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National Visitor Use Monitoring Program

A car traveling on a paved highway through thick forest. An orange traffic alert sign sits on the right side of the road indicating "TRAFFIC SURVEY AHEAD"
National Visitor Use Monitoring survey in action on the El Yunque National Forest, Puerto Rico (U.S. Forest Service photo)

The National Visitor Use Monitoring survey is a Forest Service program designed to estimate how many people recreate on national forests and grasslands, what activities they engage in while there and how satisfied people were with their visit.

Forest Service Visitation Data Infographic

These surveys are conducted on a national forest every five years. Results from these surveys help show the characteristics of recreation-related visits to national forests and the benefits recreation brings to all visitors.

Our 2024 report shows the Forest Service hosts an estimated 164 million recreation visits per year. The two most common primary recreational activities while on national forest land are hiking/walking and downhill skiing.

This dashboard was created to show this information for national forests that have completed NVUM surveys beginning in FY2022. The dashboard shows total visitation estimates for each forest as well as summary information gleaned from on-site surveys of visitors. Learn about recreation occurring on each forest by exploring the dashboard.