National Headquarters

Forest Service News Release

Contact: SM.FS.pressoffice@usda.gov

 

Forest Service announces proposed pilot projects to enhance recreation monitoring

 

Public invited to provide feedback during 30-day comment period 

 

(Washington, D.C., June 25, 2026) — The Forest Service is publishing a Federal Register notice announcing an interagency effort to monitor recreation use by implementing pilot projects across public lands. This effort is geared towards improving recreation resource management, visitor services, and planning.

The purpose of these pilot protocols is to model recreation use patterns, including low-use and dispersed recreation activities, that may not be effectively measured by existing general and opportunistic survey and monitoring protocols. The Federal Register notice will be available for public inspection tomorrow and will officially publish on Monday, initiating a 30-day public comment period on the proposed pilot projects. The notice will direct the public to BLM’s e-planning website for comment collection.

“Understanding visitor recreation use patterns is important for the Forest Service to gain a better understanding of the demand so we can improve visitor experiences,” said Forest Service Chief Tom Schultz. “These pilot projects will incorporate a variety of on-site techniques including activities such as manually counting visitors, summarizing trail permit data, installing mechanical counters, and providing logbooks for visitors to record their use.”

There will also be the incorporation of emerging data sources and technologies, such leveraging anonymized digital data generated by visitors to recreation sites to describe recreation-use patterns at those sites. This will include scanning social media to research photo and review sharing applications, understanding anonymized location-based services from smart phones, and incorporating remotely sensed data like aerial photography and satellite imagery to corroborate on-data pulled from recreation usage.

These pilot projects are one of the many ongoing actions identified in the Expanding Public Lands Outdoor Recreation Experiences (EXPLORE) Act, enacted January 4, 2026, and is specifically tied to section 133.

The Forest Service is proposing pilot projects alongside the National Park Service, Bureau of Land Management, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

About the Forest Service: The Forest Service has brought people and communities together to answer the call of conservation for more than 100 years. Grounded in world-class science and technology—and rooted in communities—the Forest Service connects people to nature and recreation opportunities. The agency manages 193 million acres of public land, supports the nation’s forest industry and energy needs, and operates the largest and most respected wildland fire and forestry research organizations in the world. By providing assistance to state and private landowners and working with Tribes and other partners, the Forest Service also helps steward an additional 900 million forested acres within the U.S.

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