NPS Bundle - Three Visitor Experience Surveys: Lake Roosevelt (LARO), Yosemite (YOSE) and Grand Teton (GRTE)

National Park Service
U.S. Department of the Interior
Social Science Program
Expedited Approval for NPS-Sponsored Public Surveys
1.

2.

Project Title ⎢ Merced River through Yosemite Valley Visitor Experience
Submission Survey (Yosemite National Park)
Date:

May 18, 2011

Abstract: The overall purpose of the project is to collect information that will be used to
inform the preparation of a comprehensive management plan. This project will
measure visitors’ perceptions of crowding, resource conditions, and management
actions that may be used to address impacts from boating, “waterplay,” swimming,
fishing, picnicking, or other related river-related activities in the Merced River
corridor through Yosemite Valley. Data will be used to identify standards of quality
for boating and shore-based recreation use per viewshed, as well as identify support
or opposition to potential management actions that might be used to address resource
or experiential impact problems. Data will be collected through on-site
questionnaires that will sample users both geographically (through the study area)
and temporally (through the high use part of the season). Data will be integrated
with planned NPS use data collection to allow correlations between use, impacts, and
evaluations of use and impacts.
(not to exceed 150 words)

3. Principal Investigator Contact Information
First Name: Doug

Last Name: Whittaker

Title: Senior Researcher/Planner
Affiliation: Confluence Research and Consulting
Street Address: 6324 Red Tree Circle
City: Anchorage
Phone: (907) 346 – 3769

State: AK

Zip code: 99507

Fax:

Email: dougwhit@alaska.net
4.

Park or Program Liaison Contact Information
First Name: Bret

Last Name: Meldrum

Title: Branch Chief
Park: Yosemite National Park
Park Visitor Use and Social Sciences Resources Management and Science

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Office/Division: Division
Street Address: 5083 Foresta Road
City: El Portal

State: CA

Phone: (209) 379-1216

Zip code: 95318

Fax: (209) 379-1131

Email: bret_meldrum@nps.gov
Project Information
5. Park(s) For Which
Research is to be
Conducted:

Yosemite National Park

6. Survey Dates:

06/01/2011

(mm/dd/yyyy)

to

07/31/2011

(mm/dd/yyyy)

7. Type of Information Collection Instrument (Check ALL that Apply)
‰

Mail-Back
Questionnaire

‰

Other (explain)

8. Survey Justification:
(Use as much space as
needed; if necessary
include additional
explanation on a
separate page.)

On-Site
Questionnaire

‰

Face-to-Face
Interview

‰

Telephone
Survey

‰

Focus
Groups

Social science research in support of park planning and management is
mandated in the NPS Management Policies 2006 (Section 8.11.1, “Social
Science Studies”). The NPS pursues a policy that facilitates social science
studies in support of the NPS mission to protect resources and enhance the
enjoyment of present and future generations (National Park Service Act of
1916, 38 Stat 535, 16 USC 1, et seq.). NPS policy mandates that social
science research will be used to understand park visitors, the non-visiting
public, gateway communities and regions, and human interactions with
park resources. Such studies are needed to provide a scientific basis for
park planning, development, operations, management, education, and
interpretive activities.
The Merced Wild and Scenic River corridor through Yosemite Valley in
Yosemite National Park has experienced increased visitation over the past
decade. Higher use may degrade the quality of visitor experiences or
increase biophysical and cultural resource impacts. The need to address
these carrying capacity issues in the Merced corridor has become a major
focus of park planning. As a new court-ordered river management plan is
being developed and implemented, it is critical to understand visitors’
attitudes and behavior, and their support for management actions that can
be used to address visitor impact problems.
This visitor survey will help identify indicators, tolerances and preferences
for impacts needed to establish correlations between use levels, impacts,
and acceptability of management actions that address impacts. Because
management actions may reduce public access, affect perceptions of

