Research Note Mapping Social Change: A Visualization Method Used in the Monongahela National Forest JASON M. SINISCALCHI, CHAD D. PIERSKALLA, AND STEVE W. SELIN Recreation, Parks, and Tourism Resources Program, Division of Forestry, West Virginia University, Morgantown, West Virginia, USA DON PALMER USDA Forest Service, Elkins, West Virginia, USA Many communities in and around national forests are experiencing social change. It is important for public land managers to keep abreast of this change to provide appropriate forest uses while considering resource impacts, conflict management, and potential partnerships with local communities. The social assessment is one tool used to follow sociodemographic trends, but it can be difficult to wade through the volumes of tables and visual displays to make informed management decisions. To improve decision making, literature suggests presenting information in a usable man- ner, such as the weather (color isopleth) map. By creating an index of overall social change and presenting the results in the form of an isopleth, social assessments can be made more usable by reducing multiple variables into one composite map. A method is described to compute an overall index and map of social change, followed by a discussion of management implications, limitations, and avenues of future research. Keywords GIS, isopleth mapping, social assessment, social change Rapid population growth and social change in the regions surrounding federal lands are having an unprecedented impact on the management of public lands (Frentz et al. 2004). For example, an increase of people into a community can lead to the need to involve more people in the decision-making process in order to achieve consensus (Radeloff et al. 2001). This is in part because new residents may bring into the new community a different set attitudes, beliefs, and values that they gained from their prior area of residence (Flora and Flora 1996). McCool and Kruger (2003) suggested that population growth and migration create new challenges for managers. Migration into and out of communities adjacent to public land can change the demand for recreational opportunities, which requires managers to be abreast of Received 3 June 2004; accepted 20 April 2005. Address correspondence to Jason M. Siniscalchi, West Virginia University, Division of Forestry, PO Box 6125, Recreation, Parks, and Tourism Program, Morgantown, WV 26505-6125, USA. E-mail: jsinisca@mix.wvu.edu Society and Natural Resources, 19:71–78 Copyright # 2006 Taylor & Francis Inc. ISSN: 0894-1920 print/1521-0723 online DOI: 10.1080/08941920500323336 71