Modelling and mapping spatial heterogeneity in forest recreation services

Modelling and spatial mapping of recreation services require attention to both demand and supply factors. This paper combines recreational choice modelling and economic valuation with GIS based techniques to allow an assessment of the spatial diversity of the value of forest recreation services. The data for the analysis is a national study of the car borne recreational use of Danish forest sites. A random utility framework is used and a comparison between the standard fixed coefficient model and a mixed logit model is made. The results show that the different specifications of the random utility models reveal similar preferences for the measured forest attributes in terms of sign and magnitude. The spatial predictions, however, reveal a considerable difference in the spatial pattern of economic benefits from recreation between the two models. These results have implications for current ecosystem service mapping initiatives as they emphasise the need to account for spatial heterogeneity in preferences, and aggregate demand and environmental attributes and infrastructure.     

上海环城绿带百米林带植物群落 游憩适宜度评价及优化策略研究

为进一步促进上海环城绿带功能的多元化拓展,探讨在环城绿带百米林带内开发游憩功能的适宜性,从群落外貌、景观结构、空间特征及游憩情况等方面对上海环城绿带百米林带40个游憩型植物群落样方进行调查,基于空间适游度、环境安全性、生态承载力和可视景观美感度4个层面,运用层次分析法构建上海环城绿带百米林带植物群落游憩适宜度评价体系,对40个样方的游憩适宜度进行分级研究,并对其存在的问题提出优化建议,以期对上海环城绿带百米林带后续的改造建设提供依据,并对同类环城绿带游憩功能的拓展具有一定的借鉴意义。     

Optimal growth and land preservation

A model of optimal economic growth with a constant population subject to a constraint on the availability of land is presented. It takes account of the dual character of land as a production factor and as a consumption good (environmental amenities) by determining the optimal intertemporal allocation of land between productive and recreational uses. An extension of the analysis for the case of a growing population with endogenous growth based on human capital accumulation shows that if the rate of discount is not very low, then there exists a set of balanced growth paths compatible with a constant allocation of land.     

The amenity value of woodland in Great Britain: A comparison of economic estimates

Forests produce benefits over and above the revenue yielded from timber and other wood based products. Most important among these may be the recreational benefits for visitors, which have been examined in several studies. Total benefits for residents are perhaps more accurately captured in property values since, ceteris paribus, the price of a house reflects willingness to pay to live near an environmental amenity such as a forest to gain access to it, and also the amenity (non-use) value of the forest in so far as it creates a pleasant landscape. However, the total non-priced value of forestry is not the sum of HPM and ITCM benefit estimates. Recreational benefits will typically be less, and will be subsumed in the HPM estimates, since the hedonic price is partly induced by the value of recreational access.     

Valuing water level changes in reservoirs using two stated preference approaches: An exploration of validity

The combination of travel cost (TCM) and contingent behaviour (CB) methods is a relatively new research avenue in the recreational valuation community. Contrary to simple TCM applications, TCM-CB facilitates the ex ante valuation of marginal welfare effects resulting from environmental quality or quantity changes, similar to the contingent valuation method (CV). Even though TCM-CB is highly policy relevant, i.e. to inform changes in management regimes at recreational sites, the validity of estimates has hardly received any attention and little is known about the performance of TCM-CB compared to CV. In this paper, TCM-CB and CV are explored with respect to several validity tests in a case study on the recreational effects of water level changes in a reservoir. Overall, the findings reveal that TCM-CB and CV perform equally well in terms of theoretical validity, but that the marginal recreational value varies significantly between the two methods. We also observe that both methods face similar internal difficulties with respect to the stability of values when the order of a set of valuation questions is changed.     

A Latent Class Nested Logit Model for Rank-Ordered Data with Application to Cork Oak Reforestation

We analyze stated ranking data collected from recreational visitors to the Alcornocales Natural Park (ANP) in Spain. The ANP is a large protected area which comprises mainly cork oak woodlands. The visitors ranked cork oak reforestation programs delivering different sets of environmental (reforestation technique, biodiversity, forest surface) and social (jobs and recreation sites created) outcomes. We specify a novel latent class nested logit model for rank-ordered data to estimate the distribution of willingness-to-pay for each outcome. Our modeling approach jointly exploits recent advances in discrete choice methods. The results suggest that prioritizing biodiversity would increase certainty over public support for a reforestation program. In addition, a substantial fraction of the visitor population are willing to pay more for the social outcomes than the environmental outcomes, whereas the existing reforestation subsidies are often justified by the environmental outcomes alone.     

