Off-Site Costs of Soil Erosion: A Case Study in the Willamette Valley

Abstract

This study attempts to provide relative magnitudes of average and marginal costs of off-site sediment-related costs in Oregon's Willamette Valley. Water treatment; road, river channel, and dam maintenance; and hydroelectric generation are examined. Road maintenance and water treatment are nonnegligible average cost items. These costs should not be interpreted as justification for erosion control as marginal cost estimates for water treatment indicate that controls on the margin would yield roughly one-third the average cost. Erosion can cause both on- and off-site damages. It has been argued that off-site damages impose significant costs upon society (Crosson). Alterations in off-site costs potentially could increase the social benefits of soil conservation activities; however, few studies have quantified the off-site economic costs of erosion and the magnitude of the various possible components of off-site cost (as discussed in Crosson and Brubaker). The major objective of this research is to execute a pilot case study examining a number of off-site items through which soil erosion may impose costs on society, constructing preliminary estimates on the relative magnitude of these costs. The case study region is the Willamette Valley of Oregon. The major objective of the study is to develop an estimate of the total cost arising through a number of items and to quantify the relative magnitude of these items, identifying