Impact of research and technical change in wildland recreation: Evaluation issues and approaches

Abstract

The development and diffusion of new technologies have had tremendous impacts on wildland recreation in recent decades. This article examines the potential economic impacts of research and technical change in wildland recreation. Two evaluation models are presented, a cost‐price approach and a research intensity model, which are intended to shed some light on the question of whether society has over‐ or underinvested in recreation research. These two evaluation models are applied to the case of recreation on the U.S. National Forest system. The cost‐price analysis indicates that the economic benefits of past U.S. Forest Service recreation research would only need to be extremely small—about 3¢ per recreation visitor day in present value terms—to justify past research expenditures in economic terms. The research intensity analysis revealed that the intensity of Forest Service recreation research is about 20 times less than all Forest Service research, suggesting a possible underinvestment in recreation research.

Keywords:

• wildland recreation
• research
• technical change
• evaluation
• economic impacts