The Economics of Competing Water Uses under a FERC Licensing Agreement: Estimation of Property Value, Recreation, and Hydroelectric Impacts

Reservoirs provide a variety of services with economic values across multiple sectors. As demands for reservoir services continue to grow and precipitation patterns evolve, it becomes ever more important to consider the integrated suite of values and tradeoffs that attend changes in water uses and availability. Section 316 (b) of the Clean Water Act requires that owners of certain water cooled power plants evaluate technologies and operational measures that can reduce their impacts to aquatic organisms. The studies must discuss the social costs and benefits of alternative technologies including cooling towers (79 Fed. Reg. 158, 48300 - 48439). Cooling towers achieve their effect through evaporation. This manuscript estimates the property value, recreation, and hydroelectric generation impacts that could result from the evaporative water loss associated with installing cooling towers at the McGuire Nuclear Generating Station (McGuire) located on Lake Norman, North Carolina. Although this study specifically evaluates the effects of evaporative water loss from cooling towers, its methods are applicable to estimating the economic benefits and costs of a new water user or reduced water input in any complex reservoir system that supports steam electric generation, hydroelectric generation, residential properties, recreation, irrigation, and municipal water use.

Recreational Behavior and Spatial Characteristics of Urban Parks Based on Multi-Source Information: A Case Study of Xiaohong Stone Carving Park in Nanjing

Urban parks are an important part of urban recreational spaces,and the development of analysis framework of recreational behavior and space is helpful for the design of urban parks to better meet the activity and usage requirements of visitors.In this paper,Xiaohong Stone Carving Park in Nanjing was taken as the research object to explore the relationship between landscape space and user behavior for design feedback.The orthographic image technology of unmanned aerial vehicle(UAV)and machine deep learning were used to analyze users behavior activities in the park,and the spatial characteristics of each node in the park were evaluated by semantic differential scale to explore the potential causes of behavior activities.The results showed that①there were significant differences in the number of visitors on holidays and working days,and young people and children were the main users.②The users activity of the park differed greatly on the inner and outer tour roads,and the users showed stronger willingness to stay on the inner tour roads.Recreational activities received more attention than cultural ones.③The overall distribution of users was significantly affected by hydrophilicity,and the recreational behavior and activity type were affected by multiple factors which include the hydrophilicity,safety,accessibility of cultural relics and the amount of recreational facilities.Finally,the enhanced strategies such as improving the cultural tour system,establishing hydrophilic safety belts and optimizing recreational facilities were put forward.

Evaluation of Recreation Service Quality of Slow Traffic Space in Urban Parks Based on IPA-Space Syntax Model

To build an“ecological and livable city”,it is important to figure out the relationship between human activity and urban park space and create a high-quality urban park through the integration of“people”and“park”.Taking Longhu Park in Huainan Province as an example,the study quantitatively analyzed and evaluated the characteristics and service quality of slow traffic space using importance-performance analysis(IPA)and space syntax,clarified the key indexes and areas to be optimized,and put forward corresponding design countermeasures and suggestions in combination with human activity demand.The results suggest that:①The mean performance of park recreation service quality is 3.63,less than the mean importance(3.95).Tourists pay special attention to the safety and convenience of slow traffic space,and the diversity and identiability of site functions is the focus“to be improved”.②The accessibility of Longhu Park shows a strong irregular shape in the southwest.The dead-end roads in the far lake area and the flora and fauna area on the northwest side have weak spatial perception,and the composite function carrying potential of slow traffic space is better reflected in a small range.Therefore,an optimization strategy for slow traffic space is proposed to enhance the continuity of road network,site identifiability,and functional diversification.The results will provide new thoughts of governance based on spatial humanism for the high-quality renewal of urban parks in the new era.

Tourists’Willingness to Pay for Recreation Services in Nyerere National Park,Tanzania:Are We Overvaluing or Undervaluing Our Nature Recreation Resources?

