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Prepared for Amigos Bravos
by Timm Kroeger, Ph.D.
Conservation Economics Program
Defenders of Wildlife
1130 Seventeenth Street NW
Washington, DC 20036
February 2005
Executive summary
 The
New Mexico Department of Game and Fish is evaluating the feasibility
of reintroducing the river otter, a native species extirpated
from the state, to two river systems in New Mexico. One of the
aspects considered in that evaluation are the economic impacts
associated with that reintroduction. In this study, we provide
estimates of one side of those economic impacts, namely, of the
economic benefits that reintroduction of river otters to the state
is expected to generate. Ideally, such benefit estimates would
be developed on the basis of primary research. This research would
estimate non-market benefits of otter reintroduction via surveys
that elicit the willingness to pay of residents and visitors for
such reintroduction. It would also quantify potential market-based
benefits of reintroduction, such as increased revenues in the
tourism-related sectors that may result from the reestablishment
of a charismatic species like the river otter. Finally, benefits
estimates would also take into consideration the ecosystem service
benefits that reintroduction of the river otter may yield, due
to the otter as a keystone species in the aquatic systems it inhabits.
Given resource and information constraints, the
generation of primary benefit estimates for the reintroduction
sites in New Mexico is not possible at this time. Rather, we employ
the second-best approach for benefits estimation, namely, benefits
transfer. Benefits transfer is a valuation methodology that has
been developed in the disciplines of environmental and natural
resources economics to generate benefits estimates in cases where
primary research is infeasible. We employ two benefits transfer
approaches to develop lower and higher benefit estimates for different
spatially defined populations of beneficiaries: residents of the
counties in which reintroduction would take place; residents of
New Mexico as a whole; recreation visitors from out of state engaging
in angling and wildlife watching in New Mexico; and residents
in the rest of the U.S.
Our estimates are conservative because they only
include part of the benefits that would result from reintroduction.
Specifically, they measure direct use values, that is, the benefits
people receive from viewing otters, and non-use values, that is,
the benefits people receive from simply knowing that this once
native species is re-established in the state. We do not quantify
the potential market value that reintroduction of otters may generate
by affecting the species composition and behavior of game fisheries,
thereby improving the attractiveness of the recolonized rivers
to anglers, and resulting in increased revenue in the local sport
fishing and tourism industries, and we do not quantify the potential
ecosystem service benefits associated with otter reintroduction.
Such quantification would require quantitative information on
the effects of otters on particular aquatic species, specifically,
crayfish and game fish. Nevertheless, our estimates indicate that
the economic benefits of reintroduction are sizeable.
During a ten-year period, reintroduction of the
river otter to New Mexico is estimated to generate total benefits
of between $6 million and $9.5 million for residents of the reintroduction
area, $9.8 million and $12.9 million for people in the state as
a whole, around $5.8 million for anglers and wildlife watchers
visiting from out-of-state, and between $1.2 million and $3.2
million for people living in the rest of the U.S. who do not visit
the state on vacation (all amounts measured in present value terms).
The estimates of the benefits that individuals in the rest of
the U.S. would receive assume that reintroduction of the otter
to New Mexico would lead to an increase in the total U.S. river
otter population of between 0.02 percent and 0.05 percent. These
results indicate that the economic value of reintroducing river
otters to the state is substantial. Even the lowerbound estimate
of the benefits received by state residents only amounts to almost
$10 million. If out-of-state anglers and wildlife viewers visiting
the state are included, the lower-bound benefit estimate increases
to almost $16 million. Given that it is not expected that reintroduction
of the river otter will cause negative impacts on sport fisheries,
or any other negative economic impacts for that matter, it appears
likely that reintroduction of the species to New Mexico will generate
net economic benefits to the residents of the counties in which
otters re-establish themselves, the residents of the state as
a whole, recreation visitors to the state, as well as to the country
as a whole.
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Updated 3-3-06
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