MEASURING FOREST RESOURCE VALUES: AN ASSESSMENT OF CHOICE EXPERIMENTS AND PREFERENCE CONSTRUCTION METHODS AS PUBLIC INVOLVEMENT TOOLS

Human values arising from forests include market and non-market values. Timber values and values of non-timber forest products traded in markets (berries, wild rice, etc.) are considered market values. Among non-market values are recreation values and values associated with wildlife harvesting by Aboriginal People. These are considered non-market because participation in these activities does not require the purchase of market based permits; prices do not function as rationing devices in these activities. In addition to non-market values arising from activities, individuals may also have values associated with forest conditions (biodiversity, etc.). These are referred to as passive use values since the value is not associated with any specific use of the resource or activity related to the forest. Since forests in Canada are largely on public land, these passive use values are particularly relevant to Canadian forest management. These values reveal the preferences of the public for components of forest management. Eliciting these values is a form of public involvement in that the public is engaged in assessing forest management options and providing opinions and sentiments regarding these options. Ideally, values arising from forests would be collected from a broad range of the public and examined to provide guidance to forest managers. However, values over forest outputs and conditions may be very poorly formed when people have little experience with the range and complexity of forest ecology and management. In addition, eliciting values without framing them in a trade-off setting can result in misleading estimates. In this project we attempt to elicit passive use values in a manner that allows for poorly defined initial notions of value through an approach known as preference construction. Preference construction essentially provides for education and information processing in the development of passive use values. These estimates are also developed using a trade-off approach (choice experiments). The project focuses on the values of the local public within the NorSask forest. More formally, the objectives of this research are to: 1) ascertain the passive use values held by local people associated with forests in the NorSask Forest Management License Area; 2) explore differences in preferences based on the degree and frequency of formal preference construction exercises; and 3) evaluate this approach as a method of public involvement. A total of 43 individuals from the local community were involved in the valuation exercise. They participated in 3 groups or treatments, each with a different level of involvement in the valuation assessment. The first group was involved in three separate sessions, allowing for significant preference construction and information acquisition. The second group was involved in only one session and the third group was involved only minimally through a telephone contact and the completion of a survey delivered through the mail. The hypothesis being examined was that the degree of involvement in the exercise would affect the responses either in terms of the variances of the responses or the actual preferences. Not all forest values can be examined in a single valuation task. In this case values associated with key game species (moose), wildlife species reflecting biodiversity or threatened species (caribou), old age classes of forest, protected areas and local employment were assessed. These were selected based on the preference construction sessions with the first group. A general trend was found in the ranking of forest values. The values were highest for increases in older forest age classes and protected areas and lower for caribou and moose levels (expressed in percentage changes relative to current levels). The lowest value arose from the local jobs generated by forestry activity. Monetary measures of these values were also developed. The scenario choices made by the individuals revealed that a 5% increase in moose and caribou populations would be worth approximately $10 and$12 per year. A 5% increases in old age classes or protected areas was worth approximately 4 to 5 times as much. They were willing to pay approximately $7 per year in increased taxes for increases in local employment. The hypothesis that the group preferences would differ was not accepted. The preferences of the first and third groups, while expected to be very different, were in fact quite similar. The second group did appear to be different from these other two but it is possible that significant variation in demographic characteristics was driving that difference, rather than the level of preference construction effort. The sample in the third group did however exhibit more resistance to completing the exercise and registered more protests to the value assessment. In conclusion, the approach employed was successful in eliciting passive use values for components of forest management. These values alone provide interesting information for managers to consider in the development of management plans. Evidence supporting the hypothesis that preference construction approaches improve these valuation exercises was not found in this study although this result must be tempered by the limitations arising from sample size and demographic composition of the study groups.Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,

An Economic Evaluation of Woodland Caribou Conservation Programs in Northwestern Saskatchewan

The purpose of this study was to identify the values Saskatchewan residents place on their Woodland Caribou conservation programs. Using contingent valuation methods, individual values for maintaining caribou numbers within Millar Western-NorSask Forest Management Licence agreement area were estimated. Using these value estimates, societal benefits were estimated for the implementation of a woodland caribou maintenance program within the forest licence agreement area. The data used in this study were collected using a mailout survey to Saskatchewan residents. Two contingent valuation formats were used, the opened ended willingness to pay and the dichotomous choice. A number of question structures were employed in order to judge the sensitivity of the valuation to the design. In all, 9 different versions of the contingent valuation question were used in a randomized design strategy. The resulting welfare measures for the implementation of the caribou maintenance program were somewhat variable. The open ended format produced the lowest estimates, while the dichotomous choice estimates were higher and showed a higher degree of variability. This variability may be due to the presence of the ordering or whole-part effects. The values elicited for the conservation program using the open ended approach average approximately $15.00 per person per year. These values, when aggregated over the provincial population, result in an annual benefit of the woodland caribou conservation program of about$10M. These are the most conservative of the estimates, suggesting that woodland caribou conservation is very important to Saskatchewan residents.Environmental Economics and Policy, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,

