National Visitor Use
Monitoring Results
August 2001
USDA Forest Service
Region 9
WHITE MOUNTAIN NATIONAL
FOREST
Scope and purpose of the National Visitor Use
Monitoring project
CHAPTER 1:
SAMPLE DESIGN AND IMPLEMENTATION
The NVUM Process and Definition of Terms 3
Constraints On Uses of the Results 4
The Forest Stratification Results 4
CHAPTER 2:
VISITATION ESTIMATES
Table 2.
Recreation use estimates by forest for Region 9 1/
Table 3.
Gender distribution of White Mountain National Forest visitors. 7
Table 4.
Age distribution of White Mountain National Forest visitors. 7
Table 5.
Race/ethnicity of White Mountain National Forest visitors. 7
Table 6.
Zip Codes of White Mountain National Forest visitors. 8
Average number of people per vehicle and
average axle count per vehicle in survey
Table 7.
Age distribution of Wilderness visitors on White Mountain National
Forest.
Table 8.
Race/ethnicity of White Mountain National Forest Wilderness visitors. NVUM 2000
Table 9.
Zip Codes of White Mountain National Forest Wilderness visitors. NVUM 2000. 10
Table 10.
Satisfaction of visitors at designated Wilderness on White Mountain
National Forest.
Table 12.
White Mountain National Forest site visit length of stay (in hours) by
site/type.
Table 13.
Activity Participation and Primary Activity for White Mountain National
Forest.
Use of constructed facilities and designated
areas
Table 15.
Substitute behavior choices of visitors on White Mountain National
Forest. NVUM 2000
Average yearly spending on outdoor recreation. 15
Visitors average spending on a trip to this
national forest
Table 16.
Average per person national forest trip expenditures within 50 miles of
recreation site.
Visitor Satisfaction Information. 16
Table 17.
Satisfaction of visitors at Day Use Developed Sites - White Mountain
National Forest.
Table 18.
Satisfaction of visitors at Overnight Developed Sites - White Mountain
National Forest.
Table 19.
Satisfaction of visitors in General Forest Areas - White Mountain
National Forest.
Other comments from visitors 20
Table 21.
List of comments received from visitors on the White Mountain NF. NVUM 2000
The National Visitor Use Monitoring (NVUM) project was implemented as a response to the need to better understand the use of, importance of and satisfaction with national forest system recreation opportunities. National forest plans, Executive Order 12862 (Setting Customer Service Standards), and implementation of the national Recreation Agenda require this level of understanding. The agency’s Strategic and Annual Performance Plans require measuring trends in user satisfaction and use levels to be able to improve public service. It will assist Congress, Forest Service leaders, and program managers in making sound decisions that best serve the public and protect valuable natural resources by providing science based, reliable information about the type, quantity, quality and location of recreation use on public lands. The information collected is also important to external customers including state agencies and private industry. NVUM methodology and analysis is explained in detail in the research paper entitled: Forest Service National Visitor Use Monitoring Process: Research Method Documentation; English, Kocis, Zarnoch, and Arnold; SE Experiment Station; May 2001 (http://www.fs.fed.us/recreation/recuse/recuse.shtml).
In conjunction with guidelines and recommendations from the Outdoor Recreation Review Commission, the USDA-Forest Service has estimated recreation use and maintained records since the 1950s. Many publications on preferred techniques for estimating recreation use at developed and dispersed recreation sites were sponsored by Forest Service Research Stations and Universities. Implementation of these recommended methodologies takes specific skills, a dedicated work force, and strict adherence to an appropriate sampling plan. The earliest estimates were designed to estimate use at developed fee recreation facilities such as campgrounds. These estimates have always been fairly reliable because they are based upon readily observable, objective counts of items such as a fee envelope.
Prior to the
mid-1990s, the Forest Service used its Recreation Information Management (RIM)
system to store and analyze recreation use information. Forest managers often found they lacked the resources
to both manage the recreation facilities and simultaneously monitor visitor use
following the established protocols. In
1996, the RIM monitoring protocols were no longer required to be used.
