Wildlife management areas (WMAs) are important part of the public land system for forest-based recreation in the United States. Despite the growing literature on the economics of outdoor recreation, information about the economic benefit of visitors' access to WMAs, common to 35 states nationally, is lacking. WMAs differ from other public areas because of their unique focus on promoting conservation as well as consumptive and non-consumptive uses. With the data collected from a mixed-mode survey of WMA permit holders, this study estimated a travel cost model of WMA visitation with price interactions to quantify the economic value of WMA access and evaluate whether and how the value of access varies among recreation activities. The results indicate heterogeneity in the per trip value of access among activities, ranging annually from $95 for hunting to $37 for angling and $32 for other non-consumptive activities. When aggregated across the statewide system, the total net benefit that WMA permit holders enjoy from having access to WMAs was as high as $219 million annually, a $138 per acre in an annual net benefit to permit holders. In addition, personal characteristics, including party size and hunting as the primary purpose of visiting, as well as WMA characteristics, including camping, boat access, and wheelchair accessible blinds, had positive effects on WMA access demand. These findings offer new insights into understanding the public value of conservation areas and help justify investing public funds in establishing and maintaining WMAs.

Nonmotorized boating (NMB) is a popular recreation activity in the US National Forest System. Previous studies on NMB were from an individual river or site, which limited aggregating benefit across the system or generalizing to rivers across the country. Further, whether and how site and river characteristics affect the use of rivers for NMB activities are unknown. This study combined trip data collected from visitor surveys across the system with spatially explicit data on river characteristics in a travel cost model, and in the analysis step, characterized the economic benefit of NMB access and evaluated the effect of site and river characteristics. Net economic benefit of NMB access was estimated to be in the range of $56 to $73 per trip, depending on the modeling assumptions used. When aggregated across visits over the country, the total annual economic value of NMB access in National Forest System ranged from $92 million to $120 million. Results further suggest that site and river characteristics including water velocity, ramp availability, and rapid level were significantly related to NMB demand. Results may be useful in highlighting the use and public value of NMB access in rivers and in understanding the importance of site and river characteristics.

Abstract We estimate a travel cost model for the George Washington & Jefferson National Forests using an On-Site Latent Class Poisson Model. We show that the constraints of ad-hoc truncation and homogenous preferences significantly impact consumer surplus estimates derived from the on-site travel cost model. By relaxing the constraints, we show that more than one class of visitors with unique preferences exists in the population. The resulting demand functions, price responsive behaviors, and consumer surplus estimates reflect differences across these classes of visitors. With heterogeneous preferences, a group of ‘local residents’ exists with a probability of 8% and, on average take 113 visits.

Public land management agencies that provide outdoor recreation opportunities face financial constraints. Raising access fees is one approach to enhance fiscal sustainability. However, increased access costs may reduce visitation. Actual visitation changes are contingent on visitors' price sensitivity, and these changes will influence revenue collection, visitor composition, changes in visitor welfare, and local economic impacts. Importantly, higher entrance fees may disproportionately affect visitors of different ethnicities and individuals from low-income populations. In this study, we developed a travel cost model using data collected during 2010 from 1,309 visitors across three state parks in northern Georgia to estimate the structure of recreation demand and the effects of potential fee increases across diverse populations. Results were applied to simulate the effects of various entrance fee levels on park revenue, visitor diversity, and visitor welfare, accounting for differential responses to fee hikes across different racial/ethnic groups. We found visitor demand to the parks was largely inelastic, signaling that decreases in visitation effected by a modest fee increase (e.g., from $5 to $8) would lead to higher total revenues. At higher fee values, decreased visitation offset potential revenue gains. Hispanics were less sensitive to entrance fee hikes than other visitors, suggesting that shifting fee structures could also impact visitor composition. If fees were to increase at state parks, the proportion of Hispanic visitors at parks would likely grow. This means that Hispanics would bear a disproportionate share of the cost burden under increasing fee scenarios. Additionally, state park recreation demand was highest among low-income visitors, suggesting that fee increases could have particularly significant negative impact on that group. To balance the possibly competing agency objectives of revenue generation and increased diversity, park managers may benefit from greater ex ante information provided by an applied framework like that developed in this analysis. Such analyses are expected to better inform management and policy makers concerning the likely economic effects of variation in state park access costs, including disproportionate impacts on racial/ethnic minorities.

