Client/Sponsor Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries (VDGIF) Project Location Virginia Period of Performance April 2007 - June 2008 Capabilities Human Dimensions

In 2007 the Conservation Management Institute began work with the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries (VDGIF) to assess their recently created Virginia Birding and Wildlife Trail (VBWT). The Virginia Birding and Wildlife Trail is a driving trail that provides travelers opportunities to view a wide variety of wildlife and have a quality recreational experience. The trail, modeled off the successful Great Texas Coastal Birding Trail, currently includes 65 loops across the state totaling about 670 individual sites. The VBWT is the first statewide wildlife trail of its kind in the United States. The trail was designed in three phases (Coastal, Piedmont, and Mountain). The three phases afford visitors of the VBWT the opportunity to observe the nearly 400 residential and migratory bird species found in Virginia, as well as the 3,000+ documented species of amphibians, butterflies, crayfish, dragonflies, fish, mammals, mussels, and reptiles in the Commonwealth.
To fully understand the usage of the VBWT, as well as the impact that the VBWT has on communities, it was necessary to create three separate surveys. The “Visitor Survey” was designed to survey individuals who had requested a trail guide to the VBWT. The “Encounter Survey” was implemented to assess the individuals that were actually using the VBWT. The “Locality Survey” was designed to find the community planning/habitat conservation-related impacts of the VBWT as well as perceived use of the trail by the site owners, planning personnel and tourism officials around the Commonwealth.