The United States Geological Survey (USGS) recently released a 100-page report that uses a series of case studies to analyze the potential economic impact of restoring ecosystems. As the authors note in their introduction, “It is important for restoration practitioners to be able to quantify the economic impacts of individual restoration projects in order to communicate the contribution of these activities to local and national stakeholders.” Despite this importance, according to the authors there are currently few studies that compare short and long term economic benefits by considering multiple projects.
This study examines 21 Department of Interior (DOI) projects, including projects that are part of the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and the Natural Resource Damage Assessment and Restoration (NRDA) program. The authors then identify and evaluate the economic impact of these projects using a variety of factors, including labor income generated by the project and “value added” in goods and services. Check out the full report here. [MMB]
This review originally published in The Internet Scout.