Increasing demand for water-based recreation comes with the need for recreation site managers to consider how to best satisfy different stakeholder groups. However, much of the previous water-based recreation literature has treated resident users and tourist users as one homogeneous group despite differences in frequency of use, proximity to site, and economic importance of visitation to the local economy. Hence, this study segmented residents from tourists and conducted separate importance performance analyses (IPA) to see if these two distinct groups have different preferences for and perceptions of stream-access sites in southeast Appalachia. Data were collected using an intercept survey method across ten different Tennessee Valley Authority stream-access sites in north Georgia and western North Carolina. Independent samples t-tests reveal significant differences between residents and tourists on 10 of the 23 importance attributes and performance attributes. The IPAs reveal different quadrant placements for 9 of the 23 attributes. Specifically, tourists expressed greater dissatisfaction with information accessibility such as online information and river maps, and residents tended to place higher importance on the boating aspects of stream-access sites with higher levels of importance placed on attributes such as ramps, put in and take out sites, and room to maneuver trailers, illustrating the efficacy of segmenting residents and tourists within the context of IPA. Implications include management aims addressing both residents' and tourists' preferences for stream-access sites to simultaneously enhance regional tourism for its economic benefits while enriching the experiences of residents.

The National Visitor Use Monitoring (NVUM) program data underlies estimates of the volume of recreation use of the National Forest System. The data also enable estimation of both the local economic contributions and nonmarket benefits of that visitation. Applications include evaluating the effects of natural disasters, site characteristics, and climate change, as well as expenditure and benefit transfers. This article describes the history and science background of the NVUM program, outlines the methods used in estimating market and nonmarket economic outcomes, and lists some examples of results found in the literature.

A survey of motorcyclists was conducted to determine their perception of the quality of views from roads of a managed, rural southern United States landscapes in the winter season. The survey instrument was made available through an advertisement placed in an email newsletter delivered to the members of a motorcyclist organization. While the potential number of respondents was very high, the response rate to the survey was low. We found that respondents generally preferred landscape views with water in the forefront. Landscapes with agricultural land or pasture in the forefront and forest in the background, or that contained mature or young forest in the forefront were preferred to a lesser extent. Landscape views with bare ground in the forefront and forest in the background were the least appealing. However, all types of landscape views, on a scale ranging from very appealing to not appealing at all, at least received neutral mean preference scores from the respondents of the survey. Management implications: The work presented provides a framework for performing a low-cost assessment of landscape aesthetic quality in rural communities specifically for communities that are interested in attracting motorized recreational activities. The population of interests here is motorcyclists but the protocol presented could be applicable to other motorized recreational groups. Municipalities, policy makers, planners, and resource managers interested in attracting this type of tourism need to consider the impacts of scenic driving and motorized recreational activities on infrastructure, natural resources, and road safety.

Leadership at cities and municipalities can be instrumental in beginning local conversation regarding climate change and urban forest policies. Much research has been devoted to national climate change actions, but little is currently known about initiatives and actions at the local level. This study presents results of a survey of U.S. Conference of Mayors Climate Protection Agreement ( MCPA) members, representing 1,054 cities and 93.6 million people, conducted to improve the understanding of how mayors view urban forest policies related to climate change. The goals of the study were to examine local government initiatives for climate change and urban forests and how mayors prioritize these investments. The results indicated that a variety of local climate change mitigation and adaptation actions were being pursued by member MCPA cities. This is important as the international climate change regime rarely acknowledges the role of cities tackling climate change, though they are vulnerable settlements and at the same time important emitters. Since MCPA represents the most heavily populated states as well as the majority of the state capitals in the United States, policymakers should seriously consider integrating the roles of these local institutions in the national climate change policy process, and emphasize adaptation and urban forests' role in these efforts.

Big-game hunting is a popular recreation activity on public and private land. No study in the forest economics literature has examined hunting demand by comparing price response and value across different land-ownership classes. By combining travel cost modeling with data collected from a mail survey of licensed big-game hunters, this study estimated and compared the economic value of hunting trips across land ownership types in Georgia, USA. Results indicated that hunting-trip demand was influenced by age, income, retirement status, experience, and the presence of food plots with price response differences across land access types. Hunters on public and nonleased private lands appeared more sensitive to price changes than hunters on leased and personally owned land. The net economic benefit of hunting access varied across access types, with hunting trips to leased and personally owned land yielding more than twice the benefit per trip as nonleased private land or public land. This difference generally increased as travel time costs were factored into the models. Findings will be useful in understanding the net economic benefit of big-game hunting, as well as preferences for and price response to access on hunting lands under different ownership regimes in the Southeast.

