About the Project

Scaling Visitor Preparedness in One of Arches’ Most Sensitive Landscapes

The Fiery Furnace is a permit-only maze of narrow sandstone fins, rare desert plants, and fragile cryptobiotic soils. Before entering, every self-guided permit holder must complete a mandatory orientation at the Arches Visitor Center — a ranger talk, a video, and a live Q&A. The session is effective, but it places a growing burden on limited park staff and creates a bottleneck that doesn’t scale with rising visitation.

This project, led by SORTL at Utah State University in partnership with the National Park Service, is developing and evaluating a mandatory pre-entry digital orientation module that permit holders would complete online before picking up their pass. The core question: can a well-designed eLearning module produce visitor comprehension outcomes that are non-inferior to in-person ranger orientation — while freeing up meaningful staff time?

The study runs from August 2026 through May 2028 across four phases: observation and design, small-scale piloting, baseline data collection under the existing system, and full implementation with comparative analysis. All content and tools are developed collaboratively with Arches NPS staff and require their review and approval before reaching any visitor. The project involves no specimen collection, ground disturbance, or independent resource monitoring.