The net economic value of recreation on the National Forests: twelve types of primary activity trips across nine Forest Service regions

Abstract

The Public Area Recreation Visitors Survey (PARVS) was used to estimate demand models, from the point of view of the site operator, for recreation on Forest Service lands for twelve types of primary activity trips in all nine Forest Service regions. The models were estimated using the travel cost method with a "reverse multinomial logit gravity model'. At the first stage, they are share models estimating the probability that a trip observed at a given recreation site originated in a particular county. This probability is equivalent to the expected proportion of total trips to a site coming from a particular origin. A second staging process, identical to that used in traditional travel cost models, was used to derive site demand functions from the point of view of a site operator. These functions were used to estimate average consumer surplus. The relative values for different primary activity trips across different regions of the country are examined, as are relative values for different primary activity trips within the regions. -Authors