Do Rising Flows Lift All Boats? Ecosystem Services Elasticity in the Dolores River Watershed

In the Colorado River Basin, annual weather variability and a changing climate complicate the management and allocation of water resources. As dynamic pressures alter this complex watershed, individual stakeholders make sense of these changes and form perceptions of the ecosystem services afforded under different conditions. We characterized recreational and conservation stakeholder perceptions (n = 40) of the relative (in)elasticity of ecosystem services afforded by the Dolores River, a tributary of the Colorado River, to inform ongoing regional planning. Findings indicate perceived vulnerability of water resources to climate change, an increased value ascribed to cultural services (i.e., recreation) due to scarcity – highlighted through negative elasticity and what we term the ‘boater’s paradox’ – and the political prominence of provisioning services. Improvement to the allocation of supporting services (i.e., habitat) is, in part, dependent on aligning ecosystem management with flow regimes through collaborative management and adaptive water governance in the watershed on a multiyear scale.