In 1998 a group of research and forest staff were appointed to investigate and pilot a recreation sampling system that would be cost effective and provide statistical recreation use information at the forest, national, and regional level. Since that time, a permanent sampling system (NVUM) has been developed. Several Forest Service staff areas including Recreation, Wilderness, Ecosystem Management, Research and Strategic Planning and Resource Assessment are involved in implementing the program. A four-year cycle of data collection was established. In any given year, 25 percent of the national forests conduct on-site interviews and sampling of recreation visitors. The first 25 percent of the forests included in the first four-year cycle completed sampling in December of 2000. The last 25 percent of the first, four-year cycle forests will complete their sampling in September 2003. The cycle begins again in October 2004. This ongoing cycle will provide quality recreation information needed for improving citizen centered recreation services.
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.
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.
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 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 1 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.
|
Nonproxy
|
Proxy |
||
Strata |
Total
days in nonproxy population |
Days
sampled
# percent |
Total days
in proxy population |
Days
sampled # percent |
OUDS H |
0 |
|
10,803 |
32 0.3 |
OUDS M |
0 |
|
|
|
OUDS L |
0 |
|
|
|
DUDS H |
715 |
14 1.9 |
1,789 |
13 0.7 |
DUDS M |
632 |
12 1.9 |
|
|
DUDS L |
2,334 |
9 0.4 |
|
|
Wild H |
139 |
9 6.5 |
|
|
Wild M |
1,212 |
14 1.2 |
|
|
Wild L |
5,056 |
10 0.2 |
|
|
GFA H |
3,169 |
36 1.3 |
|
|
GFA M |
6,566 |
38 0.6 |
|
|
GFA L |
22,413 |
18 0 .1 |
|
|
TOTALS |
42,236 |
160 |
12,592 |
45 |
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 9, the “Eastern Region” includes national forest units in Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, New Hampshire, Maine, Pennsylvania, Vermont, West Virginia and Wisconsin. It received 34.2 million National Forest visits +/-29.4 percent at the 80 percent confidence level. As shown in Table 2, four national forests in the Eastern Region were sampled in the first year of the project. The results from these forests were then expanded to estimate total regional recreation use as explained in the project methods paper listed on page 1.
The White
Mountain National Forest participated in the National Visitor Use Monitoring
(NVUM) project from January 1 through December 31, 2000. The main contact person was Gary Davis. The surveys were accomplished using 27
Forest Service employees. The forest
was assigned 206 sample days and accomplished 100 percent of these. The forest coordinator estimates the traffic
counters were accurate at 100 percent of the time with the pneumatic counters and
at least 75 percent accurate with the infrared counters.
Recreation use on the White
Mountain National Forest for calendar year 2000 at the 80 percent confidence
level was 2.7 million national forest visits +/- 25.4 percent. There were 3.5 million site visits, an
average of 1.3 site visits per national forest visit. Included in the site visit estimate are 74,118 Wilderness visits.
A total of 995visitors were contacted on this forest during the sample
year. Of these, 14 percent refused to
be interviewed. Of the 858 people who
agreed to be interviewed, about 11 percent were not recreating, including 3.7
percent who just stopped to use the bathroom, 1.6 percent were working, 4.2
percent were just passing through and 1.7 percent had some other reason. About 89 percent of those interviewed said
their primary purpose on the forest was recreation and 91 percent of them were
exiting for the last time. Of the
visitors leaving the forest agreeing to be interviewed, about 81 percent were
last exiting recreation visitors (our target interview population).
