2007. Technical Documentation of Benefit Transfer and Visitor Use Estimating Models of Wildlife Recreation, Species and Habitats

I want to thank Timm Kroeger and Frank Casey of Defenders of Wildlife for helpful guidance and review. Outstanding assistance was provided by Leslie Richardson on data entry, literature reviews and several preliminary regression analyses. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Within the limits of the available literature and data, we have provided up-to-date benefit transfer values and estimated meta-analysis equations for benefit function transfer. Tabular values by region of the country have been developed for wildlife recreation use values for hunting (big game, migratory and small game), fishing and viewing. Meta-analyses for benefit function transfer have been developed to calculate total economic values of habitats (e.g., wetlands, aquatic resources and terrestrial) and species (e.g., salmon and T&E species). We have also estimated wildlife recreation use estimation models for National Wildlife Refuges that are applicable to state Wildlife Management Areas. Finally, we have estimated state level wildlife recreation use estimation models for the lower 48 states that can be applied to privately owned and public lands that are potential habitat for game and non-game species