The Valub of Research in Recreation Fee Project Implementation

In a survey of Forest Service managers responsible for implementation of recreation fee programs, research skills were perceived to provide little benefit to business or communications planning. A majori ty ofmanagers repotied, however, that they used research data they collected or contracted for when developing and implementing their fee programs. They rated the usellness of that information very high relat ive to other sources used. Few reports of formal studies prior to fee implementat ion suggest that a substant ia l par t ofthe research that occurred was very casual in nature. Since implementation, most managers are not collecting any information to help evaluate success or failure of the fee program to accomplish program objectives.