|
National Forest Visits |
Site Visits |
Wilderness Visits |
|||
Forest |
Visits (millions) |
Error Rate |
Visits (millions) |
Error Rate |
(millions) |
|
Superior |
2.4 |
14.3 |
4.3 |
13.3 |
0.3 |
0 |
Hiawatha |
0.7 |
13.3 |
0.8 |
12.3 |
0.01 |
48.9 |
White
Mountain |
2.7 |
25.4 |
3.5 |
23.3 |
0.07 |
30.7 |
Green
Mtn & Finger Lakes |
3.4 |
13.1 |
3.5 |
12.9 |
0.05 |
16.5 |
R9
2/ expanded use estimate for CY2000 |
34.5 |
22.3 |
45.8 |
22.3 |
1.6 |
49.4 |
1/ Region 9, the “Eastern Region” includes
national forest units in Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Michigan, Minnesota,
Missouri, New Hampshire, Maine, Pennsylvania, Vermont, West Virginia and
Wisconsin.
2/ Calendar year
Basic descriptors of forest visitors were
developed based upon those visitors interviewed then expanded to the NF visitor
population. Sixty-five percent of the
national forest visitors were male and 35 percent were female (Table 3). Eleven percent of visitors were under age 16
and not interviewed. About one percent
of visitors were over 70 years old and the 41-50 year old age group contained
43 percent of the visitors. See Table 4
for a complete age group breakout.
Gender |
65 percent males |
35 percent females |
|
Age group |
Percent in group |
Under 16 |
10.7 |
|
|
16-20 |
1.1 |
|
21-30 |
10.0 |
|
31-40 |
18.4 |
|
41-50 |
42.6 |
|
51-60 |
10.2 |
|
61-70 |
5.9 |
|
Over 70 |
1.1 |
Visitors categorized
themselves into one of 7 race/ethnicity
categories. Over ninety-three percent
of visitors were ethnically white. Table
5 gives a detailed breakout by category.
Category |
Total
percent national forest visits |
Black/African American |
2.1 |
Asian |
2.4 |
White |
93.4 |
American Indian/Alaska Native |
2.1 |
Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander |
0 |
Spanish, Hispanic, or Latino |
0 |
Other |
0 |
About two percent of the 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 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. This
information can be used with programs such as “fipzip” for more extensive
analysis.
Zip Code |
Frequency |
Percent |
02134 |
3 |
2.4 |
02478 |
3 |
2.4 |
03264 |
3 |
2.4 |
01880 |
2 |
1.6 |
02338 |
2 |
1.6 |
02421 |
2 |
1.6 |
02780 |
2 |
1.6 |
03584 |
2 |
1.6 |
03820 |
2 |
1.6 |
04038 |
2 |
1.6 |
105 other zip codes listed |
1 each |
|
There was an average of 2.3 people per vehicle on this
forest with an average of two axles per vehicle. 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
is useful to forest engineers and others who use vehicle counters to conduct
traffic studies.
Several questions on the NVUM survey form dealt directly with use of designated Wilderness. Wilderness was sampled on the forest on 33 days. There were 93 percent male and 7 percent female visitors to Wilderness on the Forest. See Table 7 for the age distribution.
Age group |
Percent in group |
Under 16 |
1.5 |
16-20 |
19.4 |
21-30 |
12.0 |
31-40 |
25.1 |
41-50 |
35.4 |
51-60 |
2.3 |
61-70 |
4.3 |
Over 70 |
0 |
The majority of Wilderness visitors were ethnically
white (98.6 percent). See Table 8 for
race/ethnicity distribution.
Wilderness visitors were from a wide variety
of zip codes. The distribution of
Wilderness visitor zip codes is shown in Table 9.
The average length of stay in Wilderness on
this forest was 117 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 1.2 different days.
2.5 percent 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: Visitors rated the
importance of adequate signage as a 4.7 (important) and they rated their
satisfaction with signage in the area as 3.5.
This means this forest could increase visitor satisfaction on
signage. Sixty-one percent of visitors
said signage was average and 24 percent said signage was good.
