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The Welfare Effects of Restricting Off-Highway Vehicle Access to Public Lands

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 September 2016

Paul M. Jakus
Affiliation:
Department of Applied Economics at Utah State University in Logan, Utah
John E. Keith
Affiliation:
Department of Applied Economics at Utah State University in Logan, Utah
Lu Liu
Affiliation:
Department of Applied Economics at Utah State University in Logan, Utah
Dale Blahna
Affiliation:
Research Social Scientist with the Pacific Wildland Fire Sciences Laboratory of the USDA Forest Service's Pacific Northwest Research Station in Seattle, Washington

Abstract

Off-highway vehicle (OHV) use is a rapidly growing outdoor activity that results in a host of environmental and management problems. Federal agencies have been directed to develop travel management plans to improve recreation experiences, reduce social conflicts, and diminish environmental impacts of OHVs. We examine the effect of land access restrictions on the welfare of OHV enthusiasts in Utah using Murdock's unobserved heterogeneity random utility model (Murdock 2006). Our models indicate that changing access to public lands from fully “open” to “limited” results in relatively small welfare losses, but that prohibiting access results in much larger welfare losses.

Type
Contributed Papers
Copyright
Copyright © 2010 Northeastern Agricultural and Resource Economics Association 

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