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How do public agencies count visits to parks, forests, refuges, reservoirs, and other recreation areas? This report compares the methods used across seven federal agencies and explains why apparently simple visitor totals can rest on different definitions, instruments, and reporting practices.
The authors review established approaches such as automated counters, observations, surveys, and administrative information. They then consider newer sources, including social media, mobile-device locations, remote sensing, and community science. The discussion addresses calibration, sampling bias, cost, privacy, and the need to understand what each source actually measures. Case studies illustrate how different kinds of evidence can be combined in practice.
Published in 2025, the work includes agency comparisons, methodological guidance, case studies, and references. It gives adult readers interested in outdoor recreation and public administration a detailed look at the evidence behind visitation estimates and the decisions those estimates support.
Dieta Hanson; Emily J. Wilkins; Spencer A. Wood; Christian Crowley; Whitney Boone; Rudy Schuster. Monitoring Recreation on Federally Managed Lands and Waters—Visitation Estimation. U.S. Geological Survey, 2025. https://doi.org/10.3133/sir20255022. Public domain U.S. Government publication. Original agency, author and photograph credits retained.
Original cover photograph credits and licences (composition unchanged; display size adjusted): Cover. A, “Visitors at Yavapai Point,” Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona. Photography by K. Thomas, National Park Service, licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license. Available at https://flickr.com/photos/grand_canyon_nps/51301554000/in/photostream/. B, “E-biking in Montana’s Acton Recreation Area,” Montana. Photograph by Bob Wick, Bureau of Land Management, licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license. Available at https://www.flickr.com/photos/mypubliclands/50345709367/in/photostream/. C, “Recreation—Hartwell Dam and Lake” bordering South Carolina and Georgia. Photograph by Brad Keshlear, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license. Available at https://www.flickr.com/photos/savannahcorps/8610332989/in/album- 72157633139986201. D, Birdwatching at Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge, Virginia. Photograph by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. E, “sanc0020,” looking west from East Anacapa Island in the Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary, California. Photograph by Claire Fackler, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license. Available at htt ps://www.flickr.com/photos/noaaphotolib/5078472700/in/album-72157625018504908. F, “Climbing at the Grotto,” a popular rock climbing area overlooking Reclamation’s New Melones Lake, California. Photograph by Casey Batchelder, Bureau of Reclamation, licensed under the Creative Commons by ShareAlike license. Available at https://www.flickr.com/photos/usbr/ 7065440653/in/album-72157634329957932. G, Camping in Carson National Forest, New Mexico. Photograph by Preston Keres, U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service.