Volunteers Needed to assist in Interviewing Forest Recreation Visitors
Forests across the US are interviewing forest recreation visitors in the field. Thirty-two forests are currently looking for assistance to do any of the following and thirty more will need assistance beginning in October 2000:
Combine your recreation pursuits with some interesting volunteer work! Do you enjoy meeting the public and answering their questions about forest attractions? Do you have one month to help conduct interviews or perhaps one day to be a secret shopper? If so, read on.
Some special training will be required to ensure the recreation surveys are asked correctly and that recreation survey areas are set up safely. One full day of training will be given to each volunteer and includes a training video, handbook, job hazard analysis, tailgate safety session, and on-site practice. A minimum of a month (at least 20 working days) commitment is asked of any volunteers who receive this training. Details are negotiated with individual forests. Secret Shoppers are only asked for a minimum of 2 days commitment.
In exchange for your help, forests will provide reimbursement of expenses, uniforms or safety clothing as required, and their deepest thanks. Some forests may provide additional compensation such as free lodging or camping, however, each volunteer agreement is negotiated at the forest level and will vary across the country.
So, what is this project all about anyway? For years, Congress and our own personnel have criticized the reliability of existing recreation use estimates for national forest visits. Beginning in January 2000, a new method of inventorying recreation use was begun. In the next four years, every forest in the NF system will have a statistically valid recreation survey conducted (25% of the forests per year). The basic inventory protocol is this: On randomly selected days and recreation sites (Wilderness trails, roads, rivers, campgrounds, trails, visitor centers, etc.) one or two forest employees will a obtain a 24 hour traffic count of use at the site and conduct six hours of on-site interviews of recreation visitors as they LEAVE the site for the last time.
There are over 5,800 sites/ days that will be inventoried each year. There are an average of 10 public contacts per day resulting in over 58,000 public contacts per year. During our pilot test, visitors were more than happy to talk with forest service employees about their visit. Over 97% of the visitors stopped agreed to participate in the interview. Most of our employees have enjoyed meeting forest visitors and learning more about forest recreation use. They also get to interview at some spectacular recreation sites!
All this interviewing is fun and easy during nice weather days BUT you have already worked for the FS and know we don’t get just nice days or nice people. The down side of volunteering for this project is that interviewers are expected to obtain interviews even during cold, snowy, rainy, windy, hot, and humid days. Some days no visitors may come by at all. You might get a good novel read! Some days people stopped are less than kind and can actually be verbally abusive of forest employees as they voice their discontent about various forest issues such as fee demo, roadless designation, road closures, trial maintenance, etc. Our volunteers need to have a tough skin and take these opinions without fighting back.
People especially suited for this job include retirees from the sample forests and those with a recreation background or knowledge of recreation on the forest. If you are interested please contact the following regional coordinators for the area of the country you are interested in. Also attached is a list of the forests where help is needed from present through December of 2001. Since the sample sites and days are picked a year ahead of time its easy for us to let you know well ahead of time when and where your help is needed.
The specific jobs available are:
Recreation Interviewer or assistant interview - these folks set up the roadside or on-site survey area and conduct 6 hours of interviews asking questions of visitors that voluntarily pull over to be interviewed. These interviews, which are about 10 minutes long, occur along Forest Road exit points, Wilderness trailheads, day use picnic areas, campgrounds, beaches, visitor centers and many other FS facilities. Contact the forest project coordinator in the forest you want to volunteer.
Traffic Counter Assistant- many interview days require installation of either pneumatic or infrared traffic counters just prior to conducting the interviews. These counters need to be calibrated and installed correctly. They then need to be picked up the following day and placed elsewhere. One or two people just doing this chore would really help forests out since interview locations are often very far apart. Contact the forest coordinator at the forest you want to volunteer.
Secret Shopper - are you planning to travel around the country this year? If so, we could use your assistance by having you get interviewed as a “general public” at select locations around the country. Since the interviews are conducted all year long in almost every state we can easily work with you to assign some “secret” days, then get your feedback about how the interviewer conducted themselves, how well they asked the questions, or if they were even where they were suppose to be! People interested in the secret shopper program should contact Sue Kocis, the national coordinator at 707.574-6233 or email at skocis@fs.fed.us .