Flows and Recretion: A guide to studies for river professionals

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Objective Collect and organize information about "local knowledge" of the river, recreation opportunities, and potential flow effects. The source is experienced users or resource experts. Typical approach Identify a list of experienced recreation users or resource experts, usually through networking. Develop questions for identifying opportunities, potential flow effects, or other relevant issues. Conduct the interviews (with documentation), analyze responses, and summarize findings. Product Summary sections in a Level 1 report will identify existing and potential recreation opportunities, describe whether those are likely to be flow - dependent, and suggest potential flow - related issues or assessments (if possible). Lists of interviewees and systematic notes from interviews are commonly provided in appendices. Experienced users (right, considerable knowledge ai effects. Structured information, but careful d, to "repress Structured Interviews Responsibilities Utilities (or their consultants) have primary responsibility, but agencies and stakeholders can help develop the networking sample, or review interview questions and findings. Recreation groups can be particularly helpful for finding individuals that use the river for recreation. Additional issues Collaborative development and review of interview lists by agencies and stakeholders is often helpful to ensure the interviewees represent a sufficient diversity of user types. Systematic documentation of interview notes can make findings in a Level l report more transparent. The number of interviews and level of coding and analysis involved in this task depends on the resolution needed. For a Level 1 report, even a few interviews, limited qualitative summaries of interview results, and occasional "personal communication" citations may be adequate. For a Level 2 or 3 report, more interviews, quantified analysis or responses, and summary statistics or graphs may be more appropriate. Cautions & limitations Interview panels may be small in a Level l effort, limiting the usefulness of statistics to represent group evaluations about flows or access. Interview information is best for learning about a river's characteristics, past use, and potential flow - related issues rather than definitive evaluations for specific groups. "Representativeness" of panels is a major issue, especially when interviewees are developed through "self- selection" techniques (e.g., requests for interviewees made through a newsletter or on a list serve). Active networking designed to reach different parts of a recreation community is likely to be more successful. 12 1 Flows and Recreation: A Guide for River Professionals