Federal Agencies Study New Methods for Monitoring Recreation on Public Lands

Rachel Cohen · KUNC · July 8, 2026

Featuring Spencer Wood, Center researcher

Last year, Congress passed the EXPLORE Act, a package of measures to boost outdoor recreation access as record numbers participate in outdoor activities. It also directed agencies to study new visitation monitoring methods.

Federal agencies including the Interior Department followed up in late June by announcing dozens of pilot projects to evaluate some of the latest techniques. Some are new projects, while others are studies that have already been completed.

Many of the newer methods fall under the category of “digital mobility data,” said Spencer Wood, who directs the Outdoor Recreation and Data Lab at the University of Washington.

Several of Wood’s studies were included in the list of federal pilot projects, such as ones that analyze aggregated call phone data and public social media.

“They post a photograph that says they are having a great time mountain biking – that’s useful information,” he said. “We can observe that by looking at the content of images that people share publicly on social media platforms, or we can understand people’s activities by looking at the way they write a trip report.”