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Soon, you may see Forest Service employees working in developed and dispersed recreation sites and along Forest Service roads wearing bright orange vests and hanging out near a “Traffic Survey Ahead” sign. Just like the postman these folks may be out in all kinds of weather conditions and they want to talk to you. These well trained interviewers want to know about your visit to the national forest.
This on-going national forest survey has already been conducted once on every National Forest in the country. We are now returning 5 years later to update the information, as well as to look at recreation trends over time. The information is useful for forest planning and local community tourism planning. The more we know about visitors, especially their satisfaction and desires, the better managers can provide for those needs. The surveys provide National Forest managers with an estimate of how many people actually recreate on federal lands and what activities they engage in while there. Other important information forest and tourism planners need includes, how satisfied people are with their visits and the economic impact of your recreation visit on the local economy. Many small towns are struggling and hope that tourism may help strengthen their communities. The information gathered in the surveys is one way to estimate the effects.
This recreation visitor program gathers basic visitor information. The interviews last about 8 – 15 minutes. The questions visitors are asked include: where you recreated on the Forest, how many people are you traveling with, how long have you been on the Forest, what other recreation sites you visited while on the Forest, and how satisfied were you with the facilities and services provided. About a third of the visitors will be asked to complete a confidential survey on recreation spending during their trip.
It’s important for survey takers to talk with local people using the forest as well as out-of-area visitors. We want all types of visitors represented in the study, so if you see us out there please stop for an interview. All information you provide is confidential and the survey is voluntary. If you have any questions about this program you can visit our web site athttp://www.fs.fed.us/recreation/programs/nvumor contact Hope Roenfanz at 907-288-7709.
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