Our visitor use management team specializes in developing data-driven solutions to help public lands managers address the challenges and opportunities associated with increasing visitation in parks and protected areas worldwide. Our work helps our clients strike a careful balance to provide outstanding opportunities for public access and enjoyment while protecting natural, cultural, and historical resources and the quality and character of visitors’ experiences.
Over a span of more than two decades, our team has led visitor use management projects in every region of the U.S. National Park System, in U.S. Forest Service units nationwide, for state and local public lands management agencies across the U.S., and for provincial and regional parks systems in Canada. We have expert knowledge of the U.S. Interagency Visitor Use Management Council’s framework and we have helped our clients successfully implement the framework in projects throughout the U.S. and Canada.
Key Services
- Study design and methods development, including sampling plans and schedules
- Field team staffing, training, and supervising
- Automated trail and traffic counter deployment and calibration
- GPS-based tracking of visitor use patterns (vehicle and pedestrian)
- Observation-based studies of crowding, parking, and queueing
- Visitor crowding-related survey research, including photo simulations
- Passive mobile data analysis
- Simulation modeling of recreation use
- Statistical and geospatial analysis
- User capacity analysis, modeling, and management
- Visitor use monitoring plans and protocols
- Visitor use management frameworks, strategies, and actions
- Technical writing/publishing and presentation
- Public and stakeholder engagement
- Agency core team workshop facilitation and leadership