Natural resource managers and planners must consider outdoor recreation’s longrun response to shifting population density, sociodemographic factors, land uses, and climate change. Projected rises in greenhouse gases imply changing minimum/ maximum temperatures, potential evapotranspiration, and precipitation. The strong link between natural resource conditions and outdoor recreation suggests that longand short-term recreation planning requires knowledge of which activities and settings will be impacted by climate change. Climate change response is principally an adaptation strategy, as climate cannot be directly managed like park access. Effective planning requires that adaptation or mitigation strategies should be considered for activities and implemented in advance. We used a two-step approach. The estimation step yielded models of adult participation rates and days-per-participant by activity at regional and national levels. The simulation step combined models with external projections of explanatory variables at 10-year intervals to 2060. Estimates of per capita participation and daysof- participation were combined with population projections to estimate participants and participant-days by activity. Regional and national projections through 2060 were made under three 2010 Resources Planning Act (RPA) Assessment scenarios, varying in population growth rates, socioeconomic conditions, and land uses. Adding in a climate variable generated a second set of projections, accounting for changing temperature, precipitation, or potential evapotranspiration. Nested models allowed comparing the results with and without the climate change, the primary focus of this paper. Climate change impacts within each scenario were computed using the differences in participation and consumption metrics with and without climate effects, expressed as a percentage relative to 2008 baselines. This computation included the magnitude of change between the 2060 futures with and without climate change, as well as impacts relative to the baseline. A range of plausible climate-related shifts in participation and consumption was created by collapsing scenarios and climate models by activity. We focused on sensitivity to climate change, as projections of activity participation and consumption are already detailed elsewhere (Bowker et al., 2012; Bowker et al., 2013; Bowker & Askew, 2013; Bowker & Askew, 2014). Recreation will respond differently to warmer futures, increasing potential evapotranspiration, and mixed precipitation outlooks by activity, location, and for participation versus consumption. Snowmobiling and undeveloped skiing (crosscountry skiing and snowshoeing) were the most negatively affected by climate change. Participation in horseback riding on trails could increase. Horseback riding days-ofparticipation could see negative climate impacts nationally. Participation and daysof- participation for both fishing and motorized water activities in the North should increase. Climate change in the Rocky Mountain region will negatively impact motorized water activities, hunting, and fishing, while swimming should be affected positively. The Pacific Coast region shows the most stability, with either small climateinduced shifts or wider ranges which are ambiguous. Subscribe to JPRA

The socioeconomic benefits of recreational, commercial, and subsistence fishing associated with lands managed by the U.S. Forest Service are substantial and are expected to increase over time. Recreational fishing on national forests and grasslands generate over US$2.2 billion annually through fishing equipment, boats, travel, outfitter and guiding services, fuel, and licenses, which in turn provide critical funding for fisheries habitat management and conservation by federal and state agencies. The sustainable nature of recreational fishing by the public complements the agency's multiple use mandate to conserve fish and aquatic resources, which include a high percentage of the nation's threatened, endangered, and sensitive fish and aquatic species. National forests in the Pacific Northwest and the western USA, particularly Alaska, support significant commercial and subsistence salmon fisheries. A growing restoration economy associated with fisheries habitat and watershed restoration contributes to local economies. Although more difficult to quantify, important social and cultural benefits of fishing are provided to the public nationwide, including connecting the public to the outdoors and to public lands. Managing fisheries habitat and watershed health amid competing demands for water, natural resources, and outdoor recreation will continue to challenge the U.S. Forest Service and its partners into the future.

The recreational opportunities available across landscapes of the Southern United States can be broad and diverse, and collectively are considered a subset of cultural ecosystem services. In describing the settings of recreational opportunities, a number of methods have been proposed that are based in part on geographic information and that can be facilitated by geographical analyses. Presented here are two expedient and cost-effective methods for assessing the recreation supply potential of large, heavily-roaded areas that are situated mainly with privately-owned land in the Southern United States. One land classification process uses fine-scale aerial imagery and other geospatial data in a process that results in three recreational opportunity setting zones with a focus on motorised sightseeing: foreground, background, and remote areas. Within these zones, land cover was derived and aggregated into three major land cover classes, including forest, agriculture, and bare ground classes. Further, a second process uses fuzzy classification methods, and through this highly suitable recreation settings were identified. Each recreational opportunity zone is further subdivided by public- and privately-owned land. We feel these types of recreation setting models can allow managers and planners to gain an understanding of the passive recreation potential of heavily-roaded privately-owned landscapes typical of the Southern United States.

