Geology topics

Emily J. Wilkins

Publications and source records attributed to Emily J. Wilkins.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

USGS2026

Monitoring recreation on federally managed lands and waters—Aspects of visitor use

Federally managed public lands and waters receive around 1 billion recreational visits each year. Data on these visitors can aid in guiding policy decisions, managing resources effectively, and communicating the economic contributions of lands and waters. This report explores the methods used by agencies to collect data on aspects of recreational visitor use to Federal lands and waters (apart from visitation numbers, which are the focus of a companion publication). Aspects of recreational visitor use include visitor demographics, recreational activity participation, visitor satisfaction, visitor attitudes and experiences, trip characteristics, and economic contributions. We review practices used to understand aspects of visitor use across seven Federal agencies, revealing similarities such as the use of visitor intercept surveys and coverage of similar topic areas, and differences in how survey programs are operationalized and how specific questions on visitor surveys are worded. We also evaluate emerging technologies, such as geolocated social media and mobile device location data, for their potential to aid in understanding aspects of visitor use. This report concludes with potential opportunities to enhance data collection and coordination, ensuring cost-effective data collection and informed decision making.

Scientific Investigations Report↗

USGS2026

Debunking the myth of the quintessential resource manager: Precision in actionable science

“Actionable science” is a widely held standard for identifying the merits of natural resources research. Yet, science is often framed as actionable to a vaguely identified quintessential “manager” without defining either the intended manager or use. Generic descriptions lack precision for identifying end users or their needs, limiting methodological rigor in research design and leading to contextual misalignments of outputs with the need they intended to serve. Further, imprecise terminology limits the ability to evaluate impact, replicate efforts, or foster adoption and implementation of findings. This perspective article presents the heuristic of “who, what, when, where, why, how” to help researchers be more precise when describing their actionable science. Through intentional reflection, researchers can move beyond generic framings of “managers” representing monolithic organizations. “Managers” become individuals, with unique responsibilities, functions, worldviews, and levels of authority, all influencing their use of and need for scientific information and data.

Conservation Science and Practice↗

USGS2026

Practical guidance for engaging end-users and experts in developing scientific tools

This report provides actionable guidance for scientists developing scientific tools that inform on-the-ground decision making. Scientific tools, in the context of this report, are technology or protocols that help practitioners collect and analyze their own data, and information products and web tools that practitioners could use to inform decisions. Engaging end-users and fellow experts is fundamental to the creation of useful scientific tools. Scientists can use clear and specific direction on action steps and activities to effectively engage with end-users and fellow experts during development. Our study explores lessons learned from six U.S. Geological Survey projects that designed and implemented engagement activities with end-users and experts to coproduce scientific tools for natural resource managers. U.S. Geological Survey teams engaged end-users and experts across the United States from Federal, State, and local governments; universities; Tribes; territories; and nongovernmental organizations in designing and developing scientific tools intended to support end-users in their work. An online survey with 98 participants measured satisfaction across several indicators of successful engagement, including engagement activity frequency, sufficient opportunities to provide feedback, feedback implementation, inclusion of necessary perspectives, and functionality of the tool for end-users. Semistructured interviews were held with project leads, during which the project leads reviewed a summary of the survey results. The project leads reflected on the engagement efforts used in their project, then described lessons learned from the engagement experience and participant feedback. Common themes for ensuring effective engagement identified through thematic analysis included engaging end-users during product conceptualization; establishing clear roles and expectations; considering who end-users are and how end-users may use the tool; recruiting participants through your network, boundary spanners, and leadership; understanding individual use cases; communicating how feedback was integrated into the product; and strategically using virtual meeting tools. This guide shares practical steps and exercises for planning and facilitating effective engagement based on lessons learned from project leads and case study summaries of each project.

Scientific Investigations Report↗

USGS2026

Communicating darkness: Visitor preferences for dark sky interpretation

Utah parks are attracting an increasing number of visitors due to the quality dark sky viewing opportunities. Despite increasing engagement in nighttime recreation, limited research exists on visitor interest in interpretation for dark skies in state and national parks. Nighttime visitors at nine Utah state and national park units certified as dark sky parks were surveyed to evaluate their preferences for dark sky-related interpretive topics and communication methods. Visitors expressed the strongest interest in astronomy and improving dark sky viewing, with ranger-led programs emerging as the most favored delivery method. National park visitors showed greater interest than state park visitors in self-guided learning formats such as interpretive displays and mobile apps for topics such as dark sky viewing/astronomy and viewing wildlife at night. These findings highlight the benefits of diverse, yet targeted communication strategies to improve visitor experiences of dark skies and foster stewardship of natural darkness in parks.

