Pacific Southwest Research Station

Pacific Southwest Research Station
800 Buchanan Street
West Annex Building
Albany, CA 94710-0011

(510) 559-6300

Volunteers in Communication Settings at California State Parks

Increasingly volunteers are used by park, forest, or recreation agencies to staff visitor centers and similar facilities, or to provide information services to the recreating public. While much is known about the general trend toward the use of volunteers in non-profit or governmental settings, there is little research that focuses on volunteers in roles where communication with the public is a primary responsibility. To effectively manage recreation resources, volunteers need to be better understood, and their efforts evaluated in a managerial context. This cooperative research study among California State University-Long Beach (with Dan Wegner), California Department of Parks and Recreation, and PSW Station is systematically investigating these issues.

Customer Service at Visitor Centers in a Fee Environment

Comment cards and visitor surveys are accepted techniques to gauge public opinion about recreation in general and visitor center operations in particular. Customer service standards and performance benchmarking are often tied to this data. Settings where some recreational opportunities are free and others are fee based lead to interesting problems for managers and visitors alike. One issue for visitor center managers is the desire to offer information services to as many people as possible while recovering some costs. A related issue is assessing what types of services or experiences visitors are willing to pay for, and which form of fees are preferred. A cooperative research study is underway among Pennsylvania State University (with Alan Graefe and Robert Burns), Inyo NF, and PSW Station to assess opinions and preferences of visitors to the Mono Basin NF Scenic Area about communication, fee issues, and recreation use of the area.

Visitors' Service Quality Assessment

Service quality and market assessment studies are needed to assist with efficient delivery of recreational opportunities, especially in high use recreation settings. Managers have become increasingly concerned with the provision and measurement of quality services. This study among Arizona State University (with Dwayne Baker and Randy Virden), NFs in Arizona, the Tennessee Valley Authority, and PSW Station is investigating service quality as a managerial tool by studying visitors' outdoor recreation preferences and experiences, and developing ways to measure it. Study objectives include an exploration of important elements that define a quality recreation experience, information needs, behavioral choices, and preferences for managerial actions. To date, focus groups have been conducted and questionnaire items have been developed for a selected range of outdoor recreation activities.

Information Needs and Motivations of Visitor Center Users

Resource managers are challenged to inform site visitors about forests, their management, recreational opportunities, and safe or appropriate recreational behaviors. One venue of communication between the Forest Service and forest users is the visitor information center. This task is relatively complex because visitors may vary widely within background and in the reasons they stop by. This study, among California State University-Long Beach (with Katherine James), the Angeles and San Bernardino NFs, and PSW Station, looks at users' knowledge, preferences, visitor center use, and information seeking behavior at Big Bear Discovery Center and Grassy Holly Visitor Center. To date, a survey has been conducted at each site.

Other work

I am also working on studies of the social networks of recreationists (with Patricia Stokowski, University of VT), and on the efficacy of interpreters at trail walks and campfire programs (with Mark Morgan, Kansas State), and on market segmentation approaches to tailor customer service protocols to local conditions (with multiple authors).