Report: "Public Lands Near Grand County Play Vital Economic Role, Tourism & Recreation Businesses Account for 44% of Private Jobs", Includes Recommendations for How Leaders Can Maximize Long-Term Returns from Nearby Public Lands

A new report shows that public lands near Grand County, Utah play a major economic role in the region, with tourism and recreation businesses accounting for 44 percent of private employment in the county; and that more than one-third of local households have a member that works in a tourism and recreation business related to public lands, while nearly two-thirds of county residents indicate that public lands are “extremely important” to their vocation.

“A significant reason for the county’s economic success stems from the diversity found today within Grand County’s tourism and recreation economy,” said Ben Alexander, the report’s author. “Moving forward, public lands will continue to play an important role for the region, and finding ways to sustain and develop new activities that appeal to a wide mixture of visitors and residents is paramount to the county’s long-term economic health.”

To conduct the report, (available at http://headwaterseconomics.org/land/reports/economic-grand-county/) Headwaters Economics, a non-profit research group based in Bozeman, examined a wide range of public lands uses, including mining and agriculture, but focused on recreation because this type of use represents the largest, most complex, and least well understood activity on public lands in the county.

The full report contains detailed analysis of Grand County employment, trends, and government revenues. For example, the study analyzed the employment impact of federal public lands, and an IMPLAN analysis shows that area BLM lands supported 2,447 direct jobs in 2007. For the National Park Service, the Money Generation Model (MGM2) shows that area national parks supported 2,181 direct jobs in 2009. (These data should not be added together.) To put this in perspective, the Bureau of Economic Analysis reports that in 2007 there were 6,724 total jobs in Grand County and in 2009 there were 6,687 total jobs.

The report was created after a local steering committee—including representatives from Trail Mix, Ride with Respect, Red Rock Four Wheelers, Moab Lodging Association, Moab Trail Alliance, Moab Chamber of Commerce, and local officials—asked the Grand County Council to support a study on the economic and fiscal role of public lands in the county that could be the basis for informed discussions about how to develop, protect, and manage nearby public lands so that they benefit businesses, the county, and diverse users into the future.
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Within the wide variety of public lands uses, BLM surveys show that hiking is the most common activity on its lands, followed by biking and nature viewing. Using a tailored spending profile, IMPLAN analysis shows that hiking on BLM lands has the largest economic impact, followed by nature viewing, biking, and motor vehicle use. In addition to the economic benefits of tourism and recreation, Grand County’s picturesque and high-profile public lands and the environmental and recreational amenities they provide are closely linked to economic growth. The county, for example, has had some success attracting new residents who find the communities and surrounding public lands in the area compelling—almost a third of net population growth in the last decade resulted from in-migration. The county also has seen increases in non-labor sources of personal income, especially retirement-related income, which has boosted per capita income and added stability to the local economy.

Despite past success, future growth in Grand County cannot be taken for granted. The boom years of the 1990s when the county’s economy grew by seven percent annually have yielded to the 2000s when the economic growth rate slowed to two percent annually.

This deceleration should lead to discussion on how Grand County can best utilize public lands to remain economically competitive as its tourism and recreation economy matures. Specific issues include:

• Whether different users are crowding each other out and diminishing one another’s experience;
• The continued quality of the landscape and uniqueness of the outdoor offerings; and
• The area’s ability to compete with rivals in the outdoor recreation market that have constructed new signature trail systems or are benefiting from newly created and high profile public lands protections.

The report also includes recommendations to help ensure Grand County’s future economic health:

• Educate the public to understand better the important economic role that public lands play in Grand County, including a periodic update on the county’s economic health and trends, especially focused on tourism and recreation;
• Partner closely with public land managers on planning and decisions that impact public lands in Grand County, including supplemental work and funding to maximize the protection and return of public lands assets;
• Ensure the continued diversity of recreation options and the capacity for public lands to support a wide variety of user activities. In addition, make sure that recreation uses do not directly conflict and drive away visitors or create the impression that the county favors one form of recreation; and
• Utilize the national and international visibility created by public lands recreation—such as national parks, mountain biking, jeep events, and the Colorado River—to attract visitors or retirees with the potential to relocate and bring new businesses and wealth to the region.

“Grand County enjoys many benefits from nearby public lands,” noted Alexander. “To continue to capitalize on the competitive advantage that these lands provide, the county and local groups should work collaboratively with state and federal officials to implement policies that sustain existing uses and also anticipate future development and protection needs.”