Wilderness visitors on the average rated
their visit 2.9 (on a scale from 1 to
10) concerning crowding, meaning they found the crowds about average. None said the area they visited was
overcrowded (a 10 on the scale) and 29 percent said there was hardly anyone
there (1 on the scale). Thirty-three
percent of visitors rated crowding in Wilderness a 3 (some people there).
The Wilderness visitors on this forest spent
an average of $162.84 within 50 miles of the Wilderness. They also spend an average of $1,242.82
annually on all outdoor recreation related expenditures (see Table 11).
Category |
Total percent national forest visits |
Black/African American |
0 |
Asian |
0.8 |
White |
98.6 |
American Indian/Alaska Native |
0 |
Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander |
0 |
Spanish, Hispanic, or Latino |
0.2 |
Other |
0.4 |
Zip Code |
Frequency |
Percent |
03570 |
18 |
2.3 |
03581 |
7 |
1.1 |
03584 |
7 |
1.1 |
03755 |
7 |
1.1 |
03818 |
7 |
1.1 |
03860 |
6 |
1.0 |
03038 |
5 |
0.8 |
03264 |
5 |
0.8 |
03574 |
5 |
0.8 |
03582 |
5 |
0.8 |
03595 |
5 |
0.8 |
03838 |
5 |
0.8 |
01880 |
4 |
0.6 |
02139 |
4 |
0.6 |
03561 |
4 |
0.6 |
03820 |
4 |
0.6 |
04106 |
4 |
0.6 |
422 other zip codes listed |
3,2, or 1 each |
|
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 |
4.5 |
Available parking |
0 0 0 38 62 |
4.6 |
3.4 |
Parking lot condition |
0 0 0 9 91 |
4.9 |
3.6 |
Cleanliness of restrooms |
0 12 3 0 85 |
4.8 |
4.1 |
Condition of the natural environment |
0 0 0 71 29 |
4.3 |
4.9 |
Condition of developed recreation facilities |
0 0 0 4 96 |
4.9 |
3.5 |
Condition of forest roads |
0 0 0 35 65 |
4.6 |
3.1 |
Condition of forest trails |
0 0 15 41 44 |
4.3 |
4.1 |
Availability of information on recreation |
0 0 17 57 26 |
4.1 |
3.9 |
Feeling of safety |
0 0 0 10 90 |
4.9 |
3.2 |
Adequacy of signage |
0 1 61 24 14 |
3.5 |
4.7 |
Helpfulness of employees |
0 0 0 30 70 |
4.7 |
2.6 |
Attractiveness of the forest landscape |
0 0 0 30 70 |
4.7 |
4.7 |
Value for fee paid |
0 0 6 2 92 |
4.9 |
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
Expenditure Category |
Average expenditure $00.00 |
Government owned lodging |
9.76 |
Privately owned lodging |
25.59 |
Food/drink at restaurants and bars |
29.61 |
Other food and beverages |
28.63 |
Gasoline and oil |
23.44 |
Other transportation (plane, bus, etc.) |
0 |
Activities (including guide fees and equipment
rental) |
0 |
Entry, parking, or recreation use fees |
30.37 |
Souvenirs/ clothing |
8.88 |
Any other expenses |
0 |
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 White Mountain National Forest for a
national forest visit was 27.5 hours.
Thirty-three 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.
Site visit Average |
DUDS |
OUDS |
Wilderness |
GFA |
19.6 |
2.8 |
39.5 |
117 |
23.6 |
The average White Mountain National Forest visitor went to 1.3 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. Eighty-six percent of visitors went only to the site at which
they were interviewed.
During their visit to White Mountain National Forest the top five
recreation activities of the visitors were viewing wildlife and natural
features, general sightseeing, hiking and walking, general relaxation, driving
for pleasure on forest roads, cross-country skiing, and developed camping (see
Table 13). Each visitor also picked on
of these activities as their primary activity for their current recreation
visit to this forest. The top primary
activities were cross-country skiing, developed camping, downhill skiing,
picnicking, general relaxing, and hiking/walking (see Table 13). 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.
