Page 12 - winter 2019

12 Friends oF red rock canyon

olunteers serve increasingly important roles suggestions for management strategies. We will
V and functions at Red Rock Canyon National provide more detail in our final report about these
Conservation Area (NCA). Indeed, in the last fis- discussions.
cal year, nearly 800 volunteers provided more than
28,000 hours of service in many different ways at We also used these discussion groups to develop
the NCA. Many of them are also regular visitors. a survey to send to all active volunteers in order
Given their recreational and volunteer experiences to get a better understanding of these perspec-
at the NCA, they have unique perspectives on tives across the larger volunteer population. In
capacity-related issues and potential management August 2018, volunteers who had logged at least
strategies. five hours in the past fiscal year were emailed an
invitation to complete the online survey. A total of
To understand their perspectives, Great Basin 110 volunteers completed the survey.
Institute researchers conducted a capacity as-
Volunteers dedicated to the preservation of Red Rock Canyon
sessment for Red Rock Canyon and sponsored Volunteers have noticed impacts related to in-
separate small group discussions with a total of 22 creased visitation, for example:
volunteers in December 2017. In these sessions, • 73% have noticed an increase in graffiti
we discussed participants’ insights about common • 70% have noticed an increase in litter at the
issues with which they help visitors at the NCA, NCA in the past few years
the types of support they need to serve the Bureau
of Land Management (BLM), their perceptions Their own visitation patterns to the NCA have
of capacity-related issues and impacts and their changed since visitation has increased (Figure 1).

Figure 1

the Rock - Volume 9 Issue 2