In fiscal year 2009, area national park visitor spending contributed to an estimated $44.7 million in labor income while NPS payroll contributed another $8.8 million in labor income, resulting in $53.5 million in total labor income. To put this in perspective, total labor earnings in Grand County for 2009 were $192 million.
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Visitors spend money on a variety of items, including hotels, restaurants, bars, sporting goods stores, gasoline, and other goods and services. Based on responses to the survey, a “spending profile” was developed for each type of recreation user of BLM lands and the economic impact on their spending was calculated. In fiscal year 2007, the economic impact of non-local BLM visitor spending was $177 million in local output and more than $64 million in labor income for Grand County.
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A number of studies have been conducted to measure the impact of mountain biking in the Moab area. One  1998 study calculated the “consumer surplus,” which is a measure of the difference between the maximum  price a consumer is willing to pay and the actual price they do pay. They concluded that the bike trails in the Moab area “produce a high consumer surplus to the users,” amounting to between $197 to $205 per trip. The consumer surplus for the Slickrock trail alone was $8,422,800 to $8,770,300 in 1998. One of the  implications of the study is that annual visitor rates are not sensitive to fees because users believe they are getting a good deal (i.e., a high “consumer “surplus”) and an entrance fee (e.g., to the Slickrock trail) is a  small part of overall trip costs.

Another 1998 study found that the average “willingness to pay” (WTP) by a mountain biker is $1,483 (WTP is the maximum amount a person would be willing to pay for a good). The total annual use value of mountain biking in the Moab area was estimated to be $1.33 million. The authors concluded: “This value suggests that this recreation has a higher value than most other activities in the area and that public lands managers should be aware of the relative value of mountain biking as they make allocation decisions.”
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Following the release of this and other reports on November 30, 2011 Headwarters organized more than 100 economists and academics in related fields from across the country that sent a letter to President Obama urging him to “create jobs and support businesses by investing in our public lands infrastructure and establishing new protected areas such as parks, wilderness, and monuments.” The letter, which includes three Nobel laureates, states that federal protected public lands are essential to the West’s economic future, attracting innovative companies and workers, and contributing a vital component of the region’s competitive advantage.

Additional information:

• Letter to the President and Signers
• News Release
• Summary of Analysis on Economic Impact of Protected Lands
• Annotated Bibliography of Related Peer-Reviewed Research
• Short video of Dr. Ray Rasker discussing the letter to President Obama.

Headwaters Economics http://headwaterseconomics.org/.
Press Releases dated October 31, 2011 and November 30, 2011

The Benefits of Achieving the Chesapeake Bay TMDLs (Total Maximum Daily Loads): A Scoping Study

http://www.rff.org/Publications/Pages/PublicationDetails.aspx?PublicationID=21647
Abstract; Concerns about nutrient pollution in the Chesapeake Bay have led to the establishment of pollution limits—total maximum daily loads (TMDLs)—which, by 2025, are expected to reduce nitrogen loadings to the Bay by 25 percent and phosphorous loadings by 24 percent from current levels. This paper outlines how the benefits associated with achieving the Chesapeake Bay TMDLs could be measured and monetized. We summarize studies that measure the benefits of improved water quality in the Bay and evaluate whether these studies could be used to value the water quality benefits associated with the TMDLs.In cases where studies conducted in the Bay watershed either do not exist or are out of date, we discuss whether results from studies conducted elsewhere could be transferred to the Chesapeake Bay. We also discuss original studies that would be useful to conduct in the future.
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Lipton and Hicks find that a 2.41-mg/L increase in DO (Disolved Oxygen) ... will increase striped bass catch rates by 95 percent. Based on average catch rates in 2001–2005, this translates into an increase in the number of fish caught per trip in Maryland and Virginia of 1.57 and 0.56 fish per trip, respectively (Van Houtven 2009). Using a travel cost model, Lipton and Hicks estimate the value of catching one more fish per trip of $11 (2007 dollars).
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The only revealed preference study of the value of water quality to boaters in the Chesapeake Bay is by Bockstael et al. (1989).Using data from a survey of 496 boat owners who trailer their boats, the authors estimate a model to explain the number of trips made to each of 12 county sites during a season as a function of the time and out-of-pocket cost of reaching each site and water quality, as measured by N and P loadings. As in their study of beach visits, the authors measure water quality by multiplying N times P concentrations in each location, based on 1977 readings, to produce TNP. They estimate that the value of a 20 percent reduction in TNP to trailered boat owners is approximately $59 (1987 dollars) per year.
Lipton (2004) uses stated preference methods to estimate what various categories of boaters will pay for an improvement in water quality in the Chesapeake. Boat owners are asked to rate water quality in the Bay on a five-point scale, and to indicate what they would pay for a one-unit improvement in water quality for a season. Based on 755 Maryland boat owners surveyed in 2000, the annual value of a one-unit improvement on the five-point scale ranges from $30 for trailered powerboat owners to $93 for sailboat owners (2000 dollars). Overall, mean willingness to pay was $63, with 38 percent of respondents reporting a willingness to pay of zero for water quality improvements.
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Anderson estimates that the increase in producers‘ surplus (profits) of fishers corresponding to full restoration of SAV (Submerged Aquatic Vegetation) to 1960 from 1987 levels would be $1.8 million (1987 dollars).