Utah↗

USGS2026

Monitoring recreation on federally managed lands and waters—Aspects of visitor use

Federally managed public lands and waters receive about 1 billion recreational visits each year. Data on these visitors can aid in guiding policy decisions, managing resources effectively, and communicating the economic contributions of lands and waters. This report explores the methods used by agencies to collect data on aspects of recreational visitor use to Federal lands and waters (apart from visitation numbers, which are the focus of a companion publication). Aspects of recreational visitor use include visitor demographics, recreational activity participation, visitor satisfaction, visitor attitudes and experiences, trip characteristics, and economic contributions. We review practices used to understand aspects of visitor use across seven Federal agencies, revealing similarities such as the use of visitor intercept surveys and coverage of similar topic area, and differences in how survey programs are operationalized and how specific questions on visitor surveys are worded. We also evaluate emerging technologies, such as geolocated social media and mobile device location data, for their potential to aid in understanding aspects of visitor use. This report concludes with potential opportunities to enhance data collection and coordination, ensuring cost-effective data collection and informed decision-making.

SocArXiv↗

USGS2025

National Park Service staff perspectives on how climate change affects visitor use

1. Many public lands, including those managed by the U.S. National Park Service(NPS), have the purpose of conserving natural and cultural resources and providing opportunities for visitors to recreate in and enjoy these areas. Achieving this mission becomes more challenging as drought, flooding, increasing temperatures and other climatic change effects are impacting NPS lands and visitors and affecting factors such as visitation, recreation access and health and safety among other aspects of park operations. 2. However, the literature lacks insights from staff dealing with on-the-ground climate impacts to visitor use. To address this gap, we held semi-structured interviews with 63 staff from 31 NPS units across the United States (U.S.) to better understand the effects of climate change on visitor use. We qualitatively analysed the interviews using both deductive and inductive methods to identify key themes. 3. Interview participants consistently noted that climate change is already affecting visitor use at their parks. For instance, increasing temperatures are negatively affecting both staff and visitor safety at parks nationwide, whereas all coastal parks within our sample are already experiencing impacts from sea-level rise or more frequent and severe coastal storms and hurricanes. Other impacts include reduced recreational access, damaged infrastructure and cultural resources and diminished visitor experiences due to fire and smoke. 4. Similarly, concerns about future impacts often revolved around the health and safety of visitors and staff—particularly related to wildfire and smoke, water quality and availability, and increased heat—and climate change forever altering parks. 5. Our research shows staff in parks and protected areas are noticing effects of climate change on visitor use; some of these impacts have not been previously documented in the scientific literature. Study results highlight future visitor use management research needs and key topics to consider for visitor use planning processes.

People and Nature↗

USGS2025

Using public participatory geographic information systems (PPGIS) to explore uses and values for Mojave Trails National Monument, California

Many people ascribe a variety of values to public lands and waters, but some values are more difficult to assess and quantify than others. Public participatory geographic information systems (PPGIS) are tools that have been used to help quantify and map the public’s diverse values for a landscape. This work describes the first known Office of Management and Budget–approved use of PPGIS by a Department of the Interior bureau. The U.S. Geological Survey developed an internet-based application to aid in gathering PPGIS data, called Values Mapping for Planning in Regional Ecosystems (VaMPIRE). Further, this work describes the first pilot of the VaMPIRE application in coordination with the Bureau of Land Management to collect spatial data and other survey data regarding the public’s uses of and values for locations within Mojave Trails National Monument. We emailed the link to the VaMPIRE application to an interested party email list in 2024 with 207 valid emails and received 74 responses; we also received 47 responses from members of an off-roading social media group. Of the list of 16 value options, recreation was the most popular value for the monument, followed by wilderness and inspirational. Over 1,000 points were placed throughout the monument, indicating locations people use or value, with the locations spread throughout the entire monument. Additionally, most survey respondents stated their ability to receive benefits in locations they mapped would not change in response to a hypothetical scenario related to recreational facility development. This report describes exploratory results from the first use of the VaMPIRE tool in Mojave Trails National Monument and includes reflections on how the process went and considerations for future use of VaMPIRE.

