SOUTHERN JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURAL ECONOMICS DECEMBER 1992 MEASURING USE VALUE FROM RECREATION PARTICIPATION

Abstract and resource supply variables influencing the par-Recreation demand studies have traditionally util- ticipation decision (Charbonneau and Hay 1978; ized a two-step valuation method, estimating condi- Deyak and Smith 1978; Hay and McConnell 1979, tional recreation participation probabilities and then 1984; Miller and Hay 1981; Walsh et al. 1989). The intensity of use decisions. These two steps of analy- intensity of use decision is the choice of how many sis are combined to estimate the use value of natural trips (days, hours, etc.) to take to the resource site resource recreation sites. The purpose of this paper conditional on the decision to participate. Relative is to provide a method by which use value can be to the participation decision, the travel cost demand estimated solely from the participation decision. model has received much more attention in the rec-The one-step resource valuation method allows esti- reation economics literature (Forster 1989). mation of use values from coefficients of the logistic The travel cost recreation demand model can be regression recreation participation equation. The used to directly estimate the value of a recreation trip benefits of the method are the reduced data and effort or day. The value of recreation trips or days can then required to value natural resource areas. be combined with information on the forecasted number of visitors, determined from the first-step