Increases in the size of the catch also benefit consumers by lowering the price of fish. Anderson (1989) estimates the demand curve for blue crabs, using national data, and then calculates the consumer surplus associated with a fall in the price of crabs due to increased production. The increase in consumer surplus is $2.4 million (1987 dollars). The benefit to consumers of crabs is large—in fact larger than the increase in producer surplus—because of the high demand for the product.
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Using annual data from 1965 to 1979, Kahn and Kemp estimate a bioeconomic model of the striped bass fishery in which the population of striped bass depends on the carrying capacity of the environment, which is a function of SAV. The equilibrium catch in the fishery is a function of the striped bass population and SAV. The demand for striped bass is estimated as a function of regional population and per capita income. Kahn and Kemp simulate the model for various levels of SAV. They conclude that the sum of consumer and producer surplus associated with a 50 percent increase in SAV is approximately $5 million (1978 dollars), although they emphasize that the estimate is crude, given data limitations.

Mistiaen et al. (2003) examine the impact of DO levels on the trotline blue crab fishery in the Patuxent, Chester, and Choptank tributaries of the Chesapeake Bay. Similar to Anderson, the authors estimate blue crab catch as a function of bottom DO and the amount of effort (gear) in the fishery. However, they do not model the level of effort in the fishery, but instead analyze the impact of changes in DO, holding the stock of crabs and level of effort fixed. The authors assume that changes in DO have no effect above a level of 5 mg/L. They find that reducing bottom DO from 5.6 to 4.0 mg/L reduces crab harvests in the Patuxent River by 49 percent, a loss of about $200,000 in revenue to fishers (2000 dollars).
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The present value of benefits of a 30 percent reduction in N (Nitrogen range from $6 to $7.5 million (2002 dollars) when entry is restricted. Under open access, they range from $0.67 to 6 million (2002 dollars), depending on the speed of entry under open access.
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When the demand for crabs is price inelastic (–0.5), the present value of benefits to consumers is about $20 million per year; the benefit is about half of this when the price elasticity of demand equals –1.0.
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Bockstael et al. (1989) report the results of a telephone survey of 959 households in the Baltimore–Washington area in which respondents were asked, ―Do you consider the water quality in the Chesapeake to be acceptable or unacceptable for swimming and/or other water activities?‖ The 57 percent of respondents who judged the water quality unacceptable were asked whether they would pay a stated amount to restore water quality to a level acceptable for swimming. Responses were used to estimate the distribution of willingness-to-pay values, by race and by user status (i.e., whether or not the respondent used the Bay for recreation).16Among users, mean willingness to pay was $183 for whites and $34 for nonwhites. The corresponding figures were $48 and $9 for nonusers (1987 dollars). Applying these figures to all residents of the Baltimore–Washington metropolitan area yielded a value of approximately $100 million for the total benefits of making the Bay swimmable. The nonuse component of these benefits was approximately $28 million.
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Median willingness to pay for a 10,000-acre oyster sanctuary with 1,000 acres of constructed reef was $87 dollars (2000 dollars) per household.
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Van Houtven uses these studies to estimate the average willingness to pay by nonusers for a one-unit improvement in the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration‘s Assessment for Estuarine Trophic Status(ASSETS ) scale (from E=1 to E=2), which he estimates to be $16–$28 (2007 dollars) per household.
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by Maureen L. Cropper and William S. Isaac
Resources For the Future (RFF) www.RFF.org
RFF Discussion Paper 11-31; September, 2011

Cities See the Other Side of the Tracks

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/03/realestate/commercial/cities-see-another-side-to-old-tracks.html

The High Line park, built on an elevated railway trestle in Manhattan, has become both a symbol and a catalyst for an explosion of growth in the meatpacking district and the Chelsea neighborhood. 

 

Now cities around the country, including Chicago, Philadelphia and St. Louis, are working up plans to renovate their aging railroad trestles, tracks and railways for parkland. Cities with little public space are realizing they badly need more parks, and the High Line has taught that renovating an old railway can be the spark that helps improve a neighborhood and attract development.

