RECREATION VISITOR PREFERENCES FOR AND PERCEPTIONS OF OUTDOOR RECREATION SETTING AmRIBUTES

(FS), Southern Research Station, to measure visitor preferences for, and perceptions of, setting attributes at a variety of outdoor recreation sites. Over 11,000 visitors at 31 outdoor recreation sites across the country were interviewed in this study. The study was entitled CUSTOMER, which is an acronym for Customer Use and Survey Techniques for Operations, Management, Evaluations, and Research. Sites included those managed by the FS, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), and the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA). This section pre-sents results of analysis of CUSTOMER data on visitor preferences for, and satisfaction with, site attributes corresponding to five specific recreation settings (developed, dispersed, water, roaded, and winter) and one general outdoor setting. Developed areas were the most evenly distributed (across the U.S.) of the five specific settings sampled and includes sites and services such as campgrounds, RV hook-ups, picnic sites, and roads. Dispersed settings are primarily roadless areas and are more widely available in the Western than in the Eastern U.S. Water settings include lakes, rivers, and streams that are either near or adjacent to roads as well as intensively developed water sites. Roaded recreation areas are within 0.5 mile of roads, and most uses are trail dependent (for example, walking, biking, and horse riding). Winter settings provide snow and ice-based recreation oppor-tunities and are more widely distributed in the West