An excerpt from the Gila NF news....
Public Surveys on the Gila National Forest
Silver City, NM, Sept. 25, 2020 – The public will encounter contract employees working on the Gila National Forest in developed and dispersed recreation sites and along Forest Service roads. They will be out in all types of weather conditions, wearing bright orange vests and be near a sign that says “Traffic Survey Ahead."
The National Visitor Use Monitoring (NVUM) survey, being conducted on the Gila National Forest, will begin in October 2020 and will go through Sept. 30, 2021. The information gathered is useful for forest planning as well as local community tourism planning. It provides national forest managers with an estimate of how many people actually recreate on the national forest, what activities they engage in, and how satisfied people were with their visit. Economic impact to the local economy is also captured in the survey.