The High Line’s first and second sections cost $153 million, but have generated an estimated $2 billion in new developments. In the five years since construction started on the High Line, 29 new projects have been built or are under way in the neighborhood, according to the New York City Department of City Planning. More than 2,500 new residential units, 1,000 hotel rooms and over 500,000 square feet of office and art gallery space have gone up.
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The area around the park, sprinkled with small offices under 200,000 square feet, has become a draw for start-ups and creative companies.

 

Though plans in many cities have a long way to go before becoming reality, a point in favor of reuse is that it can be cheaper to renovate old rail structures than to tear them down. The Reading Viaduct, an old elevated railway line in Philadelphia, would cost $50 million to demolish versus $36 million to retrofit, according to the Center City District, a business improvement group. 

In Chicago, where a 2.65-mile elevated rail line slices through four residential areas, tearing down the line would be prohibitively costly. With 37 bridges and large earthen embankments, the Bloomingdale Trail, as it is now called, snakes east to west across Chicago and is simply too big to go.
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As with other, similar rail lines around the country, passenger and freight trains have not operated on the Chicago line in at least 10 years. The only traffic most of these lines see is an occasional runner or bike rider, even though trespassing is usually forbidden.

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The Bloomingdale Trail is moving forward after Rahm Emanuel, who made completing the trail one of his campaign promises, was elected mayor in February. Over the next year, design concepts and engineering work will get under way. The Bloomingdale Trail will allow bikes and dogs, interconnect with new and existing ground-level parks and cost $40 million to $75 million.
In St. Louis, plans are in the works to renovate a 2.1-mile elevated rail trestle and turn it into a park as part of a larger waterfront revitalization project. The Iron Horse Trestle, estimated to cost $50 million, does not have a timeline. Organizers hope to have the first one-mile phase completed in five years.
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In October, Mike and Matt Pestronk pounced on a 10-story office tower next to the Philadelphia viaduct when it fell into foreclosure and bought it for $5 million. ... The developers plan to renovate the vacant office tower for $25 million and turn it into apartments.... The brothers are trying to improve the area and have done some “guerrilla improvements” to the viaduct, such as weeding and putting down plywood to cover holes, and installing artwork and live video projections on two sides of their building.  Plans for the viaduct are slowly moving ahead after nearly 10 years of grass-roots work.... As a first step, a small section of the trestle owned by a regional transportation authority would be redeveloped for $5.5 million.

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Atlanta also hired Mr. Corner to help redevelop a 22-mile rail corridor encircling the city. In the next 25 years, Atlanta plans to add 1,300 acres of parks and green spaces, public transit and trails along the necklace, increasing Atlanta green space by nearly 40 percent. The project’s cost is put at $2.8 billion.
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by Kristina Shevory
FOR FULL STORY GO TO:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/03/realestate/commercial/cities-see-another-side-to-old-tracks.html
The New York Times www.NYTimes.com
August 2, 2011

Land and Water Conservation Fund suffers 33% cut despite Trust for Public Land Study showing every $1 invested returned $4 in economic value

http://www.tpl.org/news/press-releases/2011-press-releases/conservation-funding-slashed.html 
Congress approved the Fiscal Year 2011 federal budget in April, significantly cutting funding for the Land and Water Conservation Fund, the country’s premiere federal program for protecting lands for all Americans. Supported by offshore oil and gas leasing revenues – not taxpayers’ dollars – the LWCF ensures all Americans have access to local community parks and playgrounds and the vast expanses of federal public lands.
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In the final budget agreement, LWCF is funded at $301 million, a 33% cut from the FY10 enacted level. Programs that ensure protection of working forests and ranches, threatened and endangered species habitat, access for sportsmen and recreationists, and our national parks, wildlife refuges, forests and other public lands are all impacted by these cuts.

“This 33 percent reduction from FY 10 enacted levels is not only a disproportionate cut to a very successful program but means that LWCF funds have been diverted from their intended and authorized purposes,” said Will Rogers, President of The Trust for Public Land. “If we are serious about creating jobs and getting the economy back on track, conservation spending on LWCF is not only a wise, but an essential investment that reaps immediate and tangible benefits in our communities across the tourism, service and outdoor recreation sectors.”
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The outdoor industry is one of America’s fastest growing sectors. In addition to contributing more than $730 billion to the American economy each year, it generates $88 billion in annual state and federal tax revenue. More than 6.5 million American jobs are supported by the active outdoor recreation economy.

The reduced funding levels for LWCF contained in this final budget agreement means that a host of willing-seller, critically needed and locally driven land conservation and outdoor recreation projects, will not get done this year. Some will be lost forever, as willing-seller landowners cannot be expected to wait for Congress to act.

