Muir Woods, Golden Gate National Recreation Area
Resource Systems Group, Inc. and University of Vermont Park Studies Laboratory. 2011. Muir Woods, Golden Gate National Recreation Area. National Park Service. White River Junction, Vermont & Burlington, Vermont
Study of transportation and crowding issues in MUWO. Muir Woods National Monument, managed as part of Golden Gate National Recreation Area (GGNRA) by the National Park Service (NPS), preserves a primeval redwood forest in Marin County just north of San Francisco. The monument receives intensive public use, with more than one million people visiting annually. NPS is revising GGNRA’s General Management Plan (GMP) and developing Implementation Plans for management of visitor use in Muir Woods. This planning is guided by a management-by-objectives framework, with a key component being the development of indicators and standards of quality for visitor experiences. The NPS has commissioned a study with the University of Vermont (UVM) and Resource Systems Group (RSG) to collect visitor use information to support the development of indicators and standards of quality for GGNRA’s GMP and Implementation Plans. As part of the study, visitor use counts and observations were conducted during summer 2009 to establish the current condition of crowding-related indicators of quality. From these observations and additional data characterizing the arrival and routing of visitors, a simulation model of Muir Woods’ visitor was developed. In estimating the value of crowding-related indicators under different conditions of volume and arrival the model both facilitates ongoing indicator monitoring and enables analysis of alternative management schemes. A primary purpose of the simulation model is to analyze the potential effects of GMP alternatives for transportation and visitor management in the monument. The results presented in this report are intended to provide an empirical basis to support NPS decisions about indicators and standards of quality for visitor experiences. It is organized in four primary sections. Section 2 reviews descriptive characterizing the existing conditions of crowding-related indicators. Section 3 outlines the data and methods used to develop the simulation model. Section 4 reports results of modeling the current conditions of crowding-related indicators. Section 5 reports results of GMP alternatives analysis.
- Type
- Published Report
- Authors
- Resource Systems Group, Inc.; University of Vermont Park Studies Laboratory
- Date of Issue
- 2011-11-30
- Publisher
- National Park Service
- Units
- GOGA , MUWO
- Keywords
- crowding, GGNRA, Golden Gate, Muir Woods, Transportation, visitor experience studies, visitor use counts