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development and naturalness, or be costly, research is needed to explore
visitors’ evaluations of trade-offs between these consequences and
reductions of impacts.
This survey will explore several impacts, including perceived crowding and
normative evaluations of boating and shore-based use levels. The
Crowding questions will use a 9-point scale that allows comparisons across
settings. Normative questions will measure evaluations of boating densities
and shore based use densities via photo simulations (Shelby et al., 1996,
Manning, 1999, Manning, 2007, Manning, 2009, Jacobi, et al., 1999; Wang
and Manning, 1999, Manning, et al., 2005, Manning, 2007). Acceptability
of management actions will be measured on commonly-used supportoppose scales. The management actions outlined for respondents will
represent currently considered and feasible actions regarding natural
resource and visitor use management issues salient to existing planning
efforts.
The survey will also include several standard format questions about user,
group, and trip characteristics. These “profile” variables will be used to
conduct additional analyses of evaluative data by various sub-groups, a
common social science practice (Vaske, 2008). A single questionnaire will
be used in this study.
9. Survey Methodology:
(Use as much space as
needed; if necessary
include additional
explanation on a
separate page.)

This study will use a cross-sectional sample design with roving and
stratified data collection elements; the goal is to represent a cross-section of
river users at diverse recreation use locations along the river.
(a) Respondent universe:
The respondent universe for the River Use Survey will include all adult
park visitors (ages 18 and older) engaged in river-related recreation along
the Merced River between Upper Pines Campground and El Capitan Bridge
during the study period (June-July, 2011).
A total of 750 visitors will be contacted to participate in this study a final
completed sample size of 600 is expected (see item 10 below).
(b) Sampling plan/procedures:
The sampling period is designed to include the river’s peak-use period
(typically June and July) when floating and shore-based activities are both
popular The extent of this period can be influenced by flows, and the study
start date will be influences by moderate flow levels between 200 and 800
cfs at the USGS gage at Happy Isles.
The survey will be administered to visitors at 6 locations along the river
(Clark’s Bridge and nearby campgrounds; Stoneman Bridge/
Housekeeping, Sentinel Bridge/Superintendent’s Bridge, Swinging Bridge,
Sentinel Beach (floating take-out), and Devil’s Elbow/El Capitan Bridge.
These locations include a mix of moderate and higher use beaches, riparian
areas, and boating use segments that are the focus of the survey questions

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(evaluations of use levels and impacts).
Sampling will be conducted over 15 days, with each site visited for a
portion of each day (8 hours total of sampling per day). The 15 days will
be spread over three weekends to meet weekend/weekday strata targets
(See Attachment 1- below). For any given day, longer (2 hour) sampling
periods will sampling occur at the most common boating take-out (every
day) and two other locations (one-third of the days each). Otherwise,
sampling will occur for approximately one hour at each location per day.
To assure representativeness, the start time and starting location for each
day will be randomized; the order of survey locations (traveling upstream
vs. downstream) will also alternate each day. All sampling will occur
between 9 am and 7 pm, with start times occurring between 9 and 11 am.
For each day, a trained surveyor will have a schedule that identifies
locations and times for sampling. For each location, except the Yellow
Pine boating take-out (see below), the surveyor will have a set “route”
through the area (these are generally less than 0.3 of a mile in length). The
surveyor will approach the first visitor group encountered along the
designated route and ask them to participate in the survey. If members of
the visitor group agree to participate, the eligible person(s) in the group
whose birthday is closest to the sampling day will be asked to complete the
questionnaire. Groups with five or more members will be asked to have
two members complete the survey (using the next birthday to randomize the
second participant). When the surveyor has completed his/her contact with
the group, the surveyor will ask the next visitor group along the route to
participate in the survey. This process will continue through the sampling
period and along the location route. Shore and boating-based groups will
be contacted at all locations when encountered, but if boating-based users
are traveling on the river, no attempt to stop them will be made. Most “full
segment” boaters are expected to be contacted at the Yellow Pine boating
take-out, where surveyors will contact users at the beach or as they move to
their vehicles or shuttle buses.
Visitors will be asked to complete the on-site questionnaire in the presence
of the surveyor, who will answer any questions that arise and who will
collect the surveys upon completion. A screening question will assure that
participants will not be surveyed more than once for the study.
(c) Instrument administration:
Similar studies suggest interviewers at moderate to high use locations can
survey about 10 groups per hour (Whittaker and Shelby, 2010). The
surveyor for this study will target that rate at high use locations by (1)
estimating the total number of groups present; (2) dividing that number by
10; and (3) then contacting every nth group along the “location route.” In
very high density settings where groups are hard to distinguish, the
interviewer may estimate number of people present and sample every nth
person (who will then be asked about their group). At lower-volume
locations (where there are less than 10 groups present), the interviewer will
endeavor to sample all the groups at the location.

