constructed facilities and special designated areas they used during their visit. The most used facilities were downhill ski areas, non-motorized trails, Nordic ski areas and lodges or resorts. The most used specially designated areas were scenic byways and designated Wilderness. Table 14 provides a summary of reported facility and special area use.

Table 14. Percentage use of facilities and specially designated areas on the Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest.

Facility/ Area Type	Percent who said they used (national forest visits)
Developed campground	1
Swimming area	1
Hiking, biking, or horseback trails	17
Scenic byway	12
Designated Wilderness	12
Visitor center, museum	3
Forest Service office or other info site	3
Picnic area	7
Boat launch	0
Designated Off Road Vehicle area	1
Other forest roads	6
Interpretive site	0
Organization camp	0
Developed fishing site/ dock	0
Designated snowmobile area	0
Downhill ski area	65
Nordic ski area	16
Lodges/Resorts on National Forest System land	16
Fire Lookouts/Cabins Forest Service owned	0
Designated snow play area	0
Motorized developed trails	0
Recreation residences	0

Economic Information

Twenty-five percent of visitors interviewed were asked about the primary destination of their recreation trip. Since some people may incorporate a visit to the national forests as only part of a larger trip away from home, not all visitors chose the national forest as their primary destination. Seventy-eight percent of visitors went only to your national forest on their trip. Of the 22 percent of visitors that went to other areas, 64 percent said this forest was their primary trip destination.

Visitors were asked to select one of several substitute choices, if for some reason they were unable to visit this national forest. Their responses are shown in Table 15, 60 percent of the visitors would have gone somewhere other than this forest to pursue the same activity, while 19 percent would have come back to this forest another time.

The average recreation visitor on the forest was away from home on their trip for 30.6 hours. Seventy-eight percent of the visitors went only to this national forest on their trip and 22 percent said they had gone to other places such as other national forests, parks or recreation areas.

In the 12 months prior to the interview the visitors had come to this forest 5 times to participate in their identified main activity.

Table 15. Substitute behavior choices of visitors on Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest.

Substitute Choice	Percent who would have…
Gone somewhere else for the same activity	60
Gone somewhere else for a different activity	8
Come back another time	19
Stayed home	7
Gone to work at their regular job	6
None of these	0

Average yearly spending on outdoor recreation

In a typical year, visitors to this forest spent an average of $1,656.74 on all outdoor recreation activities including equipment, recreation trips, memberships, and licenses.

Visitors average spending on a trip to Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest

Visitors estimated the amount of money spent they spent within a 50 mile radius of the recreation site at which they were interviewed during their recreation trip to the area (which may include multiple national forest visits, as well as visits to other forests or parks). Table 16 shows average estimated expenditures by ten categories. These expenditures are higher than the true average spending per person per national forest visit. To obtain a correct average spending per national forest visit, these figures would have to be reduced to account for spending that is attributable to visits to other areas, and for visitors who make several separate national forest visits during their stay in the area. It is recommended that forests work with economists in their forest and region to obtain the correct spending profiles and estimate the economic impacts of this spending.

Table 16. Average per person national forest trip expenditures on the Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest within 50 miles of recreation site.

Expenditure Category	Average expenditure $00.00
Government owned lodging	2.59
Privately owned lodging	20.38
Food/drink at restaurants and bars	9.42
Other food and beverages	1.77
Gasoline and oil	8.93
Other transportation (plane, bus, etc.)	0.13
Activities (including guide fees and equipment rental)	4.95
Entry, parking, or recreation use fees	17.26
Souvenirs/ clothing	3.17
Any other expenses	0.35

Visitor Satisfaction Information

Twenty-five percent of visitors interviewed on the forest rated their satisfaction with the recreation facilities and services provided. Although their satisfaction ratings pertain to conditions at the specific site or area they visited, this information is not valid at the site-specific level. The survey design does not allow enough responses for every individual site or area on the forest to draw these conclusions. Rather, the information is generalized to overall satisfaction with facilities and services on the forest as a whole.

Visitors’ site-specific answers may be colored by a particular condition on a particular day at a particular site. For example, a visitor camping in a developed campground when all the forest personnel are off firefighter and the site has not been cleaned. Perhaps the garbage had not been emptied or the toilets cleaned during their stay, although the site usually receives excellent maintenance. The visitor may have been very unsatisfied with the cleanliness of restrooms.

