ABSTRACT
Introduction Participation in various outdoor recreation activities has signicantly increased over the past decade. Increases have been particularly high in forestlands that are adjacent to urban areas. Of particular concern is the knowledge that visitors from these areas may have about natural resource management policies or proper use of forestlands for recreation. One approach is to study the communications between recreation area managers and current or potential visitors. Included would be an investigation into visitors’ information needs and communication behaviors (Absher, 1998). Upon knowing visitors’ information needs and communication behaviors, managers would be able to enact more eective and ecient ways to reach out to visitors, and better focus management eorts in terms of environmental education, minimal impact information, alerting visitors of policy changes, or simply assuring that visitors are able to achieve the highest quality experience.
