Employees with the Flathead National Forest have started conducting interviews and gathering data as part of a yearlong effort to determine how many people recreate on the forest and how they do it.
The National Visitor Use Monitoring survey will be conducted between now and Sept. 3, 2020. The survey is carried out in every national forest every five years. The last time the survey was done on the Flathead was in 2015.
The 2015 survey found that an estimated 1.2 million people use the Flathead National Forest annually, a 19 percent increase over 2010.
Flathead National Forest Supervisor Chip Weber said the survey is important in helping officials like him figure out the best way to manage the land.
“It helps us see trends and it helps us manager the land better,” he said.
Unlike Glacier National Park, which only has a few main entrances, visitor statistics about the forest are particularly hard to come by because of the dozens of entry points.
The surveys gather basic visitor information and are confidential. Names are not included, and the interview lasts about 10 minutes. Questions include: where you recreated on the forest, how many people traveled with you, how long you were on the forest, what other recreation sites you visited while on the forest, and how satisfied you were 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.
“Although the survey is entirely voluntary, participation is extremely important so we can assess visitor experiences on the Forest and strive to make it a better place to visit,” Weber said. “We would appreciate it if visitors would pull over and answer a few questions. It’s important for interviewers to talk with local people using the forest, as well as out-of-area visitors, so all types of visitors are represented in the study.”
Chris Prew, recreation program manager on the Flathead National Forest, said data gathered in the surveys would be combined with physical counts and visitor data from local ski areas to create a full picture of the type of people recreating there.
“There is real value in doing this,” he said.
The survey results will be available in 2021.