Abstract
A compatibility index illustrates how boaters on the Upper Mississippi River feel about encounters with each other along the riverway. All five principal craft types—runabouts, houseboats, cabin cruisers, fishing boats, and canoes—enjoyed meeting others using the same craft over all other craft types. Users in cabin cruisers were the most tolerant toward other user groups. However, they were uniformly the least tolerated group. Canoeists, on the other hand, were the least tolerant group, but were highly tolerated. Separating the average compatibility index (ACI) into components allows construction of a desirability coefficient which could prove useful in developing management techniques to optimize each river use group's enjoyment.
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