To investigate differences in empirical estimates of the seasonal value of beach and boating amenities among single and multiple day visitors in the Lake Erie basin
To estimate the value of a day of beach recreation and boating in the Lake Erie basin
To estimate the value of infra-structural amenities in the Lake Erie basin over four years
To produce information that can be used by public policy makers and recreational resources managers in public decisions

Although a number of studies in the US and Ohio have investigated the value of recreation and recreational amenities, important empirical questions remain about the value of recreational amenities. One question revolves around estimating the value of recreational amenities among different user groups. For example do single and multiple day recreation users value site amenities differently? Two recent surveys of Ohio beach users and recreational boaters uses examined in this proposal suggest that multiple day trips represent a large proportion of recreationists in Ohio (see Murray, 1999 for a discussion of the beach survey and Hushak, 1999 for a discussion of the boater survey). If site quality amenities are one set of attributes in a larger decision to visit the Lake Erie region, it would be useful to understand how different user groups value amenities or types of sites. This research explores alternative empirical methods for estimating site quality values in the context of both single and multiple day trips.

A second set of questions revolves around increasing the number of estimates available for policy makers for different recreational choices, including recreational boating and infrastructural amenities. Currently there is little information available on recreational boating in Ohio's portion of Lake Erie. This study proposes to use a recently collected data set on over 2000 registered Ohio boaters to investigate the value of recreational boating in this region (Hushak, 1999). The study also proposes to use a dataset of Ohio State Park visitors collected by the Ohio Department of Natural Resources to estimate the value of infrastructural amenities at State Parks within the Lake Erie basin, and the stability of these estimates over time. To our knowledge, this dataset has not been employed for these purposes to date.

There are two general reasons to do this research. First, we will estimate welfare measures for different user groups who represent significant proportions of use along Lake Erie's shoreline. In particular, we will focus on single and multiple day trip segments of the recreational population and estimate seasonal demand functions for the number of trips to alternative sites, as well as the welfare consequences of changes in site characteristics. Many existing studies do not allocate users into different visitation groups like this, although it is likely that they have distinctly different demand functions. Second, we will provide additional estimates of recreational values that can help policy makers and managers with resource allocation decisions.

Objectives 1 and 2 focus on developing a two stage budgeting model along the lines of Hausman et al. (1995). That model provides the basic methodology for linking site choice models to trip demand models in a consistent theoretical framework. Briefly, this model involves first estimating a nested or unnested random utility site choice model (see Bockstael, 1995 for a description), and then linking the consumer surplus estimates from that model to a trip demand model to estimate seasonal values. Data will be obtained from two 1998 surveys, one of Lake Erie beach users and one of Ohio recreational boat owners.

Objective 3 relies on both hedonic pricing techniques and random utility models to estimate the marginal value of site amenities at Ohio State Parks in the Lake Erie basin. The data will be derived from an Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) survey of recreationists at State Parks, and it will be supplemented with data collected by ODNR on site amenities. Four years of data are available to support estimate across time periods.

A Ph.D. graduate student is currently in the process of completing a Ph.D. thesis for this research in the Department of Agricultural, Environmental, and Development Economics. The student has completed the defense of her Ph.D. thesis as of 9/9/02, and will complete the final written thesis within the next month. The thesis contains the following sections to support this research:

1. Estimation of hedonic values for non market amenities at Ohio state parks for a four year period, 1997 - 2000. The resulting equations have been used to conduct welfare analysis on changes in amenity values over the four year time period, and changes in values arising from changes in infrastructure. While the analysis contains estimates for visitation to state parks throughout Ohio, the welfare analysis focuses on Lake Erie state parks.
2. A model of multi-objective trips has been developed and estimated for beach visitors. The theoretical model expands upon traditional single day models of recreation value and it expands upon existing models that analyze the duration of trips. The empirical model uses data originally collected by Murray (1999; R/ME-19), but expands the analysis to include value for multiple day trips.

In addition to the thesis, the boating data collected by Hushak in 1999 has been analyzed and used for a travel cost model. This work continues with additional statistical analysis to be conducted. The results of this research will be compiled in a research paper.