The purpose of this study was to estimate statewide and local economic impact resulting from snowmobiling activities in Utah to gain a better understanding of preferences and opinions of Utah snowmobilers. The results will provide valuable information for snowmobiling management. The survey instrument was designed to describe trip behavior, snowmobiling-related trip and annual expenditures, level of satisfaction with Utah snowmobiling opportunities, and demographics. A telephone survey was conducted with randomly selected households with registered snowmobiles during the period from April to June 2000. A 54.5% response rate yielded 373 usable completed questionnaires for data analysis. For economic impact analysis, an input-output model was applied using IMPLANTM software using the Utah Cross Industrial Matrix in 1999. From the survey, statewide trip and annual snowmobiling associated expenditures data were estimated. Then output, value added, employment, income, and tax impacts were estimated using IMPLAN. For trip characteristics, level of satisfaction, and demographics, analyses were made using descriptive statistics for quantitative data and content analysis for qualitative data. The results indicate that average household per trip and annual expenditures were $126 and $2,932, respectively. About $53 million of reported expenditures created $34 million in local output impact. Total output impact was largest in the Wasatch Front and Mountain Lands planning districts and smallest in the Southeast and Uintah Basin. These results also indicate that the most popular snowmobiling area, Hardware Ranch, Monte Cristo, and Logan Canyon area in the Bear River planning district, had not necessarily received a large economic gain. The survey participants were moderately satisfied with snowmobiling facilities and services in Utah. However, there were still needed improvements in facilities and services, especially parking space availability and trail grooming.

A consumer characteristic profile of the snowmobile owners in Utah was compiled and compared to the general population in Utah and the United States. Other statistics were compiled which included user preferences of snowmobiling sites and machine characteristics. Data were collected by a mail survey of snowmobilers during the 1974-75 snowmobiling season. Approximately 315 questionnaires were analyzed. Additional data were collected from the Utah Division of Parks and Recreation. Total economic rent values were estimated for 58 sites in Utah . These values were then separated into location and quality values. This was done by reallocating trips to sites by means of a least cost programming technique. The value attributed to location was subtracted from the total and the residual is attributed to site quality. Ten site characteristics were chosen to analyze site quality. Stepwise regression was used to show this relationship. Increasing site carrying capacity was undertaken in the model to show the effect on site quality. An exposition factor for number nf trips was derived by using the largest use month, the month with the greatest number of trips recorded. Comparisons were then made between the unexpanded data to that and the expanded data.

This paper is concerned with the use of the choice experiment method for modeling the demand for snowmobiling . The Choice Experiment includes five attributes, standard, composition, length, price day card and experience along trail. The paper estimates the snowmobile owners’ preferences and the most preferred attributes, including their will-ingness to pay for a daytrip on groomed snowmobile trail. The data consists of the an-swers from 479 registered snowmobile owners, who answered two hypothetical choice questions each. Estimating using the multinominal logit model, it is found that snow-mobilers on average are willing to pay 22.5 SEK for one day of snowmobiling on a trail with quality described as skidded every 14th day. Furthermore, it is found that the WTP increases with the quality of trail grooming. The result of this paper can be used as a yardstick for snowmobile clubs wanting to develop their trail net worth, organizations and companies developing snowmobiling as a recreational activities and marketers in-terested in marketing snowmobiling as recreational activities.

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Wyoming, 2008. / Title from PDF title page (viewed on Jan. 7, 2010). Includes bibliographical references.

Powder snow is becoming an increasingly sought-after resource in the backcountiy areas of British Columbia. This thesis focuses on conflicts between backcountiy skiing, helicopter skiing, and snowmobiling in British Columbia, with particular emphasis on the social-psychological causes of the conflicts. The relative susceptibility to conflict of each activity is addressed through an examination of the literature on outdoor recreation conflict, and a series of statements are developed which are aimed at identifying the socialpsychological causes of conflict for each individual activity. The statements developed out of the literature are applied to a case study based on research done in the Revelstoke region of British Columbia. Surveys were distributed to backcountiy skiers, helicopter skiers and snowmobilers and, in this thesis, the survey data is presented and analysed with a view to developing an understanding of the differences between the demographic profiles and attitudes of participants in each of the three winter activities. In the case of backcountiy skiing, helicopter skiing, and snowmobiling, it is evident that there exists a sort of "hierarchy of conflict" with backcountiy skiing being much more susceptible to conflict than either of the other activities. This difference in susceptibility is explained through an examination of the qualities of each activity which make it more or less susceptible to conflict, and it is demonstrated that the susceptibility to conflict of outdoor recreation activities can be predicted through the examination of a set of particular characteristics inherent to each individual activity. Finally, the policy governing commercial recreation in British Columbia is examined in terms of its efficacy in identifying and preventing potential conflicts. Some suggestions are made for improving policy and policy development. The conflicts between backcountiy skiing, helicopter skiing, and snowmobiling can be seen as a microcosm of the kinds of conflicts which arise between competing users of any natural resource. Some of the findings of this thesis have very broad implications, including the demonstration of the following: the apparent dichotomy between environmental impact and economic interests; the globalisation of the economy; the importance of public participation in the development of policy; the inadequacy of zoning as a means of conflict prevention; the need for an evolution from a "frontier" mentality to future planning; the importance of responsibilities, as well as rights; the need for more tools for managing conflicts.

Powder snow is becoming an increasingly sought-after resource in the backcountiy areas of British Columbia. This thesis focuses on conflicts between backcountiy skiing, helicopter skiing, and snowmobiling in British Columbia, with particular emphasis on the social-psychological causes of the conflicts. The relative susceptibility to conflict of each activity is addressed through an examination of the literature on outdoor recreation conflict, and a series of statements are developed which are aimed at identifying the socialpsychological causes of conflict for each individual activity. The statements developed out of the literature are applied to a case study based on research done in the Revelstoke region of British Columbia. Surveys were distributed to backcountiy skiers, helicopter skiers and snowmobilers and, in this thesis, the survey data is presented and analysed with a view to developing an understanding of the differences between the demographic profiles and attitudes of participants in each of the three winter activities. In the case of backcountiy skiing, helicopter skiing, and snowmobiling, it is evident that there exists a sort of "hierarchy of conflict" with backcountiy skiing being much more susceptible to conflict than either of the other activities. This difference in susceptibility is explained through an examination of the qualities of each activity which make it more or less susceptible to conflict, and it is demonstrated that the susceptibility to conflict of outdoor recreation activities can be predicted through the examination of a set of particular characteristics inherent to each individual activity. Finally, the policy governing commercial recreation in British Columbia is examined in terms of its efficacy in identifying and preventing potential conflicts. Some suggestions are made for improving policy and policy development. The conflicts between backcountiy skiing, helicopter skiing, and snowmobiling can be seen as a microcosm of the kinds of conflicts which arise between competing users of any natural resource. Some of the findings of this thesis have very broad implications, including the demonstration of the following: the apparent dichotomy between environmental impact and economic interests; the globalisation of the economy; the importance of public participation in the development of policy; the inadequacy of zoning as a means of conflict prevention; the need for an evolution from a "frontier" mentality to future planning; the importance of responsibilities, as well as rights; the need for more tools for managing conflicts. / Science, Faculty of / Resources, Environment and Sustainability (IRES), Institute for / Graduate

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Wyoming, 2007. / Title from PDF title page (viewed on Dec. 1, 2008). An interdisciplinary thesis in Sociology and Environment & Natural Resources. Includes bibliographical references (p. 81-86).