Application of the Recreation Opportunity Spectrum for Outdoor Recreation Planning on Army Installations

This report describes the Recreation Opportunity Spectrum (ROS) and its current use in outdoor recreation planning and management. The ROS provides a framework for resources inventory, specification of recreational opportunities, resource capability and suitability analysis, selection of management objectives and practices, and impact assessment. The ROS concept can be used in Army recreation and land management planning. This report describes the ROS and the associated planning framework, discusses the application of ROS planning to Army installations, and defines potential benefits. The planning framework described here can generally be used to develop installation Outdoor Recreation Plans. The ROS concept and the planning process can be used to supplement existing technical guidance for site-specific planning and design of outdoor recreation facilities. Since the planning framework provides for resources inventory and for capability and suitability analysis, it can also be used to support integrated resource management of installation lands, particularly unimproved and training area lands. (Author)