Starting in October voluntary surveys and traffic counts at recreation sites.
Beginning October 1, Forest Service employees will be stationed in developed and dispersed recreation sites and along Forest Service roads on the Deschutes and Ochoco National Forests to gather information on visitor’s use of these national forests.
Employees will collect traffic and visitation data as part of the “National Visitor Use Monitoring” program, a standardized survey process utilized by the Forest Service nation-wide.
These surveys happen every five years and provide a tool to help estimate the effects of increasing visitation to Central Oregon forests. Survey data will help the Forest Service and tourism groups understand visitors’ satisfaction with their visits and the economic impact of their visits on the local economy.
Survey sites will be located at safe locations for motorists to pull off the road or for recreationists to step off the trail. Interviewers will ask a series of questions about forest users’ experiences while on the National Forest. The survey process will take between 10 to 15minutes. Surveys are voluntary and all information collected is confidential.
Forest Service interviewers will be conducting surveys throughout the winter and the 2018 summer recreation season. Information collected in this national study will be used for local, state and congressional planning. In order to ensure data represents all forest-users, interviewers need to collect data from local users, as well as, those visiting the area. Forest-users can interview multiple times throughout the data collection period.
If you have any questions about the “National Visitor Use Monitoring” program you can visit: http://www.fs.fed.us/recreation/programs/nvum.
For questions about local surveys on the Deschutes and Ochoco National Forests please contact: Jaimie Olle, jaimiemolle@fs.fed.us, (541) 383-5578 or Dennis Benson, denniscbenson@fs.fed.us, (541) 541-604-4570.