用条件估值法评估九寨沟的游憩价值——CVM方法的校正与比较

自然游憩资源作为环境资源的一种,是最活跃的环境价值研究领域之一。条件估值法(CVM)是国际上用于游憩价值评估的两种经典方法之一,其评估结果受不同引导评估技术的影响。以九寨沟自然保护区为例,选择了在统计有效性方面具有相对优势的支付卡梯级法和1.5边界二分法,来评估其游憩价值。结果表明,主要由于"胖尾"偏差的影响,1.5边界二分法获得的支付意愿(WTP)要高于支付卡梯级法;在进行了偏差校正后,二者所获得的估值结果相当接近,说明本研究的内部有效性检验较为理想。研究认为即使对我国这样的发展中国家,CVM仍为一种富有前景的环境资源价值评估方法,不过必须建立在对CVM调查各个环节的精心设计、严谨实施和审慎分析的基础上。     

Modeling Multiple-Objective Recreation Trips with Choices Over Trip Duration and Alternative Sites

Traditionally, recreation demand studies have focused on single-day, single-activity trips, despite anecdotal and empirical evidence that many recreational trips involve overnight stays and multiple purposes. This paper develops a random utility model that explores how visitors choose alternative sites and trip durations for multiple-objective trips. We focus on a recreational activity, beach visits, that appear to have significant proportions of the population taking single and multiple-day trips, and many of the multiple day trips involve multiple objectives. Multiple-duration and multiple-objective issues are incorporated in pricing trip costs. The results of the research suggest that the accepted method for incorporating travel costs into random utility models can lead to biased estimates of the structural utility parameters and, consequently, biased measures of welfare in a multiple-objective trip setting for single- and multiple-day users.     

Environmental amenities and agricultural land values: a hedonic model using geographic information systems data

Remote agricultural lands, which include wildlife habitat, angling opportunities and scenic vistas, command higher prices per hectare in Wyoming than those whose landscape is dominated by agricultural production. Geographic information systems (GIS) data are used to measure recreational and scenic amenities associated with rural land. A hedonic price model is specified with GIS measures. It is used to estimate the impact of amenity and agricultural production land characteristics on price per acre for a sample of Wyoming agricultural parcels. Results indicate that the specification performed well across several functional forms. The sampled land prices are explained by the level of both environmental amenities as well as production attributes. Statistically significant amenity variables included scenic view, elk habitat, sport fishery productivity and distance to town. This analysis permits a better estimation of environmental amenity values from hedonic techniques. Improved estimation of amenity values is vital for policies aimed at open space preservation, using agricultural conservation easements and land use conflict resolution.     

休闲游憩绿道建设的理论与启示——以广东珠三角九城市为例

中国的城市化进程仍然在加速过程中,生态环境保护与城市发展之间的矛盾已经成为很多地区面临的难题,在利益的驱动下,传统的消极生态保护理念难以抵挡城市建设的不断蚕食,必须采取积极有效的保护理念。通过对国内外休闲游憩绿道研究情况的分析,探讨了休闲游憩绿道建设的意义,阐述了休闲游憩绿道对于改善城市居民生活的特殊作用。同时针对其地域特色提出了休闲游憩绿道建设的具体思想。     

宁波地区湖泊休闲度假旅游发展研究——以东钱湖旅游度假区开发为例

目前休闲度假旅游市场已成为国内重要的旅游市场,我国湖泊旅游地是当前休闲度假旅游的主要目的地。宁波东钱湖旅游度假区应积极探索由观光型湖泊向休闲度假型湖泊转型发展之路,利用水圈分层组合资源、塑造深厚人文氛围、全方位提升休闲度假服务品质、切实加强生态环保、利用产业联动促进景区提升、市场分层全方位品牌营销等策略,将东钱湖打造成国家级生态湖泊休闲度假旅游基地。     

Recreation demand estimation and valuation in spatially connected systems

Recreation demand models frequently are used to explain outdoor recreation behavior and to estimate willingness to pay for changes in environmental quality at recreation sites. Among the most commonly used recreation demand models are site choice models based on the multinomial logit framework, which account for the spatial relationships between each recreator's home and multiple alternative destinations thereby capturing the substitution possibilities among recreation sites. However, standard applications of this framework typically do not account for the possibility of spatial connections among the sites via movements of the target species, such as fish in connected water bodies in recreational angling applications or terrestrial species in hunting or wildlife viewing applications. In this paper we examine aspects of environmental valuation and natural resource dynamics that generally are addressed separately. Specifically, we show that in such spatially connected systems, a “reduced form” application of the standard site choice modeling approach, using proxy measures of environmental quality rather than direct measures of species abundances, can produce biased estimates of willingness to pay for environmental improvements. Furthermore, we show that under some conditions poorly targeted environmental improvements in spatially connected systems can lead to welfare decreases. In such systems a structural model of recreator site choices and species sorting behavior and population dynamics may be required to fully account for the spatial linkages among sites and the feedback effects between recreators and the target species.     

Utility theoretic semi-logarithmic incomplete demand systems in a natural experiment: Forest fire impacts on recreational values and use

This study develops a utility theoretic demand model for an arbitrary number of goods that handles correlation between goods and over time. The bivariate compound Poisson estimator is applied to a semi-logarithmic incomplete demand system to estimate the demand for wilderness recreation and the associated welfare measures both prior to and post a 40,000 acre wilderness fire in Washington. Forest fires can simultaneously affect the environmental qualities of many recreational sites; this highlights the need for a utility theoretic demand system approach for modeling consumer behavior that handles the dynamic behavioral and statistical interdependencies over goods and time. Results suggest an increase in consumer welfare per trip post fire, after an initial period of low values, relative to before the fire.     