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The surveyor also will maintain a survey log that tracks observations about
interviewee’s activities, location where contacted, craft type, shore use
accessories, and group size. These variables will be integrated with survey
responses in the database. After log information is recorded for a group,
the interviewer will greet a member of the group:
“Excuse me, sir/ma’am. We’re conducting a study for Yosemite
National Park to better understand visitor use in this area.
Participation is voluntary and all responses are anonymous.
Would you be willing to take no more than 15 minutes to help?”
If YES: “Thank you. Who in your group (who is at least 18 years
old) has the next birthday (or two people if the group is 5 or
larger)? Would you be willing to fill out this survey? Have you
completed a survey at a different location along the river?”
If YES: “Thank you, but we can only accept one response per
group per day. Thank you for your time.”
If NO: “Thank you. Please feel free to ask me any questions you
have about the survey.”
If NO: “I understand. I hope you enjoyed your visit.”
If they consent to participating, the interviewee will be given the survey
attached to a clipboard. Although the questionnaire will be selfadministered, the surveyor will be available to provide assistance when
necessary. If respondents refuse to participate and offer a reason,
interviewer will code that reason in the log.
The survey includes questions about:
1) activities in the river corridor (i.e., stratum) prior to arriving at the
sampling location;
2) other individual, group, and trip characteristics;
3) perceived crowding at different locations in the corridor and
Yosemite Valley;
4) evaluations of boating use and shore-based use per viewshed; and
5) evaluations of management actions that might be used to reduce
river use impacts.
Evaluations of different numbers of boats and shore-users per viewshed
(two indicators of river experiences) will be elicited using two sets of four
visual simulations (photographs) that illustrate a range of use density levels.
(d) Expected response rate/confidence levels:
A total of 750 groups are expected to be intercepted over 15 days (times
eight hours per day) at six areas along the river (see attached appendices on
sampling schedule and locations). Approximately 25% of the survey
sampling effort will target “full segment” boaters at Yellow Pine boating
take-out; the remaining 75% will target shorter segment boaters, swimmers,