Activity |
Percent participation |
Percent who said it was their primary
activity |
Camping in developed
sites (family or group) |
31 |
23 |
Primitive camping |
1 |
0 |
Backpacking, camping in
unroaded areas |
12 |
5 |
Resorts, cabins and
other accommodations on FS managed lands (private or FS run) |
5 |
2 |
Picnicking and family
day gatherings in developed sites (family or group) |
25 |
18 |
Viewing wildlife,
birds, fish, etc on NFS lands* |
61 |
11 |
Viewing natural
features such as scenery, flowers, etc on NFS lands* |
78 |
11 |
Visiting historic and
prehistoric sites/area |
4 |
2 |
Visiting a nature
center, nature trail or VIS |
12 |
2 |
Nature Study |
9 |
3 |
General/other-
relaxing, hanging out, escaping noise and heat, etc, |
39 |
16 |
Fishing- all types |
1 |
0 |
Hunting- all types |
1 |
0 |
Off-highway vehicle
travel (4-wheelers, dirt bikes, etc) |
4 |
0 |
Driving for pleasure on
roads |
32 |
2 |
Snowmobile travel |
1 |
1 |
Motorized water travel
(boats, ski sleds, etc) |
0 |
0 |
Other motorized land/air activities
(plane, other) |
1 |
0 |
Hiking or walking |
48 |
16 |
Horseback riding |
1 |
0 |
Bicycling, including
mountain bikes |
3 |
1 |
Non-motorized water
travel (canoe, raft, etc.) |
1 |
0 |
Downhill skiing or
snowboarding |
21 |
21 |
Cross-country skiing,
snow shoeing |
32 |
28 |
Other non-motorized activities
(swimming, games and sports) |
5 |
3 |
Gathering mushrooms,
berries, firewood, or other natural products |
5 |
1 |
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; visitor centers and museums, forest roads, and developed
campgrounds. The most used specially
designated areas were Nordic and non-motorized trails, scenic byways and
Wilderness. Table 14 provides a summary
of facility and special area use.
Facility/ Area Type |
Percent who said they
used (national forest visits) |
Developed campground |
8 |
Swimming area |
5 |
Hiking, biking, or horseback trails |
60 |
Scenic byway |
21 |
Designated Wilderness |
13 |
Visitor center, Museum |
16 |
FS Office or other info site |
2 |
Picnic Area |
4 |
Boat launch |
0 |
Designated Off Road Vehicle area |
1 |
Other Forest roads |
13 |
Interpretive site |
1 |
Organization camp |
0 |
Developed fishing site/ dock |
1 |
Designated Snowmobile area |
0 |
Downhill Ski area |
1 |
Nordic Ski area |
55 |
Lodges/Resorts on FS land |
5 |
Fire Lookouts/Cabins FS owned |
0 |
Designated Snow play area |
0 |
Motorized Developed trails |
0 |
Recreation Residences |
0 |
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 this national forest as their primary destination. Ninety-three percent of national forest
visitors 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. Over 45 percent of the
visitors would have gone somewhere else for the same activity if this forest
were not available to them.
The average recreation visitor on this forest was away from home on their trip for 56 hours. Eighty-three percent went to just this national forest on their trip and 17 percent said they had gone to other places such as other national forests, parks or recreation areas.
In the 12 months prior to their interview the visitors had visited this
forest 4.3 times to participate in their identified main activity.
Substitute Choice |
Percent who would
have…. |
Gone
somewhere else for the same activity |
45.7 |
Gone
somewhere else for a different activity |
24.6 |
Come back
another time |
15.4 |
Stayed
home |
1.6 |
Gone
to work at their regular job |
1.2 |
None
of these |
11.5 |
In a typical year, visitors to this forest spent
an average of $4,714.46 on all outdoor recreation activities including
equipment, recreation trips, memberships, and licenses.
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.