This study estimated tourists’Willingness to Pay(WTP)per day for recreation services in Nyerere National Park(NNP)and compared these values with daily travel costs that are incurred by tourists to visit NNP in order to inform whether recreation resources in the park are overvalued or undervalued.The study revealed that tourists’WTP per day for recreation services was estimated at$237.4 and$1521 for resident and non-resident tourists,respectively.The estimated tourists’WTP values exceed the daily travel costs currently incurred by tourists,which are$201.04 and$1517.97 for resident and non-resident tourists,respectively.This indicates that tourists are willing to spend more to enjoy recreation services in NNP,which signifies that recreation resources in NNP are slightly undervalued.In addi­tion,the findings disclosed that the largest share of tourist daily travel expenses is allocated to transportation services,and very little is paid to the park as a conservation fee.It was revealed that out of the daily travel expenses incurred by non-resident and resident tourists,only 4.62%and 2.23%are respectively paid directly to NNP as conservation fees.This study considers that allocation is not very fair;thus,NNP,in collaboration with TANAPA,needs to adjust the current entrance or conservation fee and reduce the transportation costs charged by tourist companies.The travel costs incurred by tourists,age,education,monthly income,site visited,substitute site,and quality of park were identified as significant factors in influencing tourists’WTP for recreation services in NNP.Thus,policies oriented to reduce tour­ists’transportation costs and improve the quality of national parks would attract more tourists to NNP.

Study on the Development of Rural Recreation Industry in Chongqing Municipality

The rural recreation industry in Chongqing Municipality has a vast market and bright developing prospects.However,many problems emerge in its developing process.Aiming to this,the study analyzes the developing status and tendency of the rural recreation industry in Chongqing,and proposes the problems exiting in the rural recreation consumption,and finally puts forward some suggestions.

Behavior Response of Recreationists to Environment Characteristics of City Parks for Forest Recreation—A Case Study of City Parks of Jingzhou City in China

By taking city parks of Jingzhou City as an example,city parks,as primary places for citizens' daily forest recreation,should present a certain recreational environment feature under the comprehensive effect of nature,humanity,facilities,location and historical evolution.Through the empirical analysis of recreationists' behaviors in city parks with different environmental characters,it has obtained the differences of recreationists in composition,staying time and contents of recreational activities in different city parks,and that recreationists appear to adapt to the environmental characters.Recreational attractions and demands have manifested their perception towards the environmental characters of city parks.The distribution of recreational satisfaction has demonstrated that experience value of recreationists and environmental characters of city parks are consistent.

Application of Unique Resources in Recreational Agriculture of Hainan Island,China

The development status and significance of recreational agriculture in Hainan were analyzed.By introducing advantages of Hainan Island in political institution,natural resources and humanistic resources,it was proposed that special topographical scenery,Qiong Opera(Hainan Opera),tropical plants,rare animal species,customs of Li and Miao nationalities,and agricultural product resources could be applied in the development of recreational agriculture,and many activities of recreational agriculture could be organized.

The Design of Modern Tropical and Recreational Agricultural Concept Park Based on Google Sketchup

Based on the requirements that Hainan has unique natural conditions and humanistic environment, using Google Sketchup as the development tool, a conceptual park of modern tropical recreational agriculture was preliminarily designed. The development mode of featured and recreational agriculture in Hainan was discussed, in order to search for a better and more humanistic development mode of recreational agriculture in Hainan.

On the Development Principles and Models of Recreational Belt around Small and Middle Cities

The definition and type of recreational belt around metropolis were introduced,the development principles of recreational spot around small and middle cities were analyzed.With Baoding City as an example,the empirical analysis was conducted,and the development models of recreational spot around metropolis in Baoding City were put forward.

Construction of Tourism Spatial Layout in Huaihua from the Recreational Perspective

With the investigation of the current situation of tourism activities and characteristics of recreational tourism spatial layout in Huaihua,problems in tourism spatial layout are pointed out,that is,indistinct division of tourism functions,comparatively bad relevance in the "point-axle" spatial structure,and comparatively bad horizontal and vertical coherence in tourism space.It is suggested to rationally construct tourism spatial layout in Huaihua City after the model of spatial layered structure of recreational sightseeing,that is,the model of setting Huaihua City as the center,and from the inside out with three layers of recreational island within the city,recreational sites around the city and recreational sites at towns and villages away from the city through the spatial layout of point,axis and plane.

