UPDATING STATE COMPREHENSIVE OUTDOOR RECREATION PLANS

UPDATING STATE COMPREHENSIVE OUTDOOR RECREATION PLANS, AN APPLICATION OF GEOGRAPHIC INFORMATION SYSTEMS AND CENSUS DATA

that is the full name. This is the paper Rod Warnick and I have submitted for publication in the Northeastern Recreation Research Symposium Proceedings. The abstract:

Modeling supply and demand data is useful for regional outdoor recreation planning. At the statewide level, a State Comprehensive Outdoor Recreation Plan (SCORP) is prepared to satisfy the requirements of the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF). In Massachusetts, the most recent SCORP was prepared in 2006. One of the primary tasks in the preparation for this document was the updating of recreation resource inventory statewide and the development of an extensive GIS data base. For the demand side, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts utilized data collected in 1995 that emphasized usage patterns, tested satisfaction of outdoor recreation areas and evaluated unmet needs. This paper presents an example of updating SCORPS using current demographic data (US Census) and geographic supply data (MassGIS).