In addition to how satisfied visitors were with facilities and services they were asked how important that particular facility or service was to the quality of their recreation experience. The importance of these elements to the visitors’ recreation experience is then analyzed in relation to their satisfaction. Those elements that were extremely important to a visitor’s overall recreation experience and the visitor rated as poor quality are those elements needing most attention by the forest. Those elements that were rated not important to the visitors’ recreation experience need the least attention.

Tables 17 through 19 summarize visitor satisfaction with the forest facilities and services by site type. In Table 17 note that visitors said the value for the fee paid is important (4.2) to the quality of their recreation experience and they rated their satisfaction with the value for fee paid as satisfied or good (4.2). The item by response category column in the second column of the table gives more information about how visitors answered the satisfaction question. For example, for value for fee paid 7 percent rated their satisfaction as poor, 7 percent as average, 40 percent as good, and 46 percent as very good. Although visitors on the average are satisfied at least 14 percent may be more satisfied if they perceived more value for the fee paid.

Table 18 summarizes information about visitor satisfaction with Overnight Developed sites such as campgrounds and resorts on the forest and Table 19 summarizes the visitor’s satisfaction with the general forest areas. Wilderness satisfaction is reported in Table 10.

Table 17. Satisfaction of visitors at Day Use Developed Sites on the Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest.

Item Name	Item by percent response category by* P F A G VG	Mean Satisfaction Of visitors**	Mean Importance To visitors**
Scenery	0 0 0 7 93	4.9	4.6
Available parking	0 7 26 40 27	3.9	4.1
Parking lot condition	0 0 20 53 27	4.1	3.6
Cleanliness of restrooms	0 0 27 40 33	4.0	4.0
Condition of the natural environment	0 0 13 27 60	4.5	4.3
Condition of developed recreation facilities	0 0 13 27 60	4.4	4.0
Condition of forest roads	0 0 17 25 58	4.4	3.6
Condition of forest trails	0 0 9 34 57	4.5	4.1
Availability of information on recreation	0 0 7 59 34	4.3	3.8
Feeling of safety	0 0 6 38 56	4.5	4.1
Adequacy of signage	0 0 7 53 40	4.3	3.8
Helpfulness of employees	0 0 6 25 69	4.6	4.2
Attractiveness of the forest landscape	0 0 0 14 86	4.9	4.3
Value for fee paid	7 0 7 40 46	4.2	4.2

* Scale is: P= poor F = fair A = average G = good VG = very good

** Scale is: 1= not very satisfied /important 2 = somewhat satisfied/ important 3 = moderately satisfied/ important 4 = satisfied/ important 5 = very satisfied/ important

Table 18. Satisfaction of visitors at Overnight Developed Sites Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest.

Item Name	Item by percent response category by* P F A G VG	Mean Satisfaction Of visitors**	Mean Importance To visitors**
Scenery	0 0 1 8 91	4.9	4.3
Available parking	3 0 4 30 63	4.5	4.2
Parking lot condition	0 10 17 16 57	4.2	3.9
Cleanliness of restrooms	0 0 8 57 35	4.3	4.3
Condition of the natural environment	1 0 1 28 70	4.7	4.4
Condition of developed recreation facilities	0 0 20 26 54	4.3	3.9
Condition of forest roads	3 7 6 29 55	4.2	4.1
Condition of forest trails	0 0 11 29 60	4.5	4.4
Availability of information on recreation	0 4 12 38 46	4.3	3.9
Feeling of safety	3 0 4 41 52	4.4	4.6
Adequacy of signage	0 0 13 38 49	4.4	4.1
Helpfulness of employees	3 0 14 22 61	4.4	4.3
Attractiveness of the forest landscape	0 1 3 5 91	4.9	4.6
Value for fee paid	1 3 22 33 41	4.1	4.1

* Scale is: P = poor F = fair A = average G = good VG = very good

** Scale is: 1= not very satisfied /important 2 = somewhat satisfied/ important 3 = moderately satisfied/ important 4 = satisfied/ important 5 = very satisfied/ important

Table 19. Satisfaction of visitors in General Forest Areas on Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest.

Item Name	Item by percent response category by* P F A G VG	Mean Satisfaction of visitors**	Mean Importance to visitors**
Scenery	0 1 7 28 64	4.6	4.4
Available parking	0 1 35 27 37	4.0	3.8
Parking lot condition	1 20 6 35 38	3.9	3.0
Cleanliness of restrooms	2 1 8 39 50	4.3	4.6
Condition of the natural environment	0 1 7 35 57	4.5	4.5
Condition of developed recreation facilities	0 1 9 38 52	4.4	4.1
Condition of forest roads	3 14 5 38 40	4.0	4.3
Condition of forest trails	0 1 11 38 50	4.4	4.2
Availability of information on recreation	1 4 30 29 36	4.0	4.5
Feeling of safety	0 11 2 33 54	4.3	4.4
Adequacy of signage	1 18 23 30 28	3.7	4.0
Helpfulness of employees	0 0 1 29 70	4.7	4.3
Attractiveness of the forest landscape	0 0 9 18 73	4.6	4.7
Value for fee paid	0 10 2 36 52	4.3	4.1

* Scale is: P = poor F = fair A = average G = good VG = very good

** Scale is: 1= not very satisfied /important 2 = somewhat satisfied/ important 3 = moderately satisfied/ important 4 = satisfied/ important 5 = very satisfied/ important

Crowding

Visitors rated their perception of how crowded the site or area they were recreating in felt to them. This information is useful when looking at the type of site the visitor was using since someone visiting a designated Wilderness may think 5 people is too many while someone visiting a developed campground may think 200 people is about right. Table 20 summaries mean perception of crowding by site type on a scale of 1 to 10 where 1 means hardly anyone was there, and a 10 means the area was perceived as overcrowded.

Table 20. Perception of crowding by visitor on the Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest by site type (site visits).

Perception of crowding		Overnight Developed Sites	Day Use Developed Sites	Wilderness		General Forest Areas
10 Over crowded					4	1
9			12		8
8	3		25		6	5
7	6		18		11	14
6	5		12		6	3
5	17		6		20	20
4	11		1		12	35
3	24				12	4
2	19		25		8	4
1 hardly anyone there	15		1		13	14

Other comments from visitors

Visitors were asked if there were any accommodations or assistance that the forest could offer that would be helpful to the visitor and anyone in their group to improve their recreation experience. If the forest received any responses, they are summarized below.

Table 21. List of comments received from visitors on the Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest.

Site Name	Is there any other accommodation or assistance we could offer? Comments
Enumclaw VIC- Day Use	Protections of lands bordering NP and Forest Service
Gold Cr Pond Picnic Interp. Day Use	Keep up the forest facilities Trash cans at site Cabin rents on FS land too high
Heather Meadows Day Use	More guided tours/ presentations
Mt. Baker Ski Area Day Use	Winter info board, message board Hookups for RVs
Snoqualmie Ski Area/ Summer- Day Use	More trail info
Snoqualmie Pass VIC Day Use	Ski area employees RUDE Better restrooms Restrooms Cleaner restrooms
1 FSR 792- Evans CR ORV general forest area	Wider trails for full sized trucks Have trail marked better/ garbage can
23 FSR 63 N Fk Skyomish R. Area general forest area	Want campfires
26 FH 7 @ Hemple Crk Area 4 general forest area	Don’t stop us on the roadway to do surveys
50 FSR 31 Area 8 general forest area	Make maps more available
6 FSR 7160 N Ranger Crk general forest area	Availability of maps
7 FSR 210 S Ranger Crk & Silver	ORV restrictions- limited area
8 FSR 7190 Crystal Mtn Rd	Better X-C Ski access Less visitor counters, more trails Intrigued fee system
Gold Creek SnoPark General forest area	Need one overall pass, clearer declination of pass requirements Developed restrooms @ snoparks Restrooms/ warming huts Better sign info Maps Latte Drive through More parking Consolidate fee system Level outhouse, cleaner
Money Creek CG Overnight site	Light in bathroom Showers
Goat Mountain TH Wilderness	More accurate information on trail length, bridges rotting
Greenwater TH Wilderness	Better signs No motorcycles/ better signage Better parking lot security/ mileage on sign (lot of vandalism has happened to their car twice) Mile markers Mile markers needed
Lake Serene TH Wilderness	To not pay a fee

25 September 2001

Rev 8 Feb 2002 (wilderness demographics)

Table of Contents

CHAPTER 1: SAMPLE DESIGN AND IMPLEMENTATION

Table 2. Annual recreation use estimates by forest for region 6. 1/