California↗

USGS2025

Monitoring recreation on federally managed lands and waters—Visitation estimation

Federally managed public lands and waters attract millions of visitors each year, generating significant economic benefits for surrounding communities. Accurate visitation data are crucial for guiding policy decisions and managing resources effectively. This report explores the methods employed by agencies to collect and use data on recreational visitation to Federal lands and waters. Visitation estimation practices across seven agencies are reviewed, revealing similarities such as the use of automated counters for on-site data collection, alongside differences in reporting frequencies, visit definitions, and public access to data. Emerging technologies, including social media, mobile device activity, and community science, are also evaluated for their potential to improve visitation estimation. Although these technologies offer promising opportunities, they come with challenges such as data biases, the need for calibration, costs, and privacy concerns. The report concludes with opportunities to enhance data collection, coordination, and accessibility, ensuring more efficient resource management and informed decision making.

Scientific Investigations Report↗

USGS2025

The mountains are calling, but will visitors go? Modeling the effect of weather and air quality on visitation to Pacific Northwest parks and protected areas using mobile device data

We investigated how visitors to federal, state, and local parks and protected areas (PPAs) respond to weather and air quality conditions in the Pacific Northwest (PNW), United States. Specifically, we modeled the relationship between weekly visitation and mean weekly minimum and maximum temperature, precipitation, Air Quality Index (AQI), and particulate matter 2.5 concentration (PM2.5, often used as an indicator of wildfire smoke) during an extended peak visitation season from 2017 to 2021 in 91 PNW PPAs. We used mobile device data from StreetLight Data Inc. to estimate weekly vehicular visitation. Our findings indicate that increasing precipitation corresponded with decreased weekly visitation to all three types of PPAs and rising minimum temperatures corresponded with increased visitation. We found that rising maximum temperatures corresponded with increased visitation in federal and local PPAs, but corresponded with decreased visitation in local PPAs once temperatures reach a maximum threshold. We did not observe a maximum threshold effect in federal or state settings. Further, we found that the effect of air quality and smoke on visitation varies based on the metric used: increased PM2.5 concentrations (possibly indicating the presence of wildfire smoke) in federal and local PPAs corresponded with decreased visitation, while increased AQI in federal PPAs corresponded with increased visitation. These findings indicate that visitors may respond differently to different types of air pollution. Our results have implications for adapting peak- and shoulder- season visitor use management to current and future climate change within and beyond PPAs of the PNW.

Idaho, Oregon, Washington↗

USGS2025

Adapting visitor use management under a changing climate across the U.S. National Park System

Research shows that climate change is already affecting both resources and visitors in U.S. National Parks. We sought to better understand if and how park staff across the National Park Service are adapting to climatic changes that affect visitor use, as well as barriers and challenges to adaptation and information needs. We conducted semi-structured qualitative interviews with 63 staff from 31 representative national park units across the United States. We qualitatively coded interviews for themes using deductive and inductive coding approaches. Results indicate that park staff are already taking action to adapt to changes that are affecting visitor use, including efforts to increase resiliency of infrastructure and to support the health and safety of visitors (e.g., increased communication, preventative search and rescue, changes to programming). Common barriers and challenges include institutional factors (such as funding, staffing capacity, and shifting priorities), uncertainty about future conditions, and difficulties with prioritizing climate adaptation. Data, tool, and information needs varied, but commonly included social science data such as visitor surveys, and tools to help synthesize and standardize information and help translate science into action. These results provide insights into current actions park staff are taking to adapt to climate change and what resources may be helpful in the future to lower the challenges and barriers to adaptation.

Journal of Environmental Management↗

USGS2025

A review of the effects of climate change on visitor use in US public lands and waters

Climate change is affecting recreational visitor use in U.S. public lands and waters, causing changes to visitation levels, timing of trips, activity participation, and visitor safety. This report reviews the literature on how climate change is influencing visitor use in the United States and how visitor use may be affected in the future. Our goal is to provide the current state of the literature for managers of public lands and waters and provide foundational information for the development of a climate change vulnerability assessment methodology for visitor use within the National Park Service (that may be applicable to other federal lands and waters). Specifically, we investigate how seven different climate change factors may affect visitor use on public lands and waters. These factors consist of increasing temperatures; flooding, drought, and increased variability of precipitation; decreasing snowpack and earlier spring runoff; wildfires, smoke, and air quality; coastal hazards: hurricanes and sea level rise; harmful algal blooms (HABs); and zoonotic and vector-borne disease. The current research indicates that these factors are already affecting visitors to public lands and waters and continued effects in the future are likely as the climate warms. Additionally, we summarize existing research on how visitors to U.S. public lands and waters are adapting to climate change. Throughout the review, we note where there are substantial gaps in the literature and more research would help managers respond to the effects of climate change on visitor use.

