Public Surveys to Begin in the Bighorn National Forest

In-person public surveys will begin in the Bighorn National Forest this week. Sheridan Media’s Ron Richter has the details.

The public surveys will begin Saturday, October 1 and go through September 30, 2023. Visitors to the Forest may encounter contract employees at survey sites in developed and dispersed recreation areas and long Forest Service Roads. The contract employees will be wearing bright orange vests and be in the vicinity of a sign that says “Traffic Survey Ahead.”

Bighorn National Forest Recreation Staff Officer Andrea Maichak said although the survey is entirely voluntary, participation is extremely important so they can assess visitor experiences on the Forest and use the information to make it a better place to visit. The surveys are part of the National Visitor Use Monitoring (NVUM) program and help determine estimates of recreation use volume on all National Forests. Completed in five-year cycles, survey results help Forest Service managers make decisions about recreation resources to best meet the needs of visitors while maintaining natural resources. The survey is done in an interview format and takes about 10 minutes to complete. All responses are confidential and names are not included. The information gathered is useful for forest planning as well as local community tourism planning. The survey provides National Forest managers with an estimate of how many people recreate in the National Forest, what activities they engage in while there, and how they felt about their visit. Economic impact to the local economy is also captured in the survey. More information about the National Visitor Use Monitoring program can be found at https://www.fs.usda.gov/about-agency/nvum.  For more information on the Bighorn National Forest, visit https://www.fs.usda.gov/bighorn.