THE AUTHOR 



CONTENTS 



DR. ROBERT C. LUCAS is principal research social 

 scientist and project leader of the Intermountain 

 Station's Wilderness Management research work 

 unit at the Forestry Sciences Laboratory at the 

 University of Montana, Missoula. He has been with 

 the Station since 1967. Dr. Lucas received his B.S., 

 M.A., and Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota in 

 1957, 1959, and 1962. He also studied at the Free 

 University of West Berlin, Germany, and at the Univer- 

 sity of Chicago. He has authored numerous publica- 

 tions dealing with wilderness management. 



RESEARCH SUMMARY 



The USDA Forest Service managers of a large part of 

 the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness in Montana sought to 

 influence some visitors to shift from heavily used trail- 

 heads to more lightly used ones. To do this, they 

 designed a brochure on relative use levels and on how 

 to locate trailheads. They began distributing the bro- 

 chure in 1974. An evaluation showed overall use pat- 

 terns were not shifted toward the lightly used trail- 

 heads. A majority of visitors never saw the brochure. 

 Only about one-fourth had it before they reached the 

 trailhead, and about one-fourth of these said they used 

 the brochure to choose a trailhead, usually a lightly used 

 one. The number of visitors increased an average of 26 

 percent per year during the 2-year evaluation, apparent- 

 ly overwhelming the small redistributional effect of the 

 brochure. Information on crowding was not one of the 

 main factors cited by visitors as influencing trailhead 

 choices, suggesting that the brochure's focus was too 

 narrow. This study, and several other similar studies that 

 are reviewed, suggest information programs— which 

 are an attractive, nonauthoritarian, indirect technique- 

 can redistribute use substantially if information about a 

 variety of area conditions is presented to visitors early 

 enough in the location choice process. 



Page 



INTRODUCTION 1 



The Use Distribution Problem 1 



Management to Redistribute Use 1 



Information as a Use Redistribution Tool 2 



THE STUDY AND RESEARCH METHODS 2 



Study Area and Management Program 2 



Evaluation 4 



Use Patterns 4 



Visitor Survey 4 



Analysis and Underlying Theory 5 



FINDINGS 6 



Changes in Use Patterns 6 



Visitor Response to the Brochure 7 



REACHING VISITORS 7 



INFLUENCING VISITORS 10 



Visitor Opinion of the Brochure 11 



Factors in Visitor Location Choices 12 



DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS 12 



MANAGEMENT IMPLICATIONS 12 



PUBLICATIONS CITED 13 



APPENDIX 14 



Excerpts from 



the "Routes to the Wilderness" Brochure 14-1 



