Estimating Forest Recreation Demand Using Count Data Models
Abstract
Forests, along with related natural areas such as mountains, lakes, and rivers, provide opportunities for a wide variety of recreational activities. Although the recreational services supplied by forested areas produce value for the consumers of those services, the measurement of recreational value is complicated by the fact that access to most natural areas is non-priced. Because outdoor recreation often competes with commodity uses of forests, such as timber harvesting or mineral extraction, failure to account for the recreational use of forest land makes it impossible to determine the efficient use of forest resources.