Managing recreation resources: An assessment of recreation opportunities in the Green River's Uinta Basin, Utah

River recreation planning is founded in competition; with limited resources and multiple potential uses, rivers create challenges for effective management that acknowledges the multiple benefits available from the water resource. These challenges can be mitigated through an assessment of recreation opportunities in a potential recreation area. Use statistics provided by the varied river recreation management agencies demonstrate the popularity of river rafting on the Green and Colorado Rivers; however, some sections of these rivers have been neglected by federal and local management agencies in their efforts to provide for recreation opportunities. This paper assesses recreation potential on one such section, Utah's Green River through the Uinta Basin. Recreation potential on the 103 miles (166 km) of river between Dinosaur National Monument and Desolation Canyon was assessed using an approach to identify the physical, social, and managerial settings of the study area. This is accomplished through the use of the Water and Land Recreation Opportunity Spectrum (WALROS), user surveys, and an assessment of recreation management approaches. These methods are used to identify reasons for the lack of recreational visitation in the Uinta Basin and offer recommendations to increase the recreational use of the study area, in turn increasing the benefits received from this recreational resource. The results of this study indicate a managerial oversight in the assessment of river recreation opportunities in the study area. The recommendations are intended to create effective managerial approaches that respond to the physical and social settings of the Uinta Basin.