By Alison Rein
Special to the Turnagain Times
The Chugach National Forest is counting recreation use this year! You may see stations set up in picnic areas, trailheads and campgrounds, or be called about a trip you took to one of our recreation cabins. All 175 National Forests and Grasslands nation-wide put extra effort into tallying the amount of recreation use once every 5 years; the Chugach was surveyed in 2002; with this year’s results we may be able to start tracking some recreation use trends.
The Survey stations will have a bright orange “Traffic Survey Ahead” sign. Raina Panarese will be our lead surveyor on the Glacier Ranger District this winter; please stop and tell her about your recreation experience if you see a survey station when you’re out enjoying the Chugach National Forest. We will be surveying people using Winner Creek Trail, Portage Valley and Turnagain Pass this winter, and our campgrounds, cabins and other recreation areas this summer.
The Chugach National Forest extends to Seward and Cooper Landing, and east to Kayak Island, including the Copper River Delta. In all, some 5 million acres! Approximately 200 Survey days have been scheduled across the entire Forest, between Oct. 1 and Sep. 30, 2008.
Information gathered by the survey will help describe the economic impact of recreation, and help us understand how well the Forest is providing the recreation experiences people are seeking. All responses are confidential, names are never recorded. The interview takes about 10 minutes, and, while it is standardized for nation-wide application, opportunity to express concerns outside the boxes is encouraged!
Your participation in this survey is entirely voluntary. The more surveys we are able to complete, the better our picture of our current recreation program will be. Please stop and complete a survey—you’ll get a beautiful pin souvenir as a token of our appreciation, and the knowledge that you’re helping shape the future of your national forests!
The Forest Service is recruiting volunteers to help with this survey effort. The Forest will provide on-site training and some reimbursement of expenses in exchange for your time. Secret shoppers can volunteer for only one day and requires only that you be interviewed at one of the survey stations, then report back to the national coordinator. For more details see the national FS Retiree web page at http://www.fsx.org, the National Visitor Use Monitoring web page at http://www.fs.fed.us/recreation/recuse/recuse.shtml, call Sue Kocis the project coordinator at 707.574-6233 (skocis@fs.fed.us), or stop in at the Glacier Ranger District 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Mon.- Fri. Tel. 783-3242.