The trail counter that FWT purchased several years ago has been put to good use. We have information on almost all of the trails in Webster. This has been documented in a report available on the FWT website (about/reports/trail traffic). This tells us the number of folks using a trail but not what they are doing. For this we need observer data. This was collected in mid-fall of last year at several locations. The observations were done in three two-hour sessions exploring am vs pm and weekday versus weekend. Preliminary studies suggested the categories of Hike/Run, Dog Walker, Biker and Other.
Probably not too surprising to regular trail users. What was surprising was how similar the hike/dog results were regardless of the location.
The locations were Whiting Road Nature Preserve (WRNP), Gosnell Big Woods Preserve (GBWP), Hojack Trail (HT), Bird Sanctuary Trail (BST), and Four Mile Creek Preserve (FMCP). The initials following the trail location indicate the dedicated observers: John Boettcher, Richard Murray and Liz Harrold Hoogesteger.