Using Contingent Choice Surveys to Inform National Park Management

Contingent choice surveys, in which respondents rate or rank alternative scenarios describing potential futures composed of varying levels of several different attributes, can help national park managers by identifying the preferences of visitors and also the nonuse values generated by park attributes. Many alternative combinations of park attributes can be explored efficiently, helping park managers to identify promising alternatives to be explored further during park planning processes. The surveys can be integrated easily into multiple stages of the existing National Park Service planning process. Another benefit of using contingent choice surveys in park planning is that it will foster interdisciplinarity. This paper describes National Park Service management policies and how contingent choice techniques can be integrated into them. A description of the different steps of a contingent choice analysis follows. Examples from Acadia National Park and North Cascades National Park illustrate the technique. The paper ends with a discussion of issues that future research should address.