Total Economic Valuation of Stream Restoration Using Internet and Mail Surveys Authors

this document for non-commercial purposes by any means, provided that this copyright notice appears on all such copies. The economic value of restoring Deckers Creek in Monongalia and Preston Counties of West Virginia was determined from mail, internet and personal interview surveys. Multi-attribute, choice experiments were conducted and nested logit models were estimated to derive the economic values of full restoration for three attributes of this creek: aquatic life, swimming, and scenic quality. The relative economic values of attributes were: aquatic life> scenic quality ≈ swimming. These economic values imply that respondents had the highest value for aquatic life when fully restoring Deckers Creek to a sustainable fishery rather than “put and take ” fishery that can not sustain a fish population (defined as moderate restoration for aquatic life). The consumer surplus estimates for full restoration of all three attributes ranged between $12 and $16 per month per household. Potential stream users (anglers) had the largest consumer surplus gain from restoration while non-angler respondents had th