Created by Congress in 1965, LWCF was a bipartisan commitment to safeguard natural areas, water resources and our cultural heritage, and to provide recreation opportunities to all Americans. National parks like Rocky Mountain and the Great Smoky Mountains, as well as national wildlife refuges, national forests, Civil War battlefields, cultural and historic sites, rivers and lakes, working ranches and forests, community parks, trails, and ball fields in every one of our 50 states are permanently protected for Americans to enjoy thanks to federal funds from LWCF.

The Land and Water Conservation Fund Coalition is an informal partnership working together to support full and dedicated funding for LWCF. The coalition includes hundreds of local, state and national business, recreation, private landowner and conservation organizations across the country.
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On November 15, 2010 The Trust for Public Land released an analysis of the return on the investment of LWCF dollars for federal land acquisition by the Bureau of Land Management, Fish and Wildlife Service, Forest Service, and National Park Service for a sample of sixteen federal units that received LWCF funding between 1998 and 2009. TPL analyzed the past (i.e., 1998 to 2009) and likely future (i.e., over the next ten years) economic returns generated from LWCF spending on the sample federal units and found that every $1 invested returns $4 in economic value over this time period from natural resource goods and services alone. In addition to providing natural goods and services, these federal lands are key to local recreation and tourism industries. TPL found that approximately 10.6 million people visit these sixteen federal units each year and spend $511 million in the surrounding local communities. (See http://www.tpl.org/publications/books-reports/return-on-investment-from-the.html)

Trust For Public Land www.TPL.org
Press Releases dated April 15, 2011 and November 15, 2010

'Million-Dollar' Sharks An Economic Driver for Palau - Shark Tourism Worth US$18M Annually for Pacific Island Nation

http://www.pewenvironment.org/news-room/press-releases/million-dollar-sharks-an-economic-driver-for-palau-85899359234
A single reef shark can contribute almost US$2 million in its lifetime to the economy of Palau, according to a new study by the Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS) and the University of Western Australia. The analysis quantified the economic benefits of the shark-diving industry to the Pacific island nation and found that its value far exceeded that of shark fishing.

“Sharks can literally be a ‘million-dollar’ species and a significant economic driver,” said Mark Meekan, principal research scientist at AIMS. “Because of their low rates of reproduction and late maturity, shark populations have been driven into a global decline due to fishing. Yet our study shows that these animals can contribute far more as a tourism resource than as a catch target.”

Findings from the study, which looked at the reef sharks observed at Palau’s major dive sites, include:

• The estimated annual value to the tourism industry of an individual reef shark that frequents these sites was US$179,000, or US$1.9 million over its lifetime;
• Shark diving brings approximately US$18 million annually to the Palauan economy, approximately eight percent of the country's gross domestic product;
• The annual income in salaries paid by the shark-diving industry was an estimated US$1.2 million; and
• The annual tax income to Palau generated by shark diving was approximately 14 percent of the country's business tax revenue.

Globally, up to 73 million sharks are killed every year primarily for their fins, which are used in the Asian delicacy shark fin soup. The Pacific Island States have been among the first to recognize the danger of this unsustainable rate of consumption. In 2009, Palau President Johnson Toribiong declared Palauan waters to be a shark sanctuary in his address to the United Nations General Assembly. Since then, the U.S. state of Hawaii, the territories of Guam and the Northern Marianas, and the Republic of the Marshall Islands all banned the possession, sale or distribution of shark fins.

“Shark tourism can be a viable economic engine,” said Matt Rand, director of Global Shark Conservation for the Pew Environment Group, which commissioned the research. “Overfishing of sharks can have disastrous effects on ocean ecosystems, but this study provides a compelling case that can convince more countries to embrace these animals for their benefit to the ocean and their value to a country’s financial well-being.”
Pew Environment Group www.PewEnvironment.org
Press Release dated March 2, 2011

Valuation of ecosystem services from rural landscapes using agricultural land prices

Abstract: Agricultural lands, primarily managed for crops and livestock production, provide various ecosystem services (ES) to people. In theory, the economic value of the service flows that can be captured privately is capitalized into land prices. This study proposes an integrative framework to characterize the ecosystem services associated with agricultural lands. Using that framework, we demonstrate how hedonic analysis of agricultural land prices can be used to estimate the private values of land-based ES. The model is estimated with data from southwestern Michigan, USA. Results suggest that ES values are associated with lakes, rivers, wetlands, forests and conservation lands in rural landscapes. Ecosystem services that support direct use values, such as recreational and aesthetic services, are likely to be perceived by land owners and capitalized in land prices. Some regulating services that provide indirect use values may be partially capitalized in a land parcel's relationship to natural resources and landscapes. Other ES from the land parcel and its surroundings are unlikely to be capitalized due to lack of private incentives, unawareness, or small perceived value. The private ES values measured in this study highlight opportunities to design cost-effective public policies that factor in the value of private benefits from agricultural lands.
Research Highlights
► Land prices can reveal the economic values of many ecosystem services.
► A new framework shows when land prices can measure ecosystem service values.
► Recreational and aesthetic ecosystem services have high value in southern Michigan.
► Surrounding landscapes and nearby water bodies add value to parcels of farmland.
► Environmental values embodied in land prices can help design conservation policy.

