Michigan State University Extension
Tourism Educational Materials - 33840108
06/06/02
Activities at Free Public Water Access Sites
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Source: Minnesota
ID: CD-FO-3942
Authors: Pitt, David G.; Schatz, Curtis; Lime, David W.;
McAvoy, Leo H.
Year: 1990
Activities at Free Public Water Access Sites
Research Summaries
Minnesota Extension Service University of Minnesota
Introduction
Minnesota has more than 2,200 free public water access
sites available for the 700,00 pleasure boats registered in
the state. How often do boat owners use these public water
access sites? Do owner so waterfront property use public
access? What activities besides boat launching do boat
owners engage in at these sites?
To obtain answers to these and other questions related to
the quality of boating in Minnesota, a statewide survey of
registered Minnesota boat owners was conducted in 1988 by
the University of Minnesota and the Minnesota Department of
Natural Resources (DNR), funded by the DNR. The research
summarized in this report is based on a survey of 2,490
boat owners, projected to the entire population of
Minnesota registered boat owners.
A description of the study design and methods appears at
the end of this report.
More Than Just a Launch Ramp
Minnesota boat owners use the state's free public water
access sites for more than simply launching a boat.
Approximately three out of four Minnesota registered boat
owners used a public water access at least once in 1987.
The most frequent boating outing of half of Minnesota's
boat owners is likely to involve use of a public water
access. On average, public access users launch their boats
six times a year at a total of three different public
access sites.
Figure 1(Vis.1). Activities of Minnesota boat owners at
free public water access sites
Eighty-one percent of the population also use public access
sites for activities other than boating. Over 32% of the
state boat owners use public water access sites as places
for swimming (Vis. 1). Between 24% and 29% of the owners
use water access sites for shore fishing, ice fishing, and
wildlife observation. Activities pursued by 10% to 19% of
the state boat owners at public water access sites include
hunting, snowmobiling, cross-country skiing and trail head
access (access to hiking, biking, and off-road vehicle
trails). Approximately 5% to 9% of the boat owners use
public water access sites for nature study and berry-
picking. A total of 28 additional activities are pursued at
public access sites by less than 3% of the state's
registered boat owner population.
Regional Variation
Boat owners in the southern region are more likely than
statewide boaters to use a free public water access during
an outing that occurs within 49 miles of home. Owners in
all three regions of the state (north, metro, and south)
are about equally as likely to engage in activities other
than just boating at a public water access site. However,
there is some regional variation in the mix of activities
likely to be pursued (Vis. 2). For example, compared to all
boat owners in the state, those in the south region are
more likely to use public access sites for swimming, shore
fishing, and wildlife observation. Owners in the north
region are more likely to use free public access sites for
ice fishing, snowmobiling, and hunting. Metro region boat
owners are less likely to use access sites for ice fishing.
Variation in public water access site use between regions
is greatest for swimming (40% in the south vs. 30% in the
metro region), shore fishing (36% south, 25% metro), ice
fishing (38% north, 23% metro), wildlife observation (32%
south, 22% metro) and snowmobiling (21% north, 10% metro).
FIGURE 2(Vis. 2). Regional distribution of activities by
Minnesota boat owners at free public water access sites.
FIGURE 3(Vis. 3). Characteristics of Minnesota boat owners
based on frequency of free public access use.
FIGURE 4(Vis. 4). Frequency of public access use among
boaters, by region.
Frequent Users
A large percentage of free public water access use involves
a relatively small segment of boat owners who visit the
sites frequently. For instance, 87% of all public water
access launchings in 1987 involve people who launched a
boat from a public access seven or more times (Vis. 3). Of
the state's boat owners, 35% launched their boats at a
public access seven or more times in 1987. Over half of the
public water access launchings in 1987 are attributable to
the 10% of the boat owners who launched a boat at a public
access more than 25 times.
People who frequently launch a boat at a free public water
access tend not to own waterfront (lake shore or
riverfront) property. Waterfront owners account for 54% of
the boat owners who did not launch a boat at a public water
access in 1987 but less than 28% of the boaters launching
25 times or more (Vis. 3).
