Supporting Statement Appendices

Supporting Statement for OMB 0596-NEW

Prince William Sound User Experience Survey

Appendix I.

Statutory obligations directing the Chugach National Forest to manage recreation activity in Prince William Sound

1) Key excerpts from the Restoration Plan for Prince William Sound, 1994

Page 11 – “Mission Statement”:

Page 12 - “Policies”, seventh paragraph:

2) Key excerpt from Alaskan National Interest Lands Conservation Act (ANILCA), 1980

P age 55 – Title VIII Subsistence Management and Use, Policy Section 803:

3) Key excerpt from the Multiple Use Sustained Yield Act, 1960.

4) Key excerpts from the National Forest Management Act, 1976

Page 4 - National Forest System Resource Planning:

Page 5 - National Forest System Resource Planning:

5) Key excerpt from the Chugach National Forest Revised Land and Resource Management Plan, 2002

Page 43 – Forest Wide Direction: Recreation Opportunities, Access and Facilities 3-7

Appendix II.

Individual Reponses Relative to Survey Instrument Development

1 - Email comments from Jack Blackwell:

Jack Blackwell

District Ranger

Kenai/Prince William Sound Area Office

Alaska State Parks, Dept. of Natural Resources

Western Kenai, Resurrection Bay, Prince William Sound, North Gulf Coast

Office: (907) 262-5581X3 Fax: (907) 262-371

“As a user, the survey seems to be lengthy and at first glance looks like it will take some time to fill it out. I would likely fill it out because I recognize the information will be helpful to managers. The questions are asked clearly and flow well.

As a resource manager, I believe the survey will provide us with great information. I frequently hear from park users that people would like to see more public use cabins. On question #22 I would suggest adding "public use cabins" in the e.g. bracket to read: (e.g. hardened campsites, public use cabins, number of visitors limited in certain areas, etc). If people respond to the survey and indicate that they would like more public use cabins this may help future efforts to expand the public use cabin system.”

2- Email comments from Tony Turrini:

Tony Turrini

Office Director

Alaska Natural Resource Center

750 West 2nd Ave, Suite 200

Anchorage, AK 99501

Phone: 907-339-3900

Fax: 907-339-3980

Email: [email protected]

“I thought the instructions were reasonably clear but I have a few specific suggestions/observations:

- I thought the language was clumsy in places. For instance, the last sentence in the first paragraph is awkward. Maybe a professional editor would be helpful.

- You may want to consider an opening paragraph defining a trip in Prince William Sound. If someone flies to Cordova and camps out without ever going out on the water, are they taking a trip in PWS?

- How about providing the addresses of the two ranger stations where people can turn in the completed surveys.

- Your abbreviation for Prince William Sound should probably be consistent. I notice you use both "PWS" and the "Sound."

- I thought question 4 was a little confusing. You might revise it to ask: "On average, how long are your trips in PWS?" And then give them a choice of ___ One day, ___Two to three days, etc.

- The questions should use the same tense. For instance, question 6 should probably be: "What was your mode of travel . . . "

- As a user, I think I would be discouraged by having to record every 15-minute stop. Maybe this is an accepted time period for surveys of this sort, but I would be more inclined to participate if I were reporting about stops of an hour or more.

- Question 15 is not very clear. Some rewording would help.

- Question 26 seems like a really roundabout way of asking what qualities people look for in a site.”

3- Comments from Sue Cogswell:

Executive Director

Prince William Sound Economic Development District

2207 Spenard Rd. Suite 207, Anchorage, AK 99503

Phone: (907) 222-2440 Fax: (907) 222-2411

Email: [email protected]

“Wow, this survey is really comprehensive! I think it's really well done...is there some kind of reward you can offer for those taking the survey? Like a map, or something?? Or a patch, pin or something....?”

4 - Comments from Jessica Fraver:

Graduate Student, University of Arizona

Email: [email protected]

and

5 - Comments from Laura Kennedy:

Graduate Student, University of Arizona

Email: [email protected]

6 - Comments from Sadie Youngstrom:

Undergraduate Student, Alaska Pacific University

“The questions are straight forward and easy to understand. The mapping may create somewhat of a challenge for travelers but I'm not sure who you will be passing it out to.”

Email: [email protected]

7 - Comments from Maryann Smith:

Graduate Student, Alaska Pacific University

Email: [email protected]

8 – Comments relative to survey development from Dr. Brian Glaspell:

Brian Glaspell, Ph.D.

Kodiak National Wildlife Refuge

1390 Buskin River Road

Kodiak, AK 99615

(907)487-2600

(907)487-2144 (Fax)

Email: [email protected]

“I managed to take a look at your survey (only a couple days late!) and I think you've done a really nice job. In particular, I think that--despite the complexity and depth of the questions, this survey is relatively easy to follow and complete. You did not send the map attachment, so I didn't review it, but I'm not sure that it's important. My comments are below (mostly small stuff):

Q2 -- since this is a post trip survey, this question should read "what was the start date..." Also, the number of people in your party portion is easy to miss here (I did the first time). Why not make it a separate question?

Q6 -- Will respondents consistently know the difference between a smaller motorized boat, a tour boat, and a motor yacht?

Q9 -- The instructions are just a little confusing here. Presumably, respondents are only supposed to check one primary activity, but the instructions for the next part say "check all that apply).

Map exercise -- there are a couple typos in the instructions -- proof carefully. I think the table is a pretty good way to organize the questions and responses. I wonder, however, if most folks will be able to accurately represent their trips on the map? Who will be receiving the survey (just trip leaders? They would likely have the most accurate route knowledge). Would a cruise ship or tour boat passenger be able to trace their route? How do you account for people just getting it wrong? I know Randy deals with these kinds of questions in his work all the time, but they still trouble me -- especially in this scenario where there are so many different potential modes of travel.

Q13 -- Isn't this information available from the map exercise? Also, did you consider a past displacement question here such as, "Are there places in PWS sound that you used to enjoy but no longer visit? Which ones?" That information isn't really captured in any of your other questions.

Q15 (table) -- Three items here overlap quite a bit: be in a peaceful quiet place, be in a wild area with little interaction with people, enjoy natural scenery and views. I would suggest that there are three distinct elements here and each item should represent just one of them (enjoying natural beauty, being in a wild/undeveloped place, experiencing solitude).

Q23 -- Isn't this already addressed in the map exercise. Nearing thje end of a challenging survey, the last thing you want respondents to do here is think, "I've already answered this!"

Q24 -- The instructions in parentheses here are kind of obtuse. Why not just say, "If this was your first visit to PWS, skip to Q...." Also, seems like there needs to be a "not applicable" response option in each of questions 25 and 26.

One final comment -- There are a lot of questions, response options, and examples that refer to encounters and their effects (by my count, encounters and their effects are referred too at least 13 times). I think this has the effect of "priming" respondents to recall and write about encounters, even if they might not otherwise have thought about them much. There's no easy fix, but it's something to think about when listing example responses, choosing question order, etc.”

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