Published: September 29, 2008 11:22 pm      

Recreation survey under way in forest

Ironton — Visitors to Lake Vesuvius and other parts of the Wayne National Forest are likely to run into a new species during the next 12 months.

Call it the orange-vested interviewer and feel free to approach and make friends.

The U.S. Forest Service is dispatching its own and contract employees to survey the public in a study of recreation trends at its recreation sites.

The study will tell the forest service and Congress what visitors do while they’re in the forest and how they spend their money on forest recreation, said recreation program manager Chad Wilberger.

In turn, it will help Congress and decide how to spend money on the national forest, Wilberger said.

Interviewers will pop up from time to time at various recreation sites in the forest. In the Ironton district they’ll be dispatched to Lake Vesuvius, its campgrounds and picnic areas and the Hanging Rock all-terrain vehicle trail system, Wilberger said. They’ll also survey at more remote areas, including Timber Ridge Lake and horse trailheads.

Interviewers wearing bright orange vests will be stationed near “Traffic Survey Ahead” signs. Information collected on the voluntary surveys is confidential.

Basic interviews last about eight minutes with some visitors being asked additional questions.

Some of the interviewers will be forest service employees. Ohio University Southern students also have contracted to help with the study.

Some of the students are communications and recreation management majors who signed up for the project largely for the experience they’ll get, said OUS director of travel and tourism Steve Call. “They see it as a springboard to other employment opportunities,” he said.

The survey also will use automated counters to measure traffic into recreation areas.

The last survey was in 2004 and that one was skewed in the Ironton district because Lake Vesuvius had been drained for repairs to the dam, Wilberger said.

MIKE JAMES can be reached at mjames@dailyindependent.com or (606) 326-2652.