Estimating Recreation Employment Effects with IMPLAN for the Glen Canyon Dam Region

Abstract

Natural resource economists have estimated nonmarket benefits provided by streamflows in a number of recent research papers. However, the literature on instream flow nonmarket benefits focuses on nonmarket recreational benefits, but has not addressed the panoply of benefits provided by rivers and streams. The current paper also considers the economic implications of water-based recreational activities. The analysis uses a software package and database called IMPLAN to estimate the jobs impacts of expenditures for recreation trips to the Lee's Ferry site on the Colorado River. Much of the policy significance of the estimates is that a jobs index is better appreciated by the public than any other measure of economic welfare. The discussion describes the basic input–output model and water-based recreational activities at the Lee's Ferry site. Non-resident Colorado River recreation trip expenditures to the Glen Canyon Dam region generate 585 jobs. The estimates presented here add further credence and policy weight to the assertion that the outdoor recreation sector of the economy is relatively labor intensive.