Annually, 23 million recreationists participate in downhill skiing on over 180,000 acres of skiable land in the U.S. National Forest system, making it the second most popular outdoor activity in the system. While the emerging literature on climate science reveals changing climatic conditions in ski areas, the extent of climate change impact on the demand for and economic value of downhill skiing is unknown. By combining trip data collected from on-site surveys of skiers in national forests across the nation with climatic data collected through nearby weather stations, this study developed an aggregated travel cost model to estimate the net economic benefit of downhill skiing and snowboarding, and the projected impact of climate change on the demand and value. Per person per trip net economic benefit of downhill skiing was estimated to be in the range of $91 to $185 depending on the assumptions about skiers' opportunity cost of time. When aggregated across visits and national forests, the total economic value of downhill skiing in the U.S. National Forest system ranged from $2.16 to $4.39 billion, annually. Climate variables including temperature, snow depth, and rainfall were correlated with ski demand, and projected changes in these climate variables could affect the economic benefits from skiing. Findings contribute to understanding the net economic benefit of maintaining downhill skiing on national forests, and will help recreation planners and tourism entrepreneurs develop adaptive strategies to sustain the skiing industry.

Big game hunting on private leased forestland is popular in Georgia and other parts of the southern United States. Very often, the leasing arrangement takes the form of a club, wherein a specified number of members pay an annual fee to either a landowner or the club's manager to have a certain bundle of access rights in accordance with other club regulations or attributes. Currently, little is formally known about hunter preferences for club characteristics. The objective of this study was to identify hunter preferences for attributes related to big game hunting clubs and to derive measures of economic value for these attributes. This was accomplished by conducting a choice experiment (CE) via a mail survey in 2012 of licensed big game hunters in Georgia. The CE presented respondents with alternative hunting clubs representing different combinations of attributes including acreage, membership number, harvest regulations, recent forest management activity, and annual club dues. Responses were analyzed with conditional logit and multinomial probit regression models. Consistent with economic theory, hunters preferred more acreage and fewer members. The least preferred harvest regulation was a one buck limit without size restriction while recent clearcutting was the least preferred forest management activity. Results should provide a better understanding of big game hunters' preferences and trade-offs for club attributes and should help landowners and club managers make management decisions that enhance the value of their resources.

Investments in urban forests have been increasing in many US cities. Urban forests have been shown to provide countless ecosystem benefits with many addressing climate change issues, such as sequestering carbon, reducing air pollution, and decreasing the heat island effect. Individual groups within the American public may not respond to the issue of climate change in the same way, thus engaging each group in climate change solutions will require different approaches. It is therefore important to understand how the public perceives climate change, their values and preferences, and barriers that might constrain their engagement to policy solutions. A mail survey was implemented, focused on households willingness to support and pay for urban forests as a climate change mitigation method. Atlanta, Georgia, USA was selected for this study given its environmental issues such as heat island effect and land cover changes, including conversion of forestland, that come with rapid population growth and urban sprawl. A Tobit model was used to model willingness-to-pay as a function of several variables derived from survey results; and a multivariate weighting strategy was used to address nonresponse issues. The analysis showed that Atlanta households are willing to pay $1.05 million to $1.22 million per year, or $5.24 to $6.11 million over a five-year period. The WTP amount was significantly related with the residents income, media source from where they received climate information, and the relative coverage of tree canopy around their residence. Results are relevant to city managers who are interested in understanding the public value of urban greening programs and developing strategies or policies to expand urban forests as part of a climate change strategy. (C) 2017 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved.

Hunting lease revenue can be a reliable supplemental income for forest landowners. Although studies have examined factors influencing per acre lease rates, little is known about how various characteristics are capitalized in hunting club dues. The objective of this study was to conduct a hedonic analysis of big game hunting club dues in Georgia, USA using a variety of club-, site-, and location-specific characteristics. To accomplish this objective, multivariate regression analysis was applied to explain variation in hunters’ self-reported big game hunting club dues in 2012. Implicit price was then calculated for each significant covariate. Club size, presence of food plots, and game quality had positive effects on club dues, whereas membership number had a negative effect. These results should be useful for landowners and club lease managers interested in enhancing the marketability of their hunting sites and understanding the effect of management actions.