supporting_stmt_partB_ver3

The Supporting Statement Part B for OMB 0596-0129

Day Use on Urban Proximate National Forests

B. Collections of Information Employing Statistical Methods

1. Describe (including a numerical estimate) the potential respondent universe and any sam­pling or other respondent selection method to be used. Data on the number of entities (e.g., establishments, State and local government units, households, or persons) in the universe covered by the collection and in the corre­sponding sample are to be provided in tabular form for the uni­verse as a whole and for each of the strata in the proposed sample. Indicate expected response rates for the collection as a whole. If the collection had been conducted previously, include the actual response rate achieved during the last collection.

Data will be collected at outdoor recreation day use sites on urban proximate National Forests. Day use sites are those sites developed and managed for day use activities (i.e., not overnight) and can include developed picnic sites, dispersed or general forest use, off-road vehicle staging areas, trails, etc. The principal investigator and the managers of those National Forests will identify day use sites. Each site will be entered into the site pool and have an equal chance of being included in the study. Only sites randomly selected from this site pool will be sampled. The sampling scheme is a two-stage simple random sample with replacement. Each site will be replaced into the sampling pool so that a site might be selected multiple times. The sampling frame for a National Forest will be dependent upon the number of sites for that forest. For example, the Angeles National Forest has 12 designated day use sites so each of the 12 sites would have an equal chance of being selected for study. The number of sites on the other urban proximate National Forests will differ. Data will be collected at one or two forests per year. Thus in one year of data collection, the Cleveland National Forest may be selected for data collection while in year two the Los Padres National Forest may be selected for data collection. Usually the forests self-select, that is, they contact me and request data be collected. It is possible that sites with heavier use levels could be over-sampled to best represent that use. All dates during high use periods (summer and winter months, namely July, August, September, and December, January, February) will be available for inclusion in the study. Sampling dates will be chosen based on typical participation patterns; for example, managers on the San Bernardino National Forest estimate weekend to weekday use to be 80 percent and 20 percent respectively. Thus, 80 percent of the data collection will take place on weekends and 20 percent on weekdays. The weekend dates will be randomly selected from all weekend days in the sampling frame and the weekday dates will be randomly selected from all weekday days in the sampling frame. The selection process will be similar to the site selection process except for non-replacement due to the limited number of teams available on any one weekend day.

The on-site sampling will occur between the hours of 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Within sites each person recreating at the site on the selected date and time will have an equal chance of being selected for participation in the survey. For each site the number of completed surveys per sub-study will be determined, and after arrival at the site, the research team will count the number of people on site to determine proportion of visitors to be sampled. Selection into the sampling frame will be based on that proportion. For example if 20 surveys are to be collected at a site and 200 people are on-site, then every 10^th person will be asked to participate in the survey. Survey team members will walk through the site to acquire the count of all people there, and will use a random number table to select the first person and take every nth person after. Only those people randomly selected for inclusion will receive a survey instrument. Data will be weighted as appropriate. Sample size will not exceed 600 per year for each of the three years of OMB approval. Response rates will be tracked; response rates are estimated to be 85 percent (based on previous day use studies on the Angeles and San Bernardino National Forests in southern California). All participants will answer questions on the following topics: socio-demographic profile; National Forest visitation history and patterns; activity patterns; and why they recreate at particular sites. Each participant will respond to either study one, study two, study three, study four, or study five. In addition to the common questions, participants in study one will also answer questions about perceptions about management of natural areas and whether there are enough areas available. Participants in study two will also answer questions concerning their perceptions about safety on-site and in their neighborhoods and adjoining areas. Participants in study three will also answer questions about barriers to recreation related to fire and fire management. Participants in study four will also answer questions about their observations of site conditions as well as the influence those conditions have on the site visit. Participants in study five will also answer questions on site development preferences. A log sheet will be used at every site to collect information that can be utilized to make comparisons between respondents and non-respondents (includes number in group, number of adults, number of children and reason for non-response). We will also use the log sheet to collect other information about the site including weather conditions, cleanliness of the site, and unusual activities observed. Instruments will be available in English and Spanish and bilingual team members will collect the data.

2. Describe the procedures for the collection of information including:

• Statistical methodology for stratification and sample selection,

• Estimation procedure,

• Degree of accuracy needed for the pur­pose described in the justification,

• Unusual problems requiring specialized sampling procedures, and

• Any use of periodic (less frequent than annual) data collection cycles to reduce burden.

Site visits will be made during high use seasons (summer and winter). The data collection team (two bilingual members per team) will approach individuals according to the sampling protocol listed above. Potential respondents must fit the sampling frame and be 16 years of age or older. Potential respondents will be informed about the objectives of the study, be notified that their participation is voluntary and their responses are anonymous, and will be handed a self-administered questionnaire. Team members will wait until the survey instrument is complete and will collect it before moving to the next potential respondent. At each site we will evaluate adherence to the procedures listed above and analyze how to maintain response rates.

Conclusions will be generalized only to the people and the areas from which data were gathered; that is, we will not generalize results to the general public.

3. Describe methods to maximize response rates and to deal with issues of non-response. The accuracy and reliability of information collected must be shown to be adequate for intended uses. For collections based on sam­pling, a special justification must be provid­ed for any collection that will not yield "reli­able" data that can be generalized to the universe studied.

Survey instruments will be available in English and Spanish to encourage participation. A bilingual team (English and Spanish focus) will be used to collect the data. Potential respondents will be invited, in a randomized manner, to participate in the voluntary study, informed about how National Forest managers will use the results, assured their responses will be kept anonymous, and that response completion should take around 8 minutes. Response rates will be tracked.

4. Describe any tests of procedures or methods to be undertaken. Testing is encouraged as an effective means of refining collections of information to minimize burden and improve utility. Tests must be approved if they call for answers to identical questions from 10 or more respondents. A proposed test or set of tests may be submitted for approval separate­ly or in combination with the main collection of information.

A pretest of each instrument took place on-site three years ago with no more than 9 outdoor recreationists in accordance with OMB regulations. The instruments were used on-site last summer and the one before with little negative feedback from participants about the instrument.

5. Provide the name and telephone number of individuals consulted on statistical aspects of the design and the name of the agency unit, contractor(s), grantee(s), or other person(s) who will actually collect and/or analyze the information for the agency.

A Station statistician, Haiganoush Preisler, has been consulted in the planning of this study and will be available throughout the study for consultation. She will also serve as consultant on all resulting reports and journal articles. Dr. Deborah Chavez will oversee data collection and analysis of all data. Cooperators are most likely to include Dr. William Hendricks, California Polytechnic State University (805) 756-1246, Dr. Marcia Marx, California State University at San Bernardino (909) 880-7314, Dr. Vinod Sasidharan, San Diego State University (619) 594-4726.

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