WARREN — The USDA Forest Service — Allegheny National Forest will begin conducting National Visitor Use Monitoring (NVUM) in developed and dispersed recreation sites and along Forest Service roads from Oct. 1 to Sept. 30, 2020.

NVUM is done every five years to update information previously gathered, as well as to look at recreation trends over time. The information collected is useful for Forest planning and provides the ANF’s managers with an estimate of how many people recreate on the Forest and what activities they engage in while here.

The NVUM data is also useful to local visitor bureaus and community tourism planning in understanding how those visitors to the national forest impact local economies.

Beginning Oct. 1, national forest visitors will see ANF contracted employees wearing bright orange vests standing near signs that say, “Traffic Survey Ahead.” They will be working in all kinds of adverse weather conditions waiting to talk to you, so please pull over for an interview.

All interviews will be conducted by well-trained interviewers and they will want to know about your visit on the national forest. Each interview will last between eight to fifteen minutes.

All information given is confidential and the survey is voluntary.