The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) conducts traffic monitoring programs to estimate the number of visitors at their refuges and other facilities. However, to date FWS has not conducted an assessment of how effective individual technologies are, or how well suited to their specific needs. FWS needs accurate visitation data to complete annual performance plans (which determine funding allocations), and for the development of management tools, such as a greenhouse gas emission inventory that is currently underway. The purpose of the overall effort is to evaluate FWS’ current traffic monitoring practices, and then to develop a series of demonstration projects to showcase available traffic monitoring technologies, techniques, and methodologies that can be implemented to achieve improved visitor estimation. This project represents Phase I, in which the research team will define the present state of FWS traffic monitoring practices, complete a user needs assessment, provide recommendations for improvements to traffic monitoring practices, and develop implementation plans for the demonstration project. (Phase 2, when implemented, will consist of deploying and evaluating the demonstration projects.)