This study examines per trip consumer surplus associated with guided whitewater rafting on two southern rivers. First, household recreation demand functions are estimated based on the individual travel cost model using truncated count data regression methods and alternative price specifications....

Spatial differences in site characteristics and user populations may result in heterogeneity of recreation preferences and values across geographic regions. Non-linear mixed effects models provide a potential means of accounting for this heterogeneity. This approach was tested by estimating a...

Future demand projections reported in this paper indicate a steady increase in demand for outdoor recreational opportunities in U.S. regions where BLM lands are located. From a supply perspective, BLM lands represent "prime targets" for meeting increased recreational demand in the western U.S....

The Forest Service controls vast quantities of natural resources including timber, wildlife, watersheds, air sheds, and ecosystems. For many of these resources, recreation is one of the primary uses of the natural asset. Recreation visits taken to National Forests are not "purchased" in the same...

We combine currently popular count data methods with earlier work by Vaughan and Russell on varying parameter travel cost models to model trip demand and calculate consumer surplus. We test and reject the hypothesis that per trip consumer surplus from guided rafting is invariant to river...

Exotic aquatic plant management is a major concern for public reservoir management in many regions of the United States. A study was conducted to measure the effects of alternative aquatic plant management strategies on recreational expenditures and regional economic activity. The study areas...

The US Forest Service is adopting ecosystem management, but the potential impact on local economies is unknown. Analysis via a recursive system of regression equations reveals that some ecosystem management variables have an influence upon recreational visitation which, in turn, has a net...

This paper provides a methodology for the estimation of recreational demand functions and values using an ecoregional approach. Ten ecoregions in the continental US were defined based on similarly functioning ecosystem characters. The individual travel cost method was employed to estimate the...

This study has examined the transferability of consumer's surplus estimates (fixed value transfer) and transferability of benefit functions from the Southern Appalachian Mountain ecoregion to a local site within the ecoregional level. Given data used in this study, it is found that...