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anglers, picnickers, hikers, and groups relaxing at five other beach and
riparian use areas along the river. Approximately 40% of sampling effort
will occur on weekends and 60% on weekdays, but higher use levels on
weekends may produce similar sub-samples for these two strata. About
25% of sampling effort will occur in mornings and 75% after noon; this
conforms to typical river use patterns and the need to survey users after a
portion of their river trip has occurred. The roving sample will start at
random locations and then proceed upstream or downstream on alternate
days. Based on previous roving sample surveys on rivers (Whittaker &
Shelby, 2010), surveyors will average contact with slightly more than 6
groups per hour of sampling (including travel time between sites). At
higher use times and places, rates may approach 10 to 12 per hour; but at
lower use locations the rate may be as low as 3 or 4 per hour.
Based on previous studies using on-site visual simulation interviews
employing pedestrian intercepts, a final response rate of approximately
80% is anticipated. A series of trail intercept surveys in 2006 at Acadia
National Park (OMB 1024-0224, NPS 06-008) used the same type of
questionnaire achieved response rates [Acadia Mountain (84%); Hunter’s
Beach (79%); Seawall (84%), at Valley Cove (86%); at Little Hunter’s
Beach (77%)]. An 80% response for this survey will yield approximately
600 completed surveys overall. Based on this, the overall sampling error
will be approximately +/-4% at the 95% confidence level, while the
sampling error for boaters is expected to be about +/-8% and the sampling
error for shore-based users is expected to be about +/-5%. This will be
sufficient for the park’s planning purposes.
(e) Strategies for dealing with potential non-response bias:
Non-response bias will be examined by comparing selected characteristics
of the sample population with characteristics (gender, group size, type of
craft) observed and recorded in every group contacted using a survey log
(attached). The results of the check for non-response bias will be reported,
and implications for data interpretation discussed.
(f) Description of any pre-testing and peer review of the methods
and/or instrument (recommended):
Both survey methods and questionnaire instruments have undergone review
by Bret Meldrum and Niki Nicholas, Yosemite National Park, Resource
Management and Sciences Division; and Jim Bacon, Yosemite National
Park Planning Division. The questions in both surveys are similar to those
used in previous studies at several other national park areas. All of the
questions appear in (or are variations of) survey items in the NPS “Pool of
Known Questions.”

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With a response rate of 80%, we plan to approach 750 individual. We
expect that the initial contact time will be at least two minutes per person
(750 x 2 minutes = 25 hours). For those who agree to participate (600), an
additional 15 minutes will be required to complete the questionnaire (600
response x 15 minutes = 150 hours). The burden for this collection is
estimated to be 175 hours.
10.Total Number of Initial
Contacts

750

11.Estimated Time to
Complete Initial Contact

2 mins

Expected Respondents:

600

Instrument (mins.):

15 mins

13.

12. Burden
Hours:

175

Reporting Plan: The results of these information collection activities will be presented in a
summary report to the NPS. Key estimates from the data will be
descriptive in nature, primarily measures of central tendency (mean and
median), dispersion (standard deviation), and frequency distributions.
Some tests for differences in means and proportions by various sub-groups
are expected, as well as correlations between evaluations and use levels
(measured by a separate NPS descriptive use monitoring program).
Analyses will generally follow standard methods for survey research in
parks and recreation settings (Vaske, 2008).
One electronic version (in PDF and MS Word file formats) and 20 hard
copies of the final report will be provided to the park representatives at the
following address: Jim Bacon, 5083 Foresta Road, Yosemite National Park,
95389. One electronic version (in PDF file format) and 2 hard copies of the
final report will be provided to the NPS Denver Service Center at the
following address: National Park Service, Denver Service Center, P.O. Box
25287, Denver, CO 80225-0287. One electronic version (in PDF file
format) and 2 hard copies of the final report will be provided to the NPS
Social Science Program at the following address: National Park Service,
1849 C St., NW (2300) Washington, DC 20240, for inclusion in the Social
Science Studies Collection.

References
Graefe, A., F. Kuss, and J. Vaske. 1990. Visitor Impact Management: The Planning Framework. Washington
D.C.: National Parks and Conservation Association.
Jacobi, C. and Manning, R. 1999. Crowding and Conflict on the Carriage Roads of Acadia National Park: An
Application of the Visitor Experience and Resource Protection Framework. Park Science, 19(2):22-26.
Manning, R. 2007. Parks and Carrying Capacity: Commons Without Tragedy. Washington, D.C.: Island Press.
Manning, R. 2009. Parks and People: Managing Outdoor Recreation at Acadia National Park. Hanover, NH:
University Press of New England, 336 pages.

