Who’s Visiting New Hampshire's White Mountains?
UNH researchers survey visitors in National Forest to inform USDA Forest Service resources
Wednesday, August 6, 2025
Two men wearing blaze orange vests stand on a log bridge above a stream

Graduate student Ethan O'Leary, right, and his father, Jimmy, conduct visitor use surveys in the White Mountains National Forest.

Each year, six million people visit New Hampshire’s White Mountain National Forest to hike, ski, leaf-peep, camp, and enjoy its rugged peaks and scenic vistas. That’s more visitors than either Yosemite or Yellowstone national parks, due in part to the White Mountains’ proximity to major population centers.

Over an outline of state of NH, text says "UNH Works for NH"

For a decade, UNH has helped the USDA Forest Service manage the White Mountain National Forest by surveying visitors to inform decisions about infrastructure and budgeting.

  • Outdoor recreation contributes $4 billion to New Hampshire’s economy.
  • The White Mountains attract about 6 million visitors each year, more than Yellowstone or Yosemite National Parks.

To better understand who’s coming to the White Mountain National Forest (WMNF), what they’re doing, where they’re spending money, and what they need, the USDA Forest Service has turned to UNH. For more than a decade, researcher Mike Ferguson has partnered with the Forest Service to collect visitor data that informs decisions around staffing, trail maintenance, infrastructure investments like signage — and ultimately allocation of federal dollars.

Called the National Visitor Use Monitoring program, or NVUM, it’s research “that truly drives decisions impacting people across the state — from hikers and campers to entire communities and regions,” says Ferguson, associate professor of recreation management and policy. “It influences everything from outfitter guides and retail sales to local restaurants and the broader regional economy.”

Mapping Visitor Peaks and Valleys

These surveys — conducted every five years for the past 25 years in every national forest across the country — provide critical long-term data. Ferguson led the WMNF’s visitor use survey in 2020, which revealed a 60% surge in overall visitation during COVID and a nearly 300% increase in use of designated wilderness areas. That level of popularity, he notes, runs counter to the core intent of federally designated wilderness.

“Nothing says ‘solitude’ like a 300% increase in visitation,” Ferguson quips.

The survey data also revealed that visitation at popular day-use sites like Diana’s Bath or Lincoln Woods declined during that period, but more remote wilderness areas saw a surge in visitation. That’s helped the Forest Service shift its limited funds to support this growing type of use. It also helped generate policies and campaigns, like the state’s Wildly Responsible New Hampshire program, which aim to nudge these new backcountry explorers into practices that keep them safe and the wilderness wild.

Has visitation to the WMNF declined post- COVID? “It’s a great question — and one only the data can truly answer this year,” says Ferguson. “There’s a lot of speculation. Some say visitation has continued to climb, others believe it’s leveled off. That’s exactly why it’s so important for the Forest Service to keep collecting this kind of data.”

Survey Says … A Family Affair

Ferguson points out that outdoor recreation contributes $4 billion per year to New Hampshire’s economy and supports 30,000 jobs.

Ethan O’Leary, who’s pursuing a master’s degree in recreation management and policy, holds one of those jobs this summer; he’s being funded by Ferguson’s Forest Service research to conduct these surveys at trailheads, day use sites, and wilderness areas across the 800,000-plus acre national forest. When Ferguson needed a second surveyor for just 16 days spread out over the summer, O’Leary recruited his father, Jimmy, a retired Massachusetts State police officer and longtime White Mountains visitor.

“This project gives me real-world experience in outdoor recreation management and allows me to contribute to a forest I care deeply about,” says the younger O’Leary. “I also saw an opportunity to involve my dad — someone who’s always valued public service — and make this effort even more meaningful.”

The O’Leary’s multi-generational involvement aligns with forest management goals. “We're always trying to manage not for this generation or the next generation, but for the next five generations,” says Ferguson.

“We’re fortunate to have such an incredible resource and ever-increasing vitiation, especially since COVID,” he adds. “The challenge now is figuring out how to manage it sustainably — balancing the economic benefits, protecting the resource, and ensuring a high-quality visitor experience for all of New Hampshire.”

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