Input–output modeling, outdoor recreation, and the economic impacts of weeds

Abstract Nonindigenous invasive weed species can have substantial negative impacts on the quantity and quality of outdoor recreational activities such as fishing, hunting, hiking, wildlife viewing, and water-based recreation. Despite the significance of impacts on recreation, very little research has been performed to estimate the corresponding economic losses at spatial scales such as regions, states, and watersheds. This is true primarily because in most jurisdictions the data necessary to estimate recreational impacts are scarce and incomplete. Because of the challenges involved in measuring recreational losses precisely, we illustrate a method that can provide indications of the ranges in which the true economic losses likely lie. To reflect underlying uncertainty in parameters such as the number of acres infested in a jurisdiction and the rate at which wildlife-related recreation decreases as a function of increasing weed infestation, we developed a range of estimates using lower, medium, and higher ...