Data from a 1972 visitor survey in the Desolation Wilderness to determine baseline visitor characteristics, and preferences for wilderness conditions and experience

This package contains baseline data for visitor characteristics, activities and preferences collected as part of a 1972 survey of visitors to the Desolation Wilderness in the Sierra Nevada of northern California. Permit data and mailback surveys were used to provide the data from a systematic sample of visitors with the required use permit (permit holders). Questions asked of respondents in the mailback survey pertained to visitor characteristics (e.g., education, occupation), activities (e.g., length of stay, method of travel), and preferences (e.g., satisfaction, attitudes toward conditions).
The Wilderness Act (PL 88-577) directs that wilderness be managed to preserve natural conditions and to provide outstanding opportunities for solitude or a primitive and unconfined type of recreation. To meet those management goals, managers must adapt their programs to changes in the amount and type of use and resultant conditions. It is also important for managers to be aware of likely visitor response to proposed management actions and their preferences for conditions in wilderness. Unfortunately, very little is known about trends in the characteristics, activities and preferences of wilderness visitors. Such baseline understanding is needed for trend analysis. The data reported here comes from a coordinated research effort to understand baseline conditions in several wilderness areas.