Forest visitor surveys and monitoring
| Foresty Commission programme manager: | Neil Grant |
| Research contact and location: | Neil Grant External providers |
Until 2001, visitor surveys were carried out at 20-30 Forestry Commission visitor sites each year, about half as part of a national programme and the rest to meet local management needs. The national programme also used surveys to investigate one particular type of user each year - cyclists, special needs, horse riders and "local use" (dog walkers and others from the immediate vicinity). Until the end of 2002 trends in Forestry Commission visitor numbers were estimated using data from traffic counters and other sources. During 2002, the methodology for Forestry Commission visitor counts and surveys was reviewed. Selected districts piloted new methods, which can be applied to GB as a whole, or to individual countries. There is unlikely to be a GB co-ordinated programme in future, but the new methodology has been implemented in rolling programmes for Forestry Commission woodlands in Wales and Scotland. England has been running surveys at 3-4 selected sites a year since 2003 to assess the quality of visitor experience. There have been many locally initiated surveys each year.
Information about visitors to all types of woodland has been obtained by participating with other departments and agencies in commissioning the UK Day Visit Survey, which ran in alternate years up to 1998, the GB Day Visit survey in 2002/03, and a pilot of alternative methodologies in 2002. A separate long-term Scottish survey of outdoor recreation visits started in 2003, with Forestry Commission participation, so the GB consortium no longer exists. An England Day Visit Survey (including National Parks and open access) ran throughout 2005, also with Forestry Commission participation. Plans for a Day Visit Survey in Wales are under consideration.
Commissioned reports
