Figure 5. - Brief interviews were conducted with every party entering or leaving during sample periods to establish actual use 

 to compare and relate to registered use. Sampling was intensive; close to half of the 1 968 visitors were contacted. 



Registration Stations 



Unmanned registration stations (fig. 6) were installed at 19 trail entrances 

 (fig. 7) in early June, except for trails through the passes; snow made these inacces- 

 sible until late June and early July. The locations for these stations were selected 

 in consultation with the Ranger District staff and included all trails thought to be 

 used by at least an average of one group every 2 weeks (roughly equal to one-fourth of 

 a visit per day). One additional trail meeting this criterion was discovered and added 

 several weeks after the study began; it leads from the Indian Reservation south of the 

 Primitive Area to Gray Wolf Lake. The registration stations were located where the 

 trails began at the road, rather than on the Primitive Area boundary (except for trails 

 through the passes) . 



Vandalism of unmanned registration boxes as well as of signs, counters, and other 

 equipment was not a problem. However, two registration stations were severely damaged 

 by porcupines. Several more stations suffered similar damage, although it was minor. 

 After stovepipe was placed around posts supporting the signs and boxes, porcupines gave 

 us no more trouble. 



The registration box, sign, map on signboard, and card format that we used all 

 were based on Wenger (1964). ^ The sign directed one person from each group to register 

 for the entire party when entering. The registration card (Appendix I) asked for a 



^The sign, however, following current Forest Service standards, was gray and brown 

 instead of yellow and black as in Wenger 's test. 



12 