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Manning, R. 2001. Visitor Experience and Resource Protection: A Framework for Managing the Carrying
Capacity of National Parks. Journal of Park and Recreation Administration, 19(1):93-108.
Manning, R., Lawson, S. and Morrissey, J. 2005. What's Behind the Numbers? Qualitative Insights into
Normative Research in Outdoor Recreation. Leisure Sciences. 27: 205-224.
Shelby, B. and T. Heberlein. 1986. Carrying Capacity in Recreation Settings. Corvallis: Oregon State
University Press.
Shelby, B., J. Vaske, and M. Donnelly. 1996. Norms, Standards, and Natural Resources. Leisure Sciences 18:
103-23.
Shelby, B., Vaske, Jerry J., Heberlein, T. A. 1989. Comparative analysis of crowding in multiple locations:
results from fifteen years of research. Leisure Sciences. 11: 269–291.
Stankey, G., D. Cole, R. Lucas, M. Peterson, S. Frissell, and R. Washburne. 1985. The Limits of Acceptable
Change (LAC) System for Wilderness Planning. USDA Forest Service General Technical Report INT-176.
Vaske, J. J. 2008. Survey research and analysis: Applications in parks, recreation, and human dimensions.
Venture Publishing. State College, PA.
Wang, B. and Manning, R. (1999). Computer Simulation Modeling for Recreation Management: A Study on
Carriage Road Use in Acadia National Park, Maine, USA. Environmental Management, 23(2):193-203.
Whittaker, D. and Shelby, B. 2010. Kenai River Recreation Use Study: Major findings and implications. Report
to Alaska State Parks.
Whittaker, D., B. Shelby, R. Manning, D. Cole, and G. Haas. 2010. Capacity Reconsidered: Finding Consensus
and Clarifying Differences. National Association of Recreation Resource Planners. Marienville, Pennsylvania.

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Attachment 1
Merced River in Yosemite Valley River Use Study
Draft sampling schedule

Time
and
direction

A

B

C

D

E

F

Clarks

Housekee
ping

Footbridg
e

Swinging

Take-out

El Cap

1

Th

10-18
Dn

15

16

10

11

12

14

2

F

10-18
Dn

16

10

11

12

13

15

3

S

9-17 Dn

9

10

11

12

14

16

4

S

10-18
Dn

10

11

13

14

15

17

5

M

10-18
Dn

11

13

14

15

16

10

3 days off
6

F

11-19
Up

13

12

11

17

15

14

7

S

10-18
Up

14

12

11

10

16

15

8

S

11-19
Up

17

16

15

14

12

11

9

M

9-17 Up

11

10

9

15

13

12

10

T

10-18
Up

12

11

10

16

14

13

3 days off
11

S

11-19
Up

17

16

15

14

12

11

12

S

10-18
Dn

16

17

10

11

13

15

13

M

10-18
Up

12

10

17

16

14

13

9

14

T

10-18
Dn

10

12

13

14

15

17

15

W

10-18
Up

14

13

12

10

16

15

Shaded = 2 hour station
Clear = 1 hour station
Red = start location

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Protocols
Groups of four or less get one survey.
Groups of 5 to 8 get two surveys.
Groups of 9 or more get three surveys.
Estimated sample sizes
Assumes about 5 per hour of sampling (including travel times).
15 days x 8 hours per day = 120 hours.
120 hours x 5 per hour = 66 surveys.
Each day: 2 x 2 hour stations + 4 x 1 hour stations = 8 hours.
Raft take-out is always a 2 hour station.
El Cap and Sentinel/Superintendent are always 1 hour stations.
Others rotate systematically.
Clark’s:
Housekeeping:
Superintendent’s:
Swinging:
Take-out:
El Cap:

20 hours x 5 = 100 (~50 camping users)
20 hours x 5 = 100 (~50 Housekeeping users)
15 hours x 5 = 75
20 hours x 5 = 100
30 hours x 5 = 150
15 hours x 5 = 75

Total n = 600
Likely sub-samples (note: some overlap)
~150 long-distance boaters (take-out at Yellow Pine)
~100 from lower use beaches near El Cap, Superintendent’s, Clark’s
~100 from camping units or Housekeeping units
~300 from high use beaches and times
~100 from moderate use times and places

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