Planning and managing outdoor recreation on public land and water entails a series of choices, many of which are economic in nature. Economics is useful for informing a wide range of decision-making processes in the context of outdoor recreation management, including why people choose to engage in recreation and where, how people substitute between different types of recreation activities and sites, and how much value people gain from outdoor experiences.
The Department of the Interior provides many outdoor recreation opportunities for the public, and from a planning perspective, managers may be interested in how visitors are affected by things like changes in entrance fees, campground expansions, additions of biking or hiking trails, and site quality improvements or reductions. Surveys, including visitor surveys administered at recreation sites, are often a crucial component of this type of work.
Economists in the Social and Economic Analysis (SEA) Branch at the USGS Fort Collins Science Center engage in various outdoor recreation-related projects, and they frequently collaborate with recreation and wildlife agencies to help with applied management questions. SEA Branch economists specialize in recreation demand analysis and are trained in both revealed and stated preference nonmarket valuation techniques. The following is a list of example applications:
- Every year, the National Park Service (NPS) conducts Socioeconomic Monitoring (SEM) visitor surveys at a new set of 24 park units. SEA Branch economists collaborate with the NPS to estimate recreation demand and values for trips to the various units. The work provides insights on how both visitor and site characteristics influence the value people gain from their recreation experiences.
- SEA Branch economists conduct travel cost modeling using various types of data sources (e.g., on-site visitor surveys, recreation permits, cell/mobile location data, citizen science data). As one example, SEA Branch economists have used permit data to estimate demand and values for personal use salmon fishing in Alaska. The work explores how daily conditions, including weather, sizes of salmon runs, and commercial fishery operation, affect demand.
- SEA Branch economists research the interplay between wildlife and outdoor recreation. For example, work has explored whether, and if so, how, increased conservation of wide-ranging wildlife could affect trip demand and values for visitors to Yellowstone and Grand Teton National parks. As another example, SEA branch economists have estimated the benefits generated by wildlife viewing in protected areas, including bear viewing in Yellowstone National Park. The work provides quantitative estimates of the streams of viewing benefits that individual wild animals generate over time.
Wildlife Economics
Social and Economic Analysis (SEA) Branch
Planning and managing outdoor recreation on public land and water entails a series of choices, many of which are economic in nature. Economics is useful for informing a wide range of decision-making processes in the context of outdoor recreation management, including why people choose to engage in recreation and where, how people substitute between different types of recreation activities and sites, and how much value people gain from outdoor experiences.
The Department of the Interior provides many outdoor recreation opportunities for the public, and from a planning perspective, managers may be interested in how visitors are affected by things like changes in entrance fees, campground expansions, additions of biking or hiking trails, and site quality improvements or reductions. Surveys, including visitor surveys administered at recreation sites, are often a crucial component of this type of work.
Economists in the Social and Economic Analysis (SEA) Branch at the USGS Fort Collins Science Center engage in various outdoor recreation-related projects, and they frequently collaborate with recreation and wildlife agencies to help with applied management questions. SEA Branch economists specialize in recreation demand analysis and are trained in both revealed and stated preference nonmarket valuation techniques. The following is a list of example applications:
- Every year, the National Park Service (NPS) conducts Socioeconomic Monitoring (SEM) visitor surveys at a new set of 24 park units. SEA Branch economists collaborate with the NPS to estimate recreation demand and values for trips to the various units. The work provides insights on how both visitor and site characteristics influence the value people gain from their recreation experiences.
- SEA Branch economists conduct travel cost modeling using various types of data sources (e.g., on-site visitor surveys, recreation permits, cell/mobile location data, citizen science data). As one example, SEA Branch economists have used permit data to estimate demand and values for personal use salmon fishing in Alaska. The work explores how daily conditions, including weather, sizes of salmon runs, and commercial fishery operation, affect demand.
- SEA Branch economists research the interplay between wildlife and outdoor recreation. For example, work has explored whether, and if so, how, increased conservation of wide-ranging wildlife could affect trip demand and values for visitors to Yellowstone and Grand Teton National parks. As another example, SEA branch economists have estimated the benefits generated by wildlife viewing in protected areas, including bear viewing in Yellowstone National Park. The work provides quantitative estimates of the streams of viewing benefits that individual wild animals generate over time.