Nature’s Value in the Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest
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Tania Briceno
The 2012 Louisiana Coastal Master Plan proposes broad-scale, comprehensive action to address Louisiana's land loss crisis, including major sediment diversions of the Mississippi River. This analysis is the first of its kind to address the socioeconomic aspects of major sediment diversions in southeast Louisiana.
This benefit-cost analysis investigated Southeast Washington's Lower Snake River dams, modeling the regional economic benefits in the form of outdoor recreation expenditures that are expected to accompany a free-flowing river. The dams yield a benefit-cost ration of only 0.15, but a free-flowing Lower Snake River may yield a ratio of over 4.3. In a dam breach scenario, outdoor recreation could generate as much as $500 million in consumer expenditures in the first few years alone.
Few public land managers use strategic tools to plan investments and ensure optimal decisions. Washington State Parks, recognizing the power of being strategic rather than opportunistic in decision making, engaged Earth Economics to create a tool that quantifies the social, environmental, and economic benefits of each state park in Washington State. The tool also lays a foundation for predicting hot spots for future acquisitions.
This report demonstrates the value of Washington State Parks in connecting Washingtonians to outdoor recreation opportunities. State parks are responsible for $1.5 billion in consumer expenditures and serve as a vehicle for rural development as wealth transfers from urban to rural areas. State parks generate at least $64 million in state sales tax that directly benefits the Washington general fund. Every year, land conserved by the State Parks system also provides the state between $500 million and $1.2 billion in ecosystem services that include water quality improvements, native species habitat, and aesthetic values.
This report highlights the Long Island Sound Basin’s natural capital and provides an update to the 1992 Altobello valuation study. Fourteen ecosystem services across nine land cover types were valued, and total ecosystem services flows within the Basin were found to reach at least $17 billion to $37 billion every year. This report also includes recommendations to fill key gaps in primary valuation studies for Long Island Sound and to conduct assessments on the return on investment.
This report examines the growing risks and rising costs of climate change across the United States. Hurricanes, floods, and extreme weather events have high human and financial tolls. This report calls for increased efficiency and effectiveness in natural hazard management through proactive investments and a focus on green infrastructure for risk reduction. The report also identifies seven areas of federal and state law in need of improvement.
This report presents a technical valuation of the damages from dumping accumulated dam sediments in the Anchicaya River on Colombia's Pacific Coast. The unplanned discharge of more than 500,000 cubic meters of sludge in 2001 resulted in shocks to vulnerable ecosystems, severe damage to fish and shellfish, and harm to water supply, crops, and riverine and coastal mangroves. Earth Economics partnered with Fundacion Neotropica to conduct an economic valuation of the damages, emphasizing ecosystem connectivity and both market and non-market environmental impacts.