Shining Rock Wilderness: 1990 visitor survey data

This data publication contains 1990 survey data for two different studies conducted in the Shining Rock Wilderness, which is in the Pisgah National Forest of western North Carolina. The first is a trend study to understand changes in visitor characteristics and the other was a study to understand knowledge and behavior about campsite selection and low-impact camping. Data for the ‘trend study’ were collected through a survey of visitors to the Shining Rock Wilderness. Visitors were contacted at trailheads, and those that agreed to participate in the study received a mailback survey, resulting in two data sets from two different survey instruments: visitor contact data and mailback survey data. Data for the second, ‘behavior and knowledge study’, was obtained from contacts and observations at campsites by Wilderness rangers. Two data sets (from two different survey instruments) were the result of the onsite information and observations and the mailback survey.
The trend study of visitors to the Shining Rock Wilderness in 1990 was done to gain a better understanding of trends in wilderness use and user characteristics. The research was a partial replication of a study of Shining Rock Wilderness users in 1978 (data for the 1978 study are not available). There were four objectives of this study. The first was to determine the characteristics of wilderness visits in 1990, including activities, methods of travel within the wilderness, season of use, length of stay, distance traveled, camping practices and conditions encountered. Secondly, to determine the characteristics of visitors in 1990, including types of groups, previous experience, place of residence and socio-demographic descriptions. The third objective was to determine visitor preferences in 1990, including perceptions of crowding, satisfaction with resource and social conditions encountered, desirability of current and potential policies and management actions, and sources of social conflict. Lastly, we wanted to compare the use patterns, visitor characteristics, perceptions of problems and management preferences of 1978 and 1990 Shining Rock Wilderness users. The behavior and knowledge study focused on the behavioral intentions and low-impact knowledge of users. This study also tested the effectiveness of low-impact education through the use of educational posters. See Stubbs and Roggenbuck (1992) for specific hypotheses and details with regard to the behavioral intention and low-impact knowledge aspects of this study (specifically chapter 3).