by Shan Malow and Scott M. Swinton; both of the Department of Agricultural, Food and Resource Economics, Michigan State University, 20 Cook Hall, East Lansing, MI, USA. Tel.: + 1 517 256 5043; fax: + 1 517 432 1800.
Ecological Economics via Elsevier Science Direct www.ScienceDirect.com
Volume 70, Issue 9; 15 July 2011; Pages 1649-1659
Special Section - Governing the Commons: Learning from Field and Laboratory Experiments
Keywords: Rural landscapes; Hedonic; Ecosystem services; Agricultural land price; Geographic Information System

75% of world's coral reefs under threat, new analysis finds - United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) - 'Reefs at Risk Revisited' report presents

http://www.unep.org/Documents.Multilingual/Default.asp?DocumentID=659&ArticleID=6914

An analysis released February 23, 2011 finds that 75 percent of the world's coral reefs are currently threatened by local and global pressures. For the first time, the analysis includes threats from climate change, including warming seas and rising ocean acidification. The report shows that local pressures - such as overfishing, coastal development and pollution - pose the most immediate and direct risks, threatening more than 60 percent of coral reefs today.

'Reefs at Risk Revisited,' the most detailed assessment of threats to coral reefs ever undertaken, is being released by the World Resources Institute, along with the Nature Conservancy, the WorldFish Center, the International Coral Reef Action Network, Global Coral Reef Monitoring Network, and the UNEP-World Conservation Monitoring Center, along with a network of more than 25 organizations. Launches also took place in Australia, Caribbean, Indonesia, Malaysia, the United Kingdom, the United States and other locations around the world.

'This report serves as a wake-up call for policy-makers, business leaders, ocean managers, and others about the urgent need for greater protection for coral reefs,' said Dr. Jane Lubchenco, Under Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere and NOAA Administrator. 'As the report makes clear, local and global threats, including climate change, are already having significant impacts on coral reefs, putting the future of these beautiful and valuable ecosystems at risk.'

Local pressures - especially overfishing and destructive fishing - are causing many reefs to be degraded. Global pressures are leading to coral bleaching from rising sea temperatures and increasing ocean acidification from carbon dioxide pollution. According to the new analysis, if left unchecked, more than 90 percent of reefs will be threatened by 2030 and nearly all reefs will be at risk by 2050.

'Coral reefs are valuable resources for millions of people worldwide. Despite the dire situation for many reefs, there is reason for hope,' said Lauretta Burke, senior associate at the World Resources Institute (WRI) and a lead author of the report. 'Reefs are resilient, and by reducing the local pressures we can buy time as we find global solutions to preserve reefs for future generations.'

The report includes multiple recommendations to better protect and manage reefs, including through marine protected areas. The analysis shows that more than one-quarter of reefs are already encompassed in a range of parks and reserves, more than any other marine habitat. However, only six percent of reefs are in protected areas that are effectively managed.

'Well managed marine protected areas are one of the best tools to safeguard reefs,' said Mark Spalding, senior marine scientist at the Nature Conservancy and also a lead author of the report. 'At their core, reefs are about people as well as nature: ensuring stable food supplies, promoting recovery from coral bleaching, and acting as a magnet for tourist dollars. We need to apply the knowledge we have to shore up existing protected areas, as well as to designate new sites where threats are highest, such as the populous hearts of the Caribbean, Southeast Asia, East Africa and the Middle East,' he added.

Reefs offer multiple benefits to people and the economy - providing food, sustaining livelihoods, supporting tourism, protecting coasts, and even helping to prevent disease. According the report, more than 275 million people live in the direct vicinity (30 km/18 miles) of coral reefs. In more than 100 countries and territories, coral reefs protect 150,000 km (over 93,000 miles) of shorelines, helping defend coastal communities and infrastructure against storms and erosion.

For the first time, the report identifies the 27 nations most socially and economically vulnerable to coral reef degradation and loss. Among these, the nine most vulnerable countries are: Haiti, Grenada, Philippines, Comoros, Vanuatu, Tanzania, Kiribati, Fiji, and Indonesia.

