Jonathan G. Taylor

A new model for the travel cost method: the total expenses approach

Abstract This paper discusses the empirical and theoretical underpinnings of the travel cost method (TCM) for estimating nonmarket benefits at an outdoor recreation site. The conventional TCM model is simple to use and provides results that are easy to interpret. However, it does not describe the actual behavior of recreationists as they purchase goods and services for the purpose of making trips to an outdoor recreation site. There is an alternative model that is more congruent with the empirical behavior of recreationists. This model is called the multi-commodity or total expenses TCM model. The total expenses model can also be used to estimate the nonmarket benefits provided by trips to an outdoor recreation site. Moreover, the total expenses model can be derived from the conventional basic postulates of utility maximization. Our purpose in delineating the total expenses model is not to replace the conventional model, but to provide an alternative model. We apply this model to survey data gathered from Trinity River recreationists, and estimate annual nonmarket benefits conferred from recreation activities of US

Riverine based eco-tourism: Trinity River non-market benefits estimates

406 million.

The Price is "About" Right: National Wildlife Refuge visitors' evaluations of the fee demonstration program

SUMMARY Californias Central Valley Project (CVP) was approved by voters in a statewide referendum in 1933. CVP referendum approval initiated funding for construction of important water development projects that had far reaching effects on regional water supplies. The construction of Trinity Dam in 1963 and the subsequent transbasin diversion of Trinity River flow was one of several CVP projects that had noteworthy adverse environmental and regional economic impacts. The Trinity River is the largest tributary of the Klamath River, and has its headwaters in the Trinity Alps of north-central California. After the construction of Trinity Dam in 1963, 90% of the Trinity River flow at Lewiston was moved to the Sacramento River via the Clear Creek Tunnel. Before 1963, the Trinity River was a major recreation resource of Northern California. The loss of stream flow has had a marked adverse impact on Trinity River-related recreation activities and the size and robustness of Trinity River salmon, steelhead, shad, ...

Resource management and nonmarket valuation research

This paper describes National Wildlife Refuge (NWR) visitors’ evaluations of the entrance fees paid relative to the NWR visited, the characteristics of their visit, the socio-demographic characteristics of the visitor, and their beliefs about fees and the fee demonstration program. Data for this investigation were obtained from on-site surveys distributed at eight NWRs. The study sites were selected to represent the variety of fee changes implemented by the USFWS in response to the Congressionally mandated fee demonstration program. As the title of this article suggests, across all refuges, 88% of the respondents evaluated the entrance fees they paid as “about right.” This general pattern of findings was observed across six different characteristics of the visit. Individuals who paid varying amounts of fees, who participated in different activities with varying group sizes and histories of previous use, all generally considered the fees to be “about right.” Similar conclusions emerged when the visitors’ fee evaluations were analyzed relative to socio-demographic characteristics (sex, age, education, income). Evaluations of the fees paid, however, were related to respondents’ beliefs about fees and the fee demonstration program. People who understood the rationale for the fee program and thought the fees were necessary to maintain quality services were more likely to evaluate the fees as “about right.”

Balancing Hydropower and Environmental Values: The Resource Management Implications of the US Electric Consumers Protection Act and the AWARE(TM) Software

Survey based nonmarket valuation research is often regarded as economics research. However, resource economists need to be aware of and acknowledge the manifold information sources that they employ in order to enhance the policy credibility of their studies. Communication between resource economists and practitioners of allied disciplines including chemistry, civil engineering, sociology, and anthropology are often neglected. Recent resource allocation policy debates have given rise to an extensive discussion of methodological issues that narrow the scope of the subject. The present paper provides a format for the presentation of nonmarket valuation research results that emphasizes the manifold links between economics studies that employ different methodologies to estimate nonmarket resource values. A more robust emphasis on the interlocking features of the different approaches for estimating nonmarket benefits should foster appreciation of the transdisciplinary aspects of the subject.

Balancing hydropower and environmental values: A review of the AWARE™ software

This paper reviews the AWARE(TM) software distributed by the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI). The program is designed to facilitate the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) license renewal process for US hydropower installations. The discussion reviews the regulatory, legal, and social contexts that give rise to the creation and distribution of AWARE(TM). The principal legal impetus for AWARE(TM) is the Electric Consumer Protection Act (ECPA) of 1986 that directs FERC to give equal consideration to power and non-power resources during relicensing. The software is reviewed in this paper from several perspectives including those of natural resource economics, systems modeling, and the social context within which FERC licensing decisions are made. We examine both the software and its underlying methodology and find significant problems with each. Because of its flaws, AWARE(TM) does little to further ECPAs equal consideration requirement. We find that the conservation and restoration impact of ECPA for US fisheries could be seriously hampered by the widespread use of AWARE(TM).

Situational and emotional influences on the acceptability of wolf management actions in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem

Abstract This paper reviews the AWARE™ software, a computer program distributed by the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI). The AWARE™ program is designed to facilitate the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) license renewal process for U.S. hydropower installations. The principal legal impetus for distributing AWARE™ is the Electric Consumer Protection Act (ECPA) of 1986. This act directs FERC to balance power and non-power resources during hydropower relicensing. AWARE™ was developed to aid installations in the production of successful FERC applications in the post-ECPA era. However, post-ECPA FERC relicensing decisions indicate that balancing power and non-power resources may entail costly expenditures and flow regime alterations. The AWARE™ software suggests that these costly alterations may not increase the net social benefits produced by the nations rivers and streams. In the present paper the AWARE™ software is discussed from several viewpoints including that of natural resource economics, systems modeling, and the social context within which FERC licensing decisions are made. The discussion concludes that the positive impact of ECPA on U.S. fisheries could be seriously hampered by the widespread use of AWARE™.