Science Report↗

USGS2024

Delineating draft inventory analysis units for National Scenic and Historic Trails inventory, assessment, and monitoring programs

As of 2024, there are 32 National Scenic and Historic Trails (NSHTs) in the system administered by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), National Park Service, and U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service. The BLM administers, manages, and protects 19 of these trails as part of its system of national conservation lands. Various laws, regulations, and policies require that the BLM conduct and maintain an inventory to protect trail-related resources, qualities, values, associated settings, and primary use or uses. There are set procedures for conducting inventory, assessment, and monitoring (IAM) of NSHTs, as outlined in volumes 1 and 2 of BLM Technical Reference 6280-1. One of the first steps in the IAM process is deciding the area along a trail to inventory. However, volumes 1 and 2 of BLM Technical Reference 6280-1 do not specify how the land area to be inventoried should be delineated. The BLM calls these focus areas for IAM efforts “inventory analysis units” (IAUs), which are defined as the geospatial boundary for the location of an inventory along a trail. This report reviews the approach used to delineate the IAUs for an inventory effort and identifies best practices for creating initial IAUs, termed “draft IAUs.” Draft IAUs would provide standardization across multiple management jurisdictions by applying the same parameters for their delineation. These draft IAUs would provide trail managers with an area surrounding NSHTs that would trigger the need for an inventory if a project were proposed within it and are meant to be refined during localized inventory efforts. The best practices herein are for creating draft IAUs using standard parameters for performing a viewshed analysis to identify a proxy of land to include in an initial inventory effort.

New Mexico↗

USGS2024

Effects and perceptions of weather, climate, and climate change on outdoor recreation and nature-based tourism in the United States: A systematic review

Weather, climate, and climate change all effect outdoor recreation and tourism, and will continue to cause a multitude of effects as the climate warms. We conduct a systematic literature review to better understand how weather, climate, and climate change affect outdoor recreation and nature-based tourism across the United States. We specifically explore how the effects differ by recreational activity, and how visitors and supply-side tourism operators perceive these effects and risks. The 82 papers reviewed show the complex ways in which weather, climate, and climate change may affect outdoor recreation, with common themes being an extended season to participate in warm-weather activities, a shorter season to participate in snow-dependent activities, and larger negative effects to activities that depend on somewhat consistent precipitation levels (e.g., snow-based recreation, water-based recreation, fishing). Nature-based tourists perceive a variety of climate change effects on tourism, and some recreationists have already changed their behavior as a result of climate change. Nature-based tourism suppliers are already noticing a wide variety of climate change effects, including shifts in seasonality of specific activities and visitation overall. Collectively, this review provides insights into our current understanding of climate change and outdoor recreation and opportunities for future research.

PLOS Climate↗

USGS2024

Quantifying and evaluating strategies to decrease carbon dioxide emissions generated from tourism to Yellowstone National Park

The tourism industry needs strategies to reduce emissions and hasten the achievement of global carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) emission reduction targets. Using a case study approach, we estimated CO 2 emissions related to park tourism in Yellowstone National Park (USA) generated from transit to and from the park, transit within the park, accommodations, and park operations. Results indicate tourism to Yellowstone National Park produces an estimated 1.03 megaton (1.03 billion kg) of CO 2 -equivalent emissions annually, with an average of 479 kg CO 2 per visitor. Almost 90% of these emissions were attributable to transit to and from the destination, while 5% were from transit within the park, 4% from overnight accommodations, and about 1% from other park operations (e.g., visitor centers, museums, shops, restaurants, etc.). Visitors who fly only made up about 35% of all visitors, but produced 72% of the emissions related to transit to and from the park. Future scenarios that alter transit to and from the park can reduce emissions the most; this includes a greater proportion of local or regional visitors, fewer visitors flying, and increased fuel efficiency of vehicles. The method developed in this work, and applied specifically to Yellowstone National Park, can be adopted elsewhere and used to help decision makers evaluate the effectiveness of potential emission reduction strategies.

Wyoming↗

USGS2024

Novel data in recreation monitoring—Summary proceedings from interagency workshops in 2019 and 2023

Two interagency workshops were held in 2019 and 2023 in Fort Collins, Colorado, to discuss the use of novel data in recreation monitoring. During the workshops, the phrase “novel data in recreation monitoring” was primarily used to refer to data from social media, mobile device applications, and other online secondary sources. The goals of these workshops were to share information across agencies and researchers on the state of the science and applications for using novel data and to collectively discuss best practices for using novel data for understanding recreation on public lands and waters. Presentations during the workshops focused on use-cases, current applications, and the current state of research (as of the time of the workshops) for using novel data in recreation monitoring. Group discussions during the workshops focused on the strengths and limitations of novel data sources, potential approaches for integrating new and emerging data sources and methods with traditional approaches, and research and management needs. This report provides the proceedings of the 2019 and 2023 interagency workshops on novel data in recreation monitoring.

