Recreation Carrying Capacity
Headquarters POC
In recreation management, visitor capacity refers to the level of use that a recreation resource can receive without suffering negative impacts to its environmental elements or the visitor experience. Early Corps of Engineers research called this concept "carrying capacity." Over many years, the Corps and the other Federal recreation agencies have addressed this concept with agency-specific estimation techniques, management approaches and terminology. The most common terminology for Corps research and budget is recreation carrying capacity.
In 2011, an Interagency Visitor Management Council was established, and the modern term "visitor capacity" is now the accepted terminology among federal agencies.
Most recent visitor capacity studies by the Corps of Engineers have focused on lake use, particularly boating capacity. This page provides examples of the most recent studies and references to other agency studies.
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At a Glance