Very frequent use of a free public water access (more than
25 launchings in 1987) tends to occur more among boat
owners in the north region (Vis. 4). North region boat
owners comprise 30% of the state's total registered boat
owners but they account for 43% of the owners statewide
using an access site 25 or more times in 1987. Infrequent
use (less than six launchings in 1987) tends to be more
characteristic of metro region owners. Metro region owners
make up 59% of the state's boat owners who did not launch a
boat at a public access in 1987 but only 52% of the total
boat owners.
FIGURE 5(Vis. 5). Distribution of free public water access
site activities by boat owners, based on frequency of boat
launchings.
Variation Based on Frequency of Use
Figure 5(Vis. 5) displays the mix of activities pursued at
public water access sites by boat owners categorized on the
basis of the number of their 1987 public access launchings.
The percentage of boat owners using a public water access
for boating only decreases from 27% for those launching at
a public access between one and six times in 1987 to less
than 10% for those boat owners having 25 or more public
access launchings in 1987.
As the frequency of public access boat launchings
increases, the percentage of owners engaging in swimming,
shore fishing, ice fishing, wildlife observation, hunting,
and snowmobiling also increases. The percentage of state
boat owners engaging in swimming and wildlife observation
doubles between owners with no 1987 public access
launchings and those with 25 or more launchings. The
percentage of boat owners engaged in hunting and ice
fishing increases fivefold and sixfold, respectively,
between owners with no 1987 public water access launchings
and those with 25 or more launchings.
The percentage of owners engaging in cross-county skiing,
hiking from trail head, nature study, and berry-picking
does not change dramatically from boaters who report no
1987 public access launchings to boaters reporting 25 or
more launchings.
Conclusions
The findings in this study suggest that free public water
access sites constitute a special type of park whose
principal function is more complex than simply providing a
place to launch a boat. Public water access sites provide a
frequently used "place at the lake" for boaters who do not
own waterfront property, especially among those residing in
northern Minnesota.
Planning for the development and use of free public water
access sites must recognize that the role of access sites
in recreational boating involves more than just providing
access to Minnesota's water bodies. Public water access
sites are settings for place-specific activities such as
swimming, shore fishing, wildlife observation, and hunting.
They also serve as year-round staging areas for transitory
activities such as ice fishing, hiking, snowmobiling, and
cross-country skiing.
Because public water access sites provide settings for
recreational opportunities other than water access,
planning and management of access site use must provide and
maintain facilities to accommodate the broad spectrum of
use that occurs at access sites. Planning must try to
prevent conflict among the myriad of activities at an
access site. Management must be prepared to resolve
conflicts among water-based activities, among land-based
activities, and between water and land activities.
Waterfront property owners tend not to use free public
water access sites. They are likely to be unappreciative of
access site use spilling over onto their property and
ungrateful for the additional water surface use associated
with access site development. Strongly separating access
sites from adjacent properties through fencing or planting
screens and locating and orienting major access site
facilities away from adjacent homes are examples of
precautions that might help reduce conflict between public
water access users and abutting waterfront property owners.
Since free public water access sites provide settings for a
variety of outdoor recreational opportunities, access site
planning and management could be coordinated with the
planning and management of other park and outdoor
recreational facilities. Outdoor recreational opportunities
may be more efficiently provided by coordinating facilities
provided at a specific public water access site with the
total outdoor recreational opportunity needs of nearby
residents of the area where the access site is located.
Coordinating the planning and management of public water
access facilities with other elements of comprehensive park
and open space systems will also improve the efficiency of
providing outdoor recreational opportunities.
Summary
Over 80% of Minnesota's registered boat owners use access
sites for a set of activities that is not limited to just
boating. Boaters throughout the state use free public water
access sites for almost 40 activities in addition to
launching a boat. Free public access sites are used year-
round, with heaviest wintertime use occurring among boaters
residing in the northern region.