Study on the Countermeasures to Improve the Public Outdoor Leisure and Fitness Function on the Two Rivers and Four Banks in the Main Urban Area of Chongqing

The main urban area of Chongqing is surrounded by two rivers and set against each other.With its unique waterfront landscape,it has the resource conditions to become a leisure tourism destination.Intending to enhance people’s happiness,improve city quality,and promote Chongqing’s main urban area to become a tourist destination,this paper finds out the existing problems in the construction of public outdoor leisure and fitness facilities on the two rivers and four banks of Chongqing’s main urban area through investigation and analysis based on relevant experiences at home and abroad,takes the value chain theory as the guidance,and to find solutions to the problem.On this basis,combined with the law of economic operation,this paper puts forward the guiding ideology,principles,development goals,functional orientation,and development path for the improvement of public outdoor leisure and fitness on two rivers and four banks in the main city of Chongqing,and accordingly puts forward the policy system and guarantee measures for its improvement.

SPATIAL STRUCTURE EVOLUTION OF SYSTEM OF RECREATION BUSINESS DISTRICT——A Case of Suzhou City

The growing attention on urban tourism was very widespread. There are two angles to study urban tourism: supply-side and demand-side. And the supply-side of the tourism remains very important. The RBD (Recreation Business District) is a useful framework to understand the components of urban tourism and how they fit together. The paper begins with a review on the RBD and the spatial structure of tourism in urban areas and then attempts to develop a more general understanding of the spatial structure evolution of RBDs in a tourist-historic city-Suzhou. The spatial structures and functions of the RBDs in Suzhou are examined, based on field observations, interviews with city officials and industry leaders, and a review of available documents. The urban tourism of Suzhou has developed in a range of contexts, that various types of RBDs have emerged as a result of different urban development strategies. The spatial structure has evolved from the past "Single-cored Structure" to "Double-cored Structure" at present, and then to "Chain Structure" in the future. The spatial form and evolution of RBD in Suzhou are closely relative with its urban spatial expansion. Urban area dispersal is the prerequisite of the emergence of the RBD. Planning and constructing the RBD becomes a new impetus to urban growth or renewal. Finally, a number of strategies for planning and developing the RBD in Suzhou are suggested. The different RBDs should adopt different strategies. Intensification can be the possible strategy for the RBDs in the ancient city. Accreting with the urban theme park or engrafting on the Jinji Lake is suggested respectively for the RBD in the Suzhou New District and the Suzhou Industrial Park.

Recreational value of glacier tourism resources：A travel cost analysis for Yulong Snow Mountain

Glaciers, with their unique and spectacular appearances and rich and varied terrain, have received widespread attention and become important tourist attractions. This paper uses the travel cost method to estimate the recreational value of the glacier tourism resources of Yulong Snow Mountain(also called Jade Dragon Snow Mountain), which is the most developed glacier tourist attraction in China. First-hand information was obtained through field surveys, and the travel costs of visitors visiting the Yulong Snow Mountain glacier were calculated before the method was applied to evaluate the recreational value of the focal glacier resource. The results show that the Yulong Snow Mountain consumer surplus associated with its glacier resources in 2016 ranged from 645.59-3439.10 million CNY, and the total recreational value ranged from 1.97-8.17 billion CNY. Approaches allocating travel costs across multiple recreational sites, however, can vary, and there is large difference in estimated results depending on used approaches. Nevertheless, the results of the analysis can help understand the socio-economic value of glacier resources and provide a reference for their development and protection.