'The people at greatest risk are those who depend heavily on threatened reefs, and who have limited capacity to adapt to the loss of the valuable resources and services reefs provide,' said Allison Perry, project scientist at the WorldFish Center and a lead author. 'For highly vulnerable nations - including many island nations - there is a pressing need for development efforts to reduce dependence on reefs and build adaptive capacity, in addition to protecting reefs from threats.'

The report is an update of 'Reefs at Risk,' released by WRI in 1998, which served as an important resource for policymakers to understand and address the threats of reefs. The new report uses the latest data and satellite information to map coral reefs - including a reef map with a resolution 64 times higher than the original report.

'Through new technology and improved data, this study provides valuable tools and information for decision makers from national leaders to local marine managers,' said Katie Reytar, research associate at WRI and a lead author. 'In order to maximize the benefits of these tools, we need policymakers to commit to greater action to address the growing threats to coral reefs.'
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Improvement in the collection and treatment of wastewater from coastal settlements benefits both reefs and people through improved water quality and reduced risk of bacterial infections, algal blooms, and toxic fish. Estimates show that for every US$1 invested in sanitation, the net benefit is US$3 to US$34 in economic, environmental, and social improvement for the nearby community.
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Both the live reef food fish—that is, fish captured to sell live in markets and restaurants—and the ornamental species trades are high-value industries. The ornamental species trade takes in an estimated $200 million to $330 million per year globally, with the majority of exports leaving Southeast Asian countries and entering the United States and Europe. The overall value of the industry has remained stable within the past decade, though trade statistics are incomplete. The live reef food fish trade is concentrated mainly in Southeast Asia, with the majority of fish exported from the Philippines and Indonesia and imported through Hong Kong to  China. Over time, the trade has expanded its reach, drawing exports from the Indian Ocean and Pacific islands, reflecting depleted stocks in Southeast Asia, rising demand, improvements in transport, and the high value of traded fish. The estimated value of the live reef food fish trade was $810 million in 2002. A live reef food fish sells for approximately four to eight times more than a comparable dead fish, and can fetch up to $180 per kilogram for sought-after species like Napoleon wrasse or barramundi cod, making it a very lucrative industry for fishers and traders alike.
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Despite this, the reefs are an important resource. Tourism on the Great Barrier Reef is a critical part of the region’s economy, generating US$5.2 billion in 2006.
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Live reef fish imported for food in Hong Kong in 2008 were reportedly worth an average of nearly US$10/kg, while humphead wrasse, the most valuable species, were worth more than US$50/kg.
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Estimating the economic value of coral reef-associated tourism typically focuses on its contributions to the economy, through tourist expenditures, adjusted for the operating costs of providing the service. A recent summary of 29 published studies on reef-associated tourism found a very wide range in values, from about US$2/ha/yr to US$1 million/ha/yr. However, most values fall within the narrower range of US$50/ ha/yr to US$1,000/ha/yr. The wide variation of values is strongly related to differences in the accessibility of places, with very low tourism values in remote locations that have limited tourism development and very high values in areas that have intensive tourism. For these reasons, it is not possible to undertake simple extrapolations of specific studies to entire reef tracts where demand and access may be very different.
...
Although many economic valuation studies have focused on estimating the benefits of coral reef ecosystem services, some studies have also focused on changes in value—that is, what an economy stands to lose if a reef is degraded. For example, the 2004 Reefs at Risk in the Caribbean study estimated that, by 2015, the projected degradation of Caribbean reefs from human activities such as overfishing and pollution could result in annual losses of US$95 million to US$140 million in net revenues from coral reef-associated fisheries, and US$100 million to US$300 million in reduced tourism revenue. In addition, degradation of reefs could lead to annual losses of US$140 million to US$420 million from reduced coastal protection within the next 50 years. Other studies estimate that Australia’s economy could lose US$2.2 billion to US$5.3 billion over the next 19 years due to global climate change degrading the Great Barrier Reef, while Indonesia could lose US$1.9 billion over 20 years due to overfishing.
...
There are numerous examples of economic analyses successfully informing policy. For example, in the United States, the states of Hawaii and Florida adopted legislation setting amounts for monetary penalties per square meter of damaged coral reef, based on calculations from valuation studies. The Belize government used an economic valuation study of its coral reefs as the premise to sue for damages after the container ship Westerhaven ran aground on its reef in January 2009, resulting in the Belizean Supreme Court ruling that the ship’s owners must pay the government US$6 million in damages. Finally, Bonaire National Marine Park, one of the world’s few self-financed marine parks, used economic valuation to determine appropriate user fees.
...
Sample Values: Annual Net Benefits from Coral Reef-related Goods and Services (US$, 2010)

Extent of Study                    Tourism                              Fisheries              Shoreline Protection

