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<br />25 <br /> <br />B. Property Owners Encountered Using Tbe River <br /> <br />Property owners who were encountered using tile river were sampled aceording to the same sampling plan <br />generated for conducting interviews. Tabulating enCllllnters with property owners (identified tI1roogb initial <br />screening questions, see tlIe interview form in Appendix B) allowed for estimation of the relative importance of <br />use by property owners versus non- owners. Property owners were given a self-administered questionnaire rather <br />tilan baving interviewer time allocated to questioning property owners. The questionnaire asked similar questions <br />on recreational use and asked some elementary questions about attibides and satisfaction regarding property <br />ownership. Tbe data gathered here came at Iitlle additional cost and establislled a basis {or tl1e design of tile mail <br />survey of property owners in general. <br /> <br />C. Riparian Property Owners In General <br /> <br />To learn about river use and potential trade-offs from management decisions, a random sample of riparian <br />property owners will be sampled. Tbis stage of the researcb is still in progress at tlIe date of tilis writing. The <br />MHB generated a lllaster list of property owners along tlIe first 400 miles of tile Mississippi River. Five <br />bundred housellOlds were randomly selected from a total population of about 4,000. This survey is being mailed <br />later Illis spring. The questionnaire is similar to tile interview wbere possible, especially on recreational use, but <br />includes detailed questions about property ownership. Portions of tilis questi()fUlaire are provided in Appendix C. <br /> <br />D. River Users Wbo Use Controlled Access Sites <br /> <br />To augment the information obtaiued from interviews. self- administered surveys were distributed at controlled <br />access sites. To be included in tile sample, it was necessary to have personnel present at the site to distribute the <br />questionnaire and to reeord names and addresses so tI1at a remioder ClllIld be sent to tIlose wbo did not respond <br />witllin a couple of weeks. All of tile sites chosen - resorts, private campgrounds, outlluers, state and federal <br />parks, etc. - bad personnel present wbo volunteered their time to distribute questionnaires randomly and to record <br />tile necessary information for conducting follow-ups. The twelve sites were distributed rather well geographically <br />over Ille 400 miles, but obviously could not provide representativeness of tile user population as a wbole. This <br />sample over-represented tourists, but tile additional information on tilis group was well worth gatllering. <br /> <br />Survey Design <br /> <br />The interview form is provided in Appendix B and portions of property owner survey are sllown in Appendix C. <br />In accordance witil tile researcb objectives, questions were asked to establisb a profile of river users along tile <br />different stretches aud to receive public input pertaining to four major management issues: (1) environmental <br />quality witilin tile watersbed, (2) development witilin the corridor, (3) congestion or conflict in recreational uses, <br />aud (4) fluctuation in instream flows. <br /> <br />Information on tilese management issues was obtained in a variety of forms, including (a) specific aspects of a <br />trip (e.g. number of otiler groups encountered, conflicts among uses) (b) activities, bebaviors, and satisfaction <br />ratings, (c) open-ended responses, and (d) importance-performance analysis. The interviews (see question 19 and <br />20 series, adapted from Cordell) evaluated importance of eleven aspects of a recreational experience on tile river <br />and tilen asked about satisfaction witil tilose aspects. Given tile nature of tilis researcb as a baseline study, rather <br />heavy reliance was placed 011 open-ended questions. <br /> <br />The illlerview questionnaire established tile basis for tile other tI1ree questionnaires. The four instruments were <br />designed to be as comparable as possible, allowing for differences in implementation metilods and between sub- <br />samples. Obviously tile property-owner questionnaires included questions whicb woold not bave been <br />appropriate lor lIOn-owners. The mail survey to property owners illCluded a great deal of additional detail <br />pertaining to management of land use. <br /> <br />Rivers Without Boundaries 1994 <br />