Enjoying Catch and Fishing Effort: The Effort Effect in Recreational Fisheries

Recreational fishermen derive utility from catch and fishing effort. Building our analysis on the Gordon-Clark model for renewable resources, we show that a lower importance of catch may result in higher catches. While this effect also holds under first-best management, it may destabilize open-access recreational fisheries to the point of stock collapse. Technical progress in recreational fisheries may mask such dynamics as it enables unaltered angler behavior and constant catches during stock declines.     

Estimating the benefits of low flow alleviation in rivers: the case of the Ticino River

In Switzerland 60% of electricity is produced by hydropower plants. The construction and operation of these plants determine some negative environmental externalities, such as diminishing groundwater levels and spring flows, and a reduction in river flow, which can severely curtail recreational and fishing activities. This study concentrates on an ex-ante appraisal of the monetary benefits resulting from an enhancement of river flow for recreational fishing purposes. A comparison of estimates of these benefits to the corresponding costs, in terms of loss of electricity production, incurred by hydropower plants to alleviate low flows may be useful for policy makers. For this analysis, as suggested by Layman et al. (Land Economics 72, pp. 113-128, 1996), the Travel Cost Method (TCM) is extended to estimate the economic value of recreational fishing in the Ticino River (the most important river of the Canton Ticino) under existing and hypothetical river flow conditions. Anglers were asked to state how the number of trips they took to the Ticino River would change if an increase in the river flow was imposed on the hydropower plants. The empirical results show that an enhancement of river flow increases the annual consumer surplus for a typical angler by approximately 440 SFr.     

Spatial random utility model with an application to recreation demand

The paper examines the relevance of unobserved spatial dependence between individual decision-makers in the analysis of discrete choices. To incorporate spatial interdependencies in the behavioral analysis, we propose a spatial random utility model of recreation demand. The model combines the set-theoretic concept of spatial neighborhood, endogeneity of spatial interdependencies, and unobservable individual preferences. Our estimation procedure uses an efficient pseudo maximum likelihood estimator. We apply the model to the study of recreational travel demand in Iowa and evaluate the significance of unobserved spatial interdependencies between individual households in recreational travel choices.     

Valuing the Benefits of Coastal Water Quality Improvements Using Contingent and Real Behaviour

Recent moves in the European Union have beenmade towards a toughening of legislation onbathing water quality. This has focussedpolicy-makers thoughts on the welfare benefitsresulting from such improvements, especiallygiven their cost. Our paper uses a combinedstated and revealed preference approach tovalue coastal water quality improvements,focussing on an area of Scotland which hasconsistently failed to meet standards under theBathing Waters Directive. We combine data onreal behaviour with data on contingentbehaviour using a random effects negativebinomial panel model. This allows us to predictboth the change in participation (trips) shouldwater quality be improved, and the welfareincrease per trip. Our model includes allowancefor the existence of substitute sites, and forchanges in recreational behaviour during abeach visit.     

Towards More Efficient Compensation Programmes for Tourists' Benefits From Agriculture in Europe

This paper covers nonmarket services provided by farmers for recreational purposes in several Central European regions. A regionally specified general equilibrium model is used to derive the efficiency conditions for a competitive equilibrium to guarantee a Pareto optimal outcome. Moreover, we present green agricultural compensation programmes in Europe and their assessment from an economic perspective. The empirical analysis focuses on tourists' willingness to pay (WTP) for the provision of agricultural landscape-enhancing services in Austria. A comparison of these measures with current voluntary compensation payments made to farmers for the preservation of an agricultural countryside in several Austrian tourism communities suggests that the hypothetical contingent valuation (CV) results represent a valid order of magnitude for the value of recreation-related agricultural services. As far as agricultural policy is concerned, environmental improvement, the stabilization of agricultural income levels, diminishing intrasectoral income differences, and the development of economically disadvantaged rural regions can be expected from directly subsidizing farmers for the provision of countryside amenities.     

Estimating Recreation Preferences Using Hedonic Travel Cost and Random Utility Models

Over the last decade, several authors have questioned thevalidity of the hedonic travel cost model, arguing instead that the random utility model is a superior method forvaluing recreational site attributes. This paper demonstrates that the two methods emanate from a similar utilitytheoretic framework; yet in practice these methods differ in the assumptions made in their application.Constraining the underlying utility functions to be consistent, both models are applied to the valuation ofrecreational site attributes in the Southeastern United States. The way in which each method estimates preferencesfor site attributes is shown to depend critically on the method and the functional form of theunderlying utility function.     

Reconsidering the hedonic vs. RUM debate in the valuation of recreational environmental amenities

Two revealed preference methods have emerged as the primary tools for valuing the environmental amenities of recreational resources: the hedonic travel cost method and the random utility method. While both methods are now widely applied, considerable debate still exists over the appropriateness of each method. This paper examines this debate in the literature and shows that much of the contention over the methods results from the improper application of the models or misinterpretations of the theory that underlies the models. Both models are shown to possess strengths and weaknesses that are important determinants of their effectiveness as valuation tools.