The Welfare Effects of Restricting Off-Highway Vehicle Access to Public Lands

Document Type

Article

Journal/Book Title/Conference

Agricultural and Resource Economics Review

Volume

39

Issue

1

Publication Date

2010

First Page

89

Last Page

100

Abstract

Off-highway vehicle (OHV) use is a rapidly growing outdoor activity that results in a host of environmental and management problems. Federal agencies have been directed to develop travel management plans to improve recreation experiences, reduce social conflicts, and diminish environmental impacts of OHVs. We examine the effect of land access restrictions on the welfare of OHV enthusiasts in Utah using Murdock's unobserved heterogeneity random utility model (Murdock 2006). Our models indicate that changing access to public lands from fully “open” to “limited” results in relatively small welfare losses, but that prohibiting access results in much larger welfare losses.

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