Recreational potential as an indicator of accessibility control in protected mountain forest areas

The article presents research findings related to recreational use of forests located in protected mountainous areas with forestage of over 80%. The study was designed to identify recreational potential of the Carpathian national parks （Bieszczady National Park, Bahia G6ra National Park, Goree National Park and Magura National Park; southern Poland） and to compare these findings with the actual number of visitors. The information received on the recreational potential of parks is important from the point of view of protection of natural resources and the financial situation of the parks. The calculated ratio may be an effective tool of management for park administration, that allows to reconcile statutory social and protective functions of national parks. The study determined the recreational potential of the forests with the use of recreational valorisation method designed for areas with varied terrain, and the evaluated factors included the stands of trees with their habitat and land relief. The permissible number of national park visitors, expressed as man- hour/ha/year ranges from 19.31 in Bieszczady National Park （BG： 19~ 35＇ E, 49~ 35＇ N） to 32.06 in in Bieszczady National Park （B： 22~ 40＇ E, 49~ lo＇ N）. In 3 out of 4 investigated parks, Magura National Park （M： 21025＇ E, 49~ 30＇ N）, Gorce National Park （G： 20~ lo＇ E, 49~ 35＇ N）, B） recreation carrying capacity was not exceeded, whether or not the strictly protected area is taken into account. Only in BG was the recreation carrying capacity exceeded by nearly 24%, or by 85% if the strictly protected area isexcluded from tourism-related exploitation. The presented procedure for monitoring access to mountain forests in national parks, from the viewpoint of natural resources conservation, can be applied in other mountainous areas covered with forests and exposed to tourist and recreational traffic, and in forests facing particular risk of recreational damage, e.g. in urban and suburban forests growing in areas with varied orography.

Measuring Recreational Value of World Heritage Sites Based on Contingent Valuation Method:A Case Study of Jiuzhaigou

World heritage possesses various kinds of use value and non-use value. Measuring the recreational value of world heritage sites is a key issue in the heritage tourism. This paper employs Contingent Valuation Method (CVM), which is an evaluation instrument on the basis of tourists′ attitude and preference, to measure the recreational value of Jiuzhaigou, one of the World Natural Heritage sites in China, and analyzes the biases in the survey. The results show that: 1) In 2009, Jiuzhaigou′s recreational value was 3.46×108 yuan (RMB), and the per capita Willingness to Pay (WTP) was 137.31 yuan by CVM. Compared with the results of other methods, this result is significantly low. 2) Among the factors that influence Jiuzhaigou tourists′ WTP, psychological perception factors have the greatest effect while demographic and socio-economic characteristics have a small effect on WTP. 3) The virtuality in CVM creates biases both from CVM itself and in the procedures that CVM was implemented. The former includes hypothetical bias, information bias, protest response bias, and strategic bias; and the latter includes the questionnaire design, population and sample definition, sampling and data processing. The paper analyses those biases and illustrates their potential in-fluences on the accuracy of CVM measurement. 4) Although there are various defects in CVM measurement, it is still an effective valuation method.

Who is at risk in the French mountains? Profiles of the accident victims in outdoor sports and mountain recreation

The risk of both severe and frequent injury associated with active pursuits in mountain areas is acknowledged. This phenomenon is all the most relevant to investigate in France that there is a growing enthusiasm for outdoor sports and recreation. This paper focuses on the social-demographic and sporting profiles of accident victims. Our intent is to better understand who is specifically at risk, while practicing mountain recreation, in the French mountains. Such identification doubtlessly constitutes an important asset in order to enhance prevention. Three critical activities are notably tackled, among some others: hiking, a widespread activity that exposes many practitioners to hazardous settings; mountaineering and ski touring, supposedly entailing the most severe injuries.In order to align the information collected, then provide estimations based on the reasoned crossing of these secondary data, we consulted and summarised all the databases that we knew of on the French territory: rescue team intervention reports, aggregated statistics from the sports ministry, sporting federation accident declarations, avalanche experts statistics, mountain guides union accident/incident reports, healthcare facilities admissions, etc. Only the sources consideredto be the most reliable and representative were used, owing to the number of cases processed, the exhaustive nature of data collection, or the level of information detail available. Our method also included consultation of all the parties playing an active role in prevention, training and mountain rescue, thus ensuring a participative, co-constructive approach to the study with the people that have the best knowledge of victim profiles. Around fifty such parties were interviewed on the methods implemented, the benefits and limits of current data, and the main