Scientific Investigations Report↗

USGS2024

Perceived constraints to participating in wildlife-related recreation

Wildlife-related recreationists play an important role in conservation. Understanding constraints to wildlife-related activities is critical for maintaining or increasing participation in activities like birdwatching and hunting. A mail-out survey was administered to a generalized sample representative of U.S. residents (i.e., not specific to birdwatching or hunting) in early 2017 to determine what would limit them from participating in birdwatching and hunting (n = 1030). We employed a concurrent nested mixed-methods design: open-ended responses were thematically coded qualitatively in two distinct cycles (i.e., inductive, and then mixed inductive-deductive coding), and then the probability of expressing the second cycle codes was quantitatively modeled using multinomial logit models for the respective activities. Doing so empirically determined various groups’ constraints that are important to recruitment, retention, and reactivation (R 3 ) efforts for birdwatching and hunting. We found that the likelihood of experiencing unique constraints varied based on sociodemographic characteristics, and these relationships differed between birdwatching and hunting. Gender had a limited effect on constraints to birdwatching but was a strong indicator of intrapersonal constraints and limitations to involvement in hunting. The likelihood of expressing structural constraints decreased with age for both activities. Possessing strong social ties to the activities tended to reduce the likelihood of expressing constraints overall but this was especially true for hunting. Our findings inform R 3 efforts for wildlife-related recreation and provide direct results that organizations can apply in seeking to help Americans negotiate constraints and increase and diversify participation in wildlife-related recreation and conservation behavior.

Journal of Outdoor Recreation and Tourism↗

USGS2024

Trail sustainability broadly defined

In this paper we provide a concise yet comprehensive examination of the importance and sustainability of trail networks, considering a diverse array of perspectives. Sustainability related to recreation infrastructure elements has been variously defined, with different disciplines often only considering one or two aspects of sustainability. In the context of trail networks, we suggest that there must be an equilibrium or harmony between human uses and the long-term sustainable management of the trail network's infrastructure, its protections of environmental and historic/cultural resources, and provision of diverse socio-economic benefits to visitors and surrounding communities. While trail sustainability has often been narrowly defined as accommodating visitation while minimizing environmental degradation, we emphasize a broader definition that encompasses four interconnected domains: managerial, resource, social, and economic. We suggest that a network of trails cannot be truly sustainable until scientists, land managers, and trail stewards fully consider and effectively address each of these dimensions.

Journal of Outdoor Recreation and Tourism↗

USGS2023

Visitation to national parks in California shows annual and seasonal change during extreme drought and wet years

This study examines the influence of drought indicators on recreational visitation patterns to National Park Service units in California (USA) from 1980 to 2019. We considered mountain, arid, and coastal park types across a climate gradient where seasonal recreational opportunities are directly or indirectly dependent on water resources. Significant departures from the normal hydroclimate, reflected by drought or unusually wet conditions, can lead visitors to change their behavior, including recreating at a different time or place. Drought conditions can facilitate earlier seasonal access at higher elevation parks, but displace visitors in other seasons and parks. Wetter-than-average conditions can displace visitors due to snowpack or flooding, but also facilitate other activities. We found a decrease in annual visitation at popular mountain parks including Yosemite (-8.6%) and Sequoia and Kings Canyon (-8.2%) during extreme drought years due to lower-than-average attendance in peak summer and fall months. Extreme wet years also had significantly reduced annual visitation in Sequoia and Kings (-8.5%) and Lassen Volcanic (-13.9%) due to declines in spring and summer use as snowpack restricts road access. For arid parks, drought status did not have a statistically significant effect on annual visitation, although extreme drought led to less use during the hottest months of summer at Death Valley, and extreme wet conditions at Pinnacles led to less visitation throughout the year (-16.6%), possibly from impacts to infrastructure associated with flooding. For coastal park units, extreme drought led to year-round higher levels of use at Redwood (+27.7%), which is typically wet, and less year-round use at Channel Islands (-23.6%), which is relatively dry, while extreme wet years led to higher levels of annual use at Channel Islands (+29.4%). Collectively, these results indicate the effect of extreme drought or wet years on park visitation varies by park depending on geography and recreational activities offered.

California↗