Global a                                $11.5 billion                         $6.8 billion                  $10.7 billion
Caribbean (Regional) b          $2.7 billion                         $395 million      $944 million to $2.8 billion
Philippines & Indonesia c       $258 million                           $2.2 billion                $782 million
Belize (National) d         $143.1 mill.-$186.5 mill.**   $13.8 mill.-$14.8 mill.** $127.2 to $190.8 mill.
Guam (National) e                $100.3 million**                     $4.2 million**             $8.9 million
Hawaii (Subnational) f           $371.3 million                         $3.0 million              Not evaluated
* All estimates have been converted to US$ 2010.
** Estimates of the value of coral reef-associated fisheries and tourism for Belize and Guam are gross values, while all other numbers in the table are net benefits, which take costs into account.
a. Cesar, H., L. Burke, and L. Pet-Soede.2003. The Economics of Worldwide Coral Reef Degradation. Zeist, Netherlands: Cesar Environmental Economics Consulting (CEEC).
b. Burke, L., and J. Maidens. 2004. Reefs at Risk in the Caribbean. Washington, DC: World Resource Institute.
c. Burke, L., E. Selig, and M. Spalding.2002. Reefs at Risk in Southeast Asia. Washington, DC: World Resources Institute.
d. Cooper, E., L. Burke, and N. Bood. 2008. Coastal Capital: Belize The Economic contribution of Belize’s coral reefs and mangroves. Washington, DC: World Resource Institute.
e. H aider, W. et al. 2007. The economic value of Guam’s coral reefs. Mangilao, Guam: University of Guam Marine Laboratory.
f. Cesar, H. 2002. The biodiversity benefits of coral reef ecosystems: Values and markets. Paris: OECD.

Find out more at: www.wri.org/reefs, online resources, including maps, data, regional fact sheets, videos, and more.  The full report is available free of charge at http://www.wri.org/publication/reefs-at-risk-revisited

United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)
Press Release dated February 23, 2011

Addressing onsite sampling in recreation site choice models

Abstract: Independent experts and politicians have criticized statistical analyses of recreation behavior that rely upon onsite samples due to their potential for biased inference. The use of onsite sampling usually reflects data or budgetary constraints but can lead to two primary forms of bias in site choice models. First, the strategy entails sampling site choices rather than sampling individuals– a form of bias called endogenous stratification. Under these conditions, sample choices may not reflect the site choices of the true population. Second, exogenous attributes of the individuals sampled onsite may differ from the attributes of individuals in the population – the most common form in recreation demand is avidity bias. We propose addressing these biases by combining two existing methods, Weighted Exogenous Stratification Maximum Likelihood Estimation and propensity score estimation. We use the National Marine Fisheries Service’s Marine Recreational Fishing Statistics Survey to illustrate methods of bias reduction, employing both simulated and empirical applications. We find that propensity score based weights can significantly reduce bias in estimation. Our results indicate that failure to account for these biases can overstate anglers’ willingness to pay for improvements in fishing catch, but weighted models exhibit higher variance of parameter estimates and willingness to pay.

In a full free version of the paper available at http://www.ecu.edu/cs-educ/econ/upload/ecu1002-20100331-AddressingOnsiteSamplingInRecreationSiteChoiceModels-Landry.pdf the authors point out:
...
As we found in the simulated exercise, the unweighted estimators appear to suffer from upward bias in the WTP measures for one additional caught fish. We find that the weighting strategy leads to a 31% decrease in the WTP for an additional inshore species and a 6% decrease in the WTP for an additional reef species. We do not find statistically significant WTP measures for changes in catch of offshore or pelagic species.
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Utilizing our simulated dataset with an unweighted estimator, on average, we find point estimates of WTP for changes in fishing catch to be biased upward by 45%. When we only account for endogenous stratification, the point estimates for WTP are still biased upward by 39% on average. In the presence of both endogenous stratification and size-biased sampling, the avidity weight, which only accounts for size-biased sampling, actually increases the bias in point estimates to an average of 89%.

The table below displays key Willingness-to-pay results:


by Paul Hindsley 1* Craig E. Landry 2 and Brad Gentner 3
1. Environmental Studies, Eckerd College, St. Petersburg, FL 33711 hindslpr@eckerd.edu
2. Department of Economics, East Carolina University, Greenville, NC 27858 landryc@ecu.edu
3. Gentner Consulting Group, Silver Spring, MD 20901 brad@gentnergroup.com
* Corresponding author

Journal of Environmental Economics and Management
Article in Press, Accepted Manuscript, Available online March 21, 2011
Keywords: On-site sampling; Propensity score weighting; Recreation demand; Random utility models