They want to know what you're up to in the White Mountain National Forest

Editor’s note: We recommend listening to this piece.

If you were in the White Mountain National Forest this year, on a trail or at a scenic overlook, you might have been approached by someone like Ethan O’Leary with a tablet and some questions.

O’Leary, a 23-year-old graduate student studying recreation administration at the University of New Hampshire, is part of a survey crew that heads out to the White Mountain National Forest every five years, asking some of the six million people that visit every year about their experience.

The survey is for The National Visitor Use Monitoring program , which collects data from every National Forest and Grassland across the country. Over a single year, surveyors compile information about the type, the quantity, the quality and location of recr