Abstract
While providing public access to rivers in urban areas is a first step, maintaining a high quality recreation experience can be expensive. Knowing the economic benefits of high quality recreation may help recreation managers in justifying budget increases and define priorities during a time of scarce resources. To provide that information we have conducted urban river recreation valuation using Choice Experiments (CE). We value user defined recreation attribute improvements for the following: reducing the presence of trash, increasing water clarity, reducing crowds and increasing vegetation. We also tested whether pro-environmental attitudes and behaviors influence visitors’ Willingness to Pay (WTP) for improvements in environmental attributes. Three of the four attribute improvements were statistically significant (marginal values are provided in parenthesis): reduction of trash ($173), improving water clarity ($52), and reducing crowding ($28). The results can help managers justify improved trash removal and littering enforcement strategies, and advocate improvement of water quality by means of enacting and enforcing more strict regulations on littering, off-roading use, gravel pit discharges, and maximum visitation levels.
Highlights
Introduction and BackgroundUrban recreation areas are important to millions of people as the globe becomes increasingly urbanized
Its associated ecosystems have been impacted by coastal development, eutrophication, and debris disposal for decades but there have been minimal attempts to conduct formal attribute valuation studies that may help in the implementation of urban watershed management and conservation strategies
The first step in a Choice Experiments (CE) design is to identify the key attributes of the recreation site quality that matters to visitors
Summary
Introduction and BackgroundUrban recreation areas are important to millions of people as the globe becomes increasingly urbanized. Puerto Rico’s 2015 population density was estimated at 400 inhabitants per square kilometer, while the US mainland and Canada exhibited much lower densities; 40 and 4 inhabitants per square kilometer, respectively (The World Bank, 2015). Such rapid population growth had a direct impact on watershed resources. During the second half of the 20th century, Puerto Rico’s coastal urban population grew rapidly, resulting in a reduction of forest cover along the island’s coastal lowlands, and resulting in the degradation of groundwater and surface water resources (Barreto, 1997). Its associated ecosystems have been impacted by coastal development, eutrophication, and debris disposal for decades but there have been minimal attempts to conduct formal attribute valuation studies that may help in the implementation of urban watershed management and conservation strategies
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