Federal land agencies want to know how many people are hiking, camping and sightseeing on public lands -- and are testing dozens of pilot projects to get better data.
Traditional methods for tracking recreation numbers include trailhead surveys or vehicle counters. But those techniques don’t capture all visitors, especially in less popular areas.
Last year, Congress passed the EXPLORE Act, a package of measures to boost outdoor recreation access as record numbers participate in outdoor activities. It also directed agencies to study new visitation monitoring methods.
Federal agencies including the Interior Department followed up in late June by announcing dozens of pilot projects to evaluate some of the latest techniques. Some are new projects, while others are studies that have already been completed.
Many of the newer methods fall under the category of “digital mobility data,” said Spencer Wood, who directs the Outdoor Recreation and Data Lab at the University of Washington.
Several of Wood’s studies were included in the list of federal pilot projects, such as ones that analyze aggregated call phone data and public social media.
“They post a photograph that says they are having a great time mountain biking – that’s useful information,” he said. “We can observe that by looking at the content of images that people share publicly on social media platforms, or we can understand people's activities by looking at the way they write a trip report.”
Another option that Wood has studied involves tracking how many people participate in virtual citizen science projects on public lands. Federal agencies say these innovative approaches are promising but need more studying.
Examples of projects to study outdoor recreation visitation:
- Bryce Canyon National Park (Utah): Researchers from Pennsylvania State University will use cellphone location data to estimate visitor patterns at Bryce Canyon National Park. They will compare it with data collected in the field to estimate the relationship between park entrance numbers and visits to specific sites.
- Forest Service visitor surveys: The Forest Service will analyze visitor surveys to better understand recreation that isn't well monitored, including backcountry skiing, snowmobiling and rock climbing.
- Salmon River (Idaho): A previous study along the Salmon River used game cameras to count boats and people floating the river, along with automatic counters to track vehicles heading to the river.
Wood said analyzing all the projects could help inform federal land management decisions.
“That might involve questions about what type of infrastructure do they build, where do they improve roads, or where might they improve parking, or where might they work on trail development?”
The federal government is accepting public comments on the pilot projects through July 29.
This story was produced by the Mountain West News Bureau, a collaboration between Wyoming Public Media, Nevada Public Radio, Boise State Public Radio in Idaho, KUNR in Nevada, KUNC in Colorado and KANW in New Mexico, with support from affiliate stations across the region. Funding for the Mountain West News Bureau is provided in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