Among state boat owners, fewer than one in five uses public
water access sites only for boating; one in three also uses
public access sites for swimming; one in four uses access
sites for shore fishing, ice fishing, and wildlife
observation; one in five uses access sites for hunting; and
one in eight uses access sites for snowmobiling, cross-
country skiing, and as a trail head for hiking or biking.
Over half of all launchings at public water access sites
involve the 10% of the state boat owner population who
launch their boats 25 or more times a year. Over one third
of the boaters launching more than 25 times a year at a
public water access also use the access sites as settings
for swimming, shore fishing, ice fishing, wildlife
observation, and hunting. Frequent users of public access
sites are less likely than the state boat owner population
to own lake front or riverfront property.
1988 Survey of Minnesota Boat Owners-Study Design and
Method
Access to Minnesota's lakes and streams is provided through
many private and commercial facilities as well as through
innumerable public canoe launches, beaches, and open
stretches of shoreline. More than 2,200 free public water
access sites are managed by federal, state, county, and
local governments. Minnesota's Department of Natural
Resources (DNR) manages nearly 1,200 of these sites.
Although a primary DNR activity is acquiring access to
water bodies statewide, recent discussions have focused on
managing these resources to better serve the boating
public. What should the future direction be for managing
the state's water resources to offer safe and rewarding
boating opportunities?
In 1987, the authors, the University of Minnesota, and five
units of the DNR (Boat and Water Safety, Fisheries,
Planning, Trails and Waterways, and Waters) entered into a
partnership to conduct a statewide survey of registered
boat owners to determine how boaters use their pleasure
boats on Minnesota waters and what they think about
problems and issues related to boating. The study
investigated these concerns for the state's waters as a
whole and with specific reference to two of our largest
water resources-the North Shore of Lake Superior and the
Mississippi River downstream from the Twin Cities.
In March and April, 1988, a mail-back questionnaire was
sent to a representative sample of 3,20) registered boat
owners drawn from the pool of 286,000 pleasure boat owners
in the state licensed through the DNR. The survey sample
was selected to enable comparisons to be made among the
three regions of the state displayed in Figure 5(Vis. 5),
and among six major types of licensed pleasure boats:
canoes and kayaks, other boats under 14 feet in length,
sailboats 14 to 20 feet, sailboats more than 20 feet, other
boats 14 to 20 feet, and other boats more than 20 feet in
length. Other comparisons, such as those between boat
owners who own or do not own riparian property, are also
possible.
Figure 6(Vis. 6). Study regions
The questionnaire was comprised of 45 questions and took
about 15 minutes to complete. The initial mailing and two
follow-up reminders resulted in 2,490 owners returning the
survey. About 100 surveys were eliminated from the original
sample of 3,200, resulting in an overall adjusted response
rate of 80 percent. This excellent response reflects
Minnesota boat owners' strong interest in expressing their
views, as well as the importance they place on the state's
free public water accesses to achieve quality boating
experiences.
Survey respondents may not be representative of the typical
boat owner. ne survey questionnaire requested the
individual in the household "who goes boating most
frequently" to respond to the survey. Therefore, the
typical survey respondent may be somewhat older and a more
experienced boater than the state's typical boat owner or
boater.
Details about the study design and methods, the raw data,
and the data summary tables are available from the authors
and from the DNR's Office of Planning, 500 Lafayette Rd.,
St. Paul, MN 551554010 (612-296-0565).
This study was funded by the Minnesota Department of
Natural Resources.
Authors:
David G. Pitt, Professor, Department of Landscape
Architecture
Curtis Schatz, Research Assistant, Division of Recreation,
Park, and Leisure Studies
David W. Lime, Adjunct Professor and Research Associate,
Department of Forest Resources and Tourism Center
Leo H. McAvoy, Associate Professor, Division of Recreation,
Park, and Leisure Studies
Technical Assistance: Minnesota Center for Survey Research,
University of Minnesota (administration and processing of
survey questionnaires)
Editor: Louise Jones
Tourism Center, 48 McNeal Hall, 1985 Buford Ave.,
University of Minnesota, St. Paul, MN 55108; John Sem,
Director
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