National Visitor Use Monitoring Implementation in Alaska

Book excerpt: The USDA Forest Service implemented the National Visitor Use Monitoring (NVUM) program across the entire National Forest System (NFS) in calendar year 2000. The primary objective of the NVUM program is to develop reliable estimates of recreation use on NFS lands via a nationally consistent, statistically valid sampling approach. Secondary objectives of NVUM are to characterize recreation visits, collect data in support of regional economic analyses, and gauge national forest visitor satisfaction. We document and review the round 1 NVUM implementation in the USDA Forest Service Alaska Region (R-10) with examination of the R-10 prework, sample day implementation, survey completion rates, sampling at cabins, boat docks, and air carriers; and the NVUM expansion weights assigned to survey cases. Several opportunities to improve the implementation of the standard NVUM protocols in R-10 are identified.