Normative studies on the number of encounters in a Wilderness setting and the quality of the Wilderness experience

My study was conducted in the Lewis Fork Wilderness of the Mount Rogers National Recreation Area in beautiful southwest Virginia. It is clear to me through discrete observation and by collecting antecdotal information from fellow visitors, most notably Parrish Ralston, that increasing numbers of encounters with wild ponies in the Lewis Fork Wilderness is a salient measure of the quality of a visitor experience in this Wilderness setting. The number of encounters with wild ponies has a positive effect on visitor satisfaction in the Lewis Fork. You see, ponies equal satisfaction that is immeasurable; an 11 or more on a 10-point scale. Pony encounters are possibly the most meaningful of all experiences afforded on the Lewis Fork Wilderness. Without wild ponies, visitor experiences on the Lewis Fork would be marred by numerous encounters with large boy scout groups, ugly campsite proliferation, rutted and extremely eroded trail conditions, mismanaged spruce-fir forest and pine beetles, and viewsheds with reduced visibility due to TVA coal-fired power plants and NOX emissions from tractor trailers carrying useless plastic items on the southeastern thoroughfare known as I-81. Encounters with wild ponies is a coping mechanism for visitors on the Lewis Fork because if there weren't ponies satisfaction would decline and perhaps all the negative attributes of the Wilderness setting would play such a big role in the experience that visitors would stay away. They would be displaced. From a Wilderness manager's perspective, wild ponies are key to visitor satisfaction and keeping visitation numbers up. Wild ponies are the icon attraction at the Lewis Fork. I am sureee glad I conducted this study last weekend!!