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Visitor use surveys underway on KNF |
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May 21, 2017 |
If you head into Montana, you may soon see more
Forest Service employees working in developed
and dispersed recreation sites and along Forest
Service roads on the Kootenai National Forest.
They will be wearing bright orange vests and be
near a sign that says “Traffic Survey Ahead.”
Just like the postman these folks may be out in
all kinds of adverse weather conditions. These
folks are waiting to talk to you, so please pull
over for an interview.
This is an on-going national forest survey,
which was last conducted on the Kootenai in
2012. They are now returning five years later to
update the information previously gathered as
well as to look at recreation trends over time.
The information is useful for forest planning
and even local community tourism planning. It
provides the National Forest managers with an
estimate of how many people recreate on the
forest and what activities they engage in while
there. Other important information forest and
tourism planners need includes how satisfied
people were with their visit and the economic
impact of your recreation visit on the local
economy.
Information collected in this national study
will be used in local planning, at the state
level, and even by Congress.
The more they know about the visitors,
especially their satisfaction and desires, the
better managers can provide for their needs.
Although the survey is entirely voluntary, they
would appreciate visitors stopping to answer the
questions. It’s important for them to talk with
local people using the forest, as well as
out-of-area visitors. Even if you answered the
survey questions once already, they would like
to talk to you about each of your visits, so if
you see them out there again, please stop for
another interview.
The surveyors will be out through September 30.
If you have any questions about this program you
can visit the survey web site at
http://www.fs.fed.us/recreation/programs/nvum,
or contact Mary Laws, Kootenai National Forest
Recreation Program Manager at (406) 293-2611. |
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