Personal Watercraft, Recreation Values
and Aquatic Health at Lake Tahoe
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Starting in 1999, most types of two-stroke engine watercraft were banned at Lake Tahoe due to their large release of gasoline into the lake. In October, 2001, additional types of two-stroke engine watercraft will be added to the ban.
Our research is the economic component of an integrated effort to study both the environmental effects as well as the economic impacts resulting from regulations imposed to protect water quality. Such impacts may include possible losses to watercraft users, and possible benefits to other user groups. For the economic analysis, data collection will proceed through an on-site survey of individual users during the watercraft recreation season. The data will be used to obtain quantitative information regarding the dollar benefits and costs to individuals and businesses of various regulatory alternatives. This information will play an integral role in guiding the formation of sound public policy.
The economic methods used in the estimation of welfare measures will incorporate a variety of revealed preference and contingent valuation techniques, including the Travel Cost Method and Random Utility Model.
Principal researchers for this project are:
Jeffrey Englin, Ph.D.
Professor, Dept. of Applied Economics and StatisticsJ. Scott Shonkwiler, Ph.D.
Professor, Dept. of Applied Economics and StatisticsKlaus Moeltner, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor, Professor, Dept. of Applied Economics and StatisticsThey are assisted by Jake Burkey and Andrea Meyer, graduate students in the Department of Applied Economics and Statistics, who will be administering the survey at the sampling sites.
Acknowledgements
Thank you! to all the many people who have helped us with this project. Though I am unable to thank everyone by name, we are especially indebted to the following people:
Billye French, Departmental Management Assistant - prepared DPOs, filed reimbursement claims, set up a unique arrangement with the motor pool to allow for refueling of rental vehicles, dealt with numerous other details, and even loaned us her own logo shirts until we were able to buy our own.
Miguel Sloane, Manager, Tahoe-Donner Marina - gave permission for us to survey at the marina and provided us with an entrance pass for the duration of the project.
Wayne Perock, Administrator, Nevada Division of State Parks - provided us with a pass to all the Nevada State Parks which were included in the sampling plan.
Mike Guarino, USFS Lake Tahoe Basin Unit - provided us with a pass to all the U.S. Forest Service sites which were included in the sampling plan.
David, Manager, and Billy and all the other employees, Donner Lake Marina - kind and helpful, they allowed us to survey at both marina sites.
Frank, Manager, Round Hill Pines Beach Marina (operated under license from the USFS) - provided us with season passes to the marina.
Mark, Zephyr Cove Resort - gave us permission to survey on-site and provided us with a season pass to the resort.
Links
Answers to Frequently Asked Questions
References
Englin, J. and J.S. Shonkwiler, 1995. Estimating social welfare using count data models: An application under conditions of endogenous stratification and truncation. Review of Economics and Statistics 77, 104-112.
McFadden, D. 1996. Computing willingness to pay in random utility models. Mimeo, University of California, Berkeley.
Robson, D. and C.M. Jones, 1989. The theoretical basis of an access site angler survey design. Biometrics, 45, 83-98.
Shaw, Daigee, 1988. On-site sample regression: Problems of non-negative integers, truncation, and endogenous stratification. Journal of Econometrics, 37, 211-223.
Shaw, W. Douglass, and Paul Jakus, 1996. Travel cost models of the demand for rock climbing. Agricultural and Resource Economics Review, 1996, 25, 133-142.