If you want to implement a counting system in a park, follow these best practices to get the most out of your data:
Think about exactly what you want to accomplish with your count data. For example, do you want to identify trends in visitor flows over time, determine usage patterns, measure the impact of renovations, or find out which facilities are being used the most?
Choose the busiest or most representative locations in the park to place the counters, such as trailheads, feeder trails, visitor centers, etc.
Continuous automated counts can be used to extrapolate data from short-term manual counts. This method allows you to cover a larger area with fewer automatic counters.
Do you need to communicate with administrators, other departments, or the public? Websites and reports are effective ways to raise awareness, strengthen messaging, and share data.
While automated count data reveals baselines and trends, manual observations and surveys gather data on demographics and behaviour. This continuous quality data can be used to improve park maintenance and management, justify new funding, write better grant applications, and more.
Whether you’re planning a new park or implementing a counting system in an existing park, we can help. From setting your organization’s goal for data collection to choosing the right locations for the counters to analyzing the data, the Eco-Counter team can guide you every step of the way.