A Random Utility Analysis of Southern Alberta Sportfishing

Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,

AN ECONOMETRIC ANALYSIS OF DONATIONS FOR ENVIRONMENTAL CONSERVATION IN CANADA

As provincial governments in Canada trim budgets, fewer funds are available for environmental conservation programs. Many jurisdictions are letting private interests and/or users of the resource base help fund conservation projects. Thus funding for conservation is becoming more dependent on donations to environmental causes either through direct giving of funds or through memberships in organizations. This study explores some determinants of private contributions to environmental conservation activities through an econometric analysis of donations and memberships relating to wildlife habitat protection and enhancement. We use data from a 1991 survey conducted in the three prairie provinces that provides information on donation behavior, income, wildlife-related activity, household compositions, and a variety of other factors. A double-hurdle econometric model is used to allow independent variables to have different effects on the probability of donations and the level of donations. Our empirical results suggest that changes in the economy will be important to donation behavior. Declines in participation and recruitment in hunting will also have impacts on donations to conservation causes, but these impacts, although significant, may not be as large. However, consumptive and nonconsumptive activities may be influenced by management agencies and used to bolster environmental donations.Environmental Economics and Policy,

The Impact of Oil and Natural Gas Facilities on Rural Residential Property

This paper examines the impact of oil and gas facilities on rural residential property values using data from central Alberta, Canada. The influences are evaluated using two groups of variables characterizing hazard effects and amenity effects. A spatial error model was employed to capture the spatial dependence between neighbouring properties. The results show that property values are negatively correlated with the number of sour gas wells and flaring oil batteries within 4km of the property. Indices reflecting potential health hazards associated with rates of H2 S release (based on information from Emergency Response Plans and Zones) also have a significant negative association with property prices. The findings suggest that oil and sour gas facilities located within 4 km of rural residential properties significantly affect their sale price.sour gas; hedonic prices; property value impacts

ASSESSING IMPACTS OF ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGE ON ABORIGINAL PEOPLE: AN ECONOMIC EXAMINATION OF SUBSISTENCE RESOURCE USE AND VALUE

The report describes the research design, data collection and preliminary analysis of an economic assessment of non-timber resource use by Aboriginal People in Northwest Saskatchewan. The project is designed to develop methods of valuing resource use by Aboriginal People so that these values can be incorporated into forest resource management decisions and to evaluate the impact of forest management actions on the economic well-being of Aboriginal People living in the region. Data on non-timber resource use are collected and spatially explicit economic models are developed in order to construct estimates of behavioral change and value associated with changes in the environment and landscape (through forestry, access, or other landscape changes).Environmental Economics and Policy, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,

Dynamics of biofilm re-growth in drinking water distributions systems

The majority of biomass within water distribution systems is in the form of attached biofilm. This is known to be central to drinking water quality degradation following treatment yet little understanding of the dynamics of these highly heterogeneous communities exists. This paper presents original information on such dynamics with findings demonstrating patterns of material accumulation, seasonality and influential factors. Rigorous flushing operations repeated over a one-year period on an operational, chlorinated system in the UK are presented. Intensive monitoring and sampling were undertaken including time series turbidity and detailed microbial analysis using 16S rRNA Illumina MiSeq sequencing. Results show bacterial dynamics were influenced by differences in the supplied water and by the material remaining attached to the pipe wall following flushing. Turbidity, metals and phosphate were the main factors correlated with the distribution of bacteria in the samples. Coupled with the lack of inhibition of biofilm development due to chlorine residual, this suggests that limiting inorganic nutrients, other than organic carbon, might be a viable component in treatment strategies to manage biofilms. The research also showed that repeat flushing exerted beneficial selective pressure, thus also a viable advantageous biofilm management option. This work advances our understanding of microbiological processes in drinking water distribution systems and helps inform strategies to optimise asset performance. IMPORTANCE: This research provides with novel information regarding dynamics of biofilm formation in real drinking water distribution systems made of different materials. This new knowledge on microbiological process in water supply systems can be used to optimise the performance of the distribution network and to guarantee safe and good quality drinking water to consumers