BLM UT NLCS GSENM Visitor Experience Baseline Study

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This proposed Assistance Agreement will facilitate social science research to understand visitor experiences at Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument(GSENM).Project is to include a baseline inventory to ascertain who our visitors are, what they are doing where, and most importantly, why they are doing it and the associated outcomes. Answers to these questions would then allow GSENM recreation planners to determine how best to manage for desirable recreational outcomes that are compatible with the protection of the objects and values for which GSENM was established. Generally, the results of this study would allow GSENM recreation planners and managers to establish a baseline for desirable recreation outcomes at particular locations and to set objectives for providing the settings necessary for those desired outcomes. The results would also help determine the appropriate role of collaborating partners in planning and managing GSENM lands. The information gleaned from this study would provide defensible statistical data for the preparation of Plan Amendments (if warranted), Activity Levels Plans, Project Plans, and project analysis. Specifically, this project will provide recreation data necessary to prepare a Recreation Area Management Plan for the Hole in the Rock Road corridor that is contained within the Escalante Canyons Special Recreation Management Area as defined in the GSENM Management Plan decision, SRMA-2.

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