Expenditure Category |
Average expenditure $00.00 |
|
Government owned lodging |
2.24 |
|
Privately owned lodging |
442.49 |
|
Food/drink at restaurants and bars |
156.93 |
|
Other food and beverages |
19.76 |
|
Gasoline and oil |
33.75 |
|
Other transportation (plane, bus, etc.) |
6.31 |
|
Activities (including guide fees and equipment rental) |
24.96 |
|
Entry, parking, or recreation use fees |
6.47 |
|
Souvenirs/ clothing |
35.19 |
|
Any other expenses |
3.80 |
Twenty-five percent of
visitors interviewed on the forest were asked about 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 this
forest to draw these conclusions.
Rather, the information is generalized to overall satisfaction with
facilities and services on this forest as a whole. Visitor’s site-specific answers could be colored by a particular
condition on a particular day at a particular site. For example, the visitor was camping in a developed campground
and all forest personnel were off fighting wildfires. 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 we asked them how important that particular facility or service was to the quality of their recreation experience. The importance of these items to the visitors’ recreation experience is then analyzed in relation to their satisfaction. Those items that were both extremely important to a visitor’s overall recreation experience and the visitor rated as poor quality are those items needing the most attention by this forest. Those items that were rated not important to the visitors’ recreation experience need the least attention.
Tables 17 through19 summarize the visitor’s satisfaction with forest facilities and services by site type. In Table 18 you can see that visitors said the condition of developed facilities at overnight developed sites was important to them (4.4) and they rated the condition of developed facilities as average (3.7). The item by response category column in the second column of the table gives more information about how visitors answered the satisfaction rating. For example, 38 percent of visitors rated their satisfaction as average, 56 percent as good, and 6 percent as very good. This means you can increase visitor satisfaction by improving the condition of the developed facilities at overnight sites.
Table 18 summarizes information about visitor satisfaction with Overnight Developed sites such as campgrounds and resorts on this forest and Table 19 summarizes the visitor’s satisfaction with the general forest areas. Wilderness satisfaction is reported in Table 10.
Item Name |
Item by
percent response category by* P F A G VG |
Mean ** Satisfaction Of
visitors |
Mean** Importance To
visitors |
Scenery |
0 0 12 14 74 |
4.6 |
4.5 |
Available parking |
1 0 13 42 44 |
4.3 |
3.9 |
Parking lot condition |
0 0 29 20 51 |
4.2 |
3.3 |
Cleanliness of
restrooms |
0 0 17 78 5 |
3.9 |
3.4 |
Condition of the
natural environment |
0 0 0 13 87 |
4.9 |
4.9 |
Condition of developed
recreation facilities |
0 0 1 45 54 |
4.5 |
4.1 |
Condition of forest
roads |
0 0 0 46 54 |
4.5 |
3.4 |
Condition of forest
trails |
0 0 0 23 77 |
4.8 |
4.4 |
Availability of
information on recreation |
0 0 1 51 48 |
4.5 |
4.0 |
Feeling of safety |
0 0 1 15 84 |
4.8 |
4.3 |
Adequacy of signage |
0 0 1 58 41 |
4.4 |
4.2 |
Helpfulness of
employees |
0 0 1 14 85 |
4.8 |
4.4 |
Attractiveness of the
forest landscape |
0 0 1 13 86 |
4.8 |
4.7 |
Value for fee paid |
0 1 14 14 71 |
4.6 |
4.4 |
* 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
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 21 79 |
4.8 |
4.8 |
Available parking |
0 0 26 4 70 |
4.4 |
3.2 |
Parking lot condition |
0 5 32 12 51 |
4.1 |
2.8 |
Cleanliness of
restrooms |
0 0 19 30 51 |
4.3 |
4.6 |
Condition of the
natural environment |
0 0 0 33 67 |
4.7 |
4.8 |
Condition of developed
recreation facilities |
0 0 38 56 6 |
3.7 |
4.4 |
Condition of forest
roads |
0 0 51 25 24 |
3.7 |
3.3 |
Condition of forest
trails |
0 0 0 65 35 |
4.3 |
4.4 |
Availability of
information on recreation |
29 0 29 21 21 |
3.1 |
3.4 |
Feeling of safety |
0 0 29 35 36 |
4.1 |
4.4 |
Adequacy of signage |
0 0 19 62 19 |
4.0 |
3.8 |
Helpfulness of
employees |
0 0 0 17 83 |
4.8 |
4.3 |
Attractiveness of the
forest landscape |
0 0 14 19 67 |
4.5 |
4.8 |
Value for fee paid |
0 0 0 11 89 |
4.9 |
4.5 |
* 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
Item Name |
Item by
percent response category by* P F A G VG |
Mean ** Satisfaction
of
visitors |
Mean** Importance To
visitors |
Scenery |
0 2 1 19 78 |
4.7 |
4.8 |
Available parking |
0 0 10 27 63 |
4.5 |
3.7 |
Parking lot condition |
0 0 12 38 50 |
4.4 |
3.3 |
Cleanliness of
restrooms |
0 0 20 36 44 |
4.2 |
4.1 |
Condition of the
natural environment |
0 0 0 17 83 |
4.8 |
4.8 |
Condition of developed
recreation facilities |
0 0 0 38 62 |
4.6 |
4.2 |
Condition of forest
roads |
0 0 10 38 52 |
4.4 |
3.9 |
Condition of forest
trails |
0 0 11 27 62 |
4.5 |
4.6 |
Availability of
information on recreation |
1 5 10 35 49 |
4.3 |
4.4 |
Feeling of safety |
0 0 0 26 74 |
4.7 |
4.2 |
Adequacy of signage |
0 2 16 26 56 |
4.3 |
4.5 |
Helpfulness of
employees |
0 0 1 31 68 |
4.7 |
4.7 |
Attractiveness of the
forest landscape |
0 0 3 9 88 |
4.8 |
4.8 |
Value for fee paid |
0 0 5 26 69 |
4.6 |
4.7 |
* 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
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 while a 10 means the area was perceived as overcrowded.
Perception
of crowding |
Overnight Developed Sites |
Day Use
Developed Sites |
Wilderness |
General
Forest Areas |
10 Over crowded |
0 |
0 |
0 |
3 |
9 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
8 |
14 |
0 |
1 |
4 |
7 |
0 |
13 |
2 |
4 |
6 |
19 |
1 |
10 |
5 |
5 |
38 |
39 |
1 |
18 |
4 |
8 |
32 |
13 |
19 |
3 |
19 |
1 |
34 |
7 |
2 |
2 |
13 |
10 |
11 |
1 hardly anyone there |
0 |
1 |
29 |
29 |
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 this forest received any responses, they are summarized in Table 21.
Site Name |
Is there any other accommodation or assistance we could offer? Comments |
Bretton Woods DUDS |
Lunch facility |
Covered Bridge CG DUDS |
Get rid of required parking pass |
Ellis Falls Scenic Area- DUDS |
More trail information Keeping gated roads open |
Lincoln Woods- DUDS |
Reflective lettering on CG signs |
Wildcat Ski Area- DUDS |
Elimate user fee |
Sabbaday Brook Trail GFA |
Do away with fee demo |
Great Gulf TH- GFA |
Bear boxes at campsites |
Pinkham Notch Camp GFA |
Watershed protection |
Beaver Bk X-C- GFA |
One sticker for all forest fee systems |
Old Bridge Path- GFA |
Unclear signage on fee pilot program. Make it easier More information on recreation opportunities |
Zealand Road FR 16 GFA |
Shower facilities at Zealand Hot |
Campton Group OUDS |
Showers too expensive for duration, need trailhead info |
Fourth Iron Walk in CG OUDS |
More information on bears |
Tripoli Road OUDS |
More website information |
Rev 12 Sept 2001
Rev 8 Feb 2002 (wilderness demographics)