Improving Visitor Estimation Techniques at National Wildlife Refuges
2023-2024
Clemson University Park Solutions Lab
USFWS Human Dimensions Branch
The purpose of this project is to examine existing visitor estimation practices and innovative approaches for conducting visitor estimation. The study objectives include conducting interviews, surveys, and focus groups with visitor services staff nationally to identify the barriers and opportunities to conducting visitor estimation in a systematic way. The team is conducting a comprehensive comparative review of existing visitor estimation techniques, both internal to the Service, as well as those used by other agencies, and new innovative methods being applied and researched. The team is also selecting and testing strategies that are not currently used by US Fish and Wildlife Service for estimating visitor use of refuges. Research is investigating approaches that use mobile-phone and user-generated content in order to recommend updates and train agency staff on the application of new techniques. The resulting information is helping improve the accuracy of visitor estimation, standardize information collection methods, and make estimation easier for Refuge staff. This information is necessary to ensure that visitor use management, infrastructure, and management decisions at NWRs are legally defensible, sensitive to constituent needs, and incorporate future visitor use projections while preserving desirable conditions and habitat.
Additional Information
Leveraging digital mobility data to estimate visitation in National Wildlife Refuges