Dudes In Orange Vests Want To Talk To You In The Forest. It’s Ok To Talk To Them.

Really. It's OK. There work there and want to know what you think. Forest service workers will be asking forest visitors questions about their experience while outdoors but they're just basic questions and it's confidential.

Here's the official press release from the National Forest Service:

While enjoying your national forest, you may see Forest Service employees wearing bright orange vests near signs that read “Traffic Survey Ahead”.  These folks are waiting to talk to you, so please pull over for an interview.

These well trained interviewers want to know about your visit to the national forest - all information you give is confidential and the survey is voluntary.  Surveys are being conducted on the Gallatin National Forest until September 30, 2014,

This on-going national forest survey has already been conducted twice on every National Forest in the country.  We are now returning 5 years later to update the information previously gathered as well as to look at recreation trends over time. 

The information provides National Forest managers with an estimate of how many people recreate on federal lands and what activities they engage in while there, how satisfied people were with their visit, and the economic impact of your recreation visit on the local economy.

All responses are totally confidential, in fact a person’s name is never written anywhere on the survey and takes just a few minutes.

The questions visitors are asked include: where they recreated on the Forest, how many people they traveled with, how long they were on the Forest, what other recreation sites they visited while on the Forest, and how satisfied they were with the facilities and services provided.

About a third of the visitors will be asked to complete a confidential survey on recreation spending during their trip.

If you have any questions about this program you can visit our web site at www.fs.fed.us/recreation/programs/nvum