Analyzing Perceptions and Values for Preventing Ecosystem Change: A Case Study of Pennsylvania Duck Hunters and the Prairie Pothole Region. J. Kinnell, D. Epp, A. Fisher, J. Lazo, and J. Shortle, Department of Agricultural Economics, The Pennsylvania State University, 312 Armsby Building, University Park, PA 16802
Global climate change has the potential to adversely affect the dynamics of many distinct ecosystems. Given public misperceptions surrounding climate change’s causes and consequences, it is necessary to examine individuals’ reactions and willingness to sacrifice for potential policies that will mitigate or prevent the effects of climate change on ecosystems. This research uses a case study to explore the usefulness of a survey approach to analyze people’s values for preventing ecosystem change. Eight versions of a contingent valuation survey were distributed to a sample of 870 Pennsylvania duck hunters to elicit their perceptions and values for preventing environmental change to the Prairie Pothole Region, an area responsible for producing fifty to eighty percent of North America’s ducks. Analysis of the results involves comparing preferences and values for different causes of ecosystem change (climate induced change, agricultural change, and combined effects), different levels of population impacts (a 30 percent decrease to the North American duck population versus a 75 percent decrease), and different impact time horizons (change occurring over a 40 year horizon versus a 100 year horizon).
Work funded by the US Environmental Protection Agency under cooperative agreement CR 824369 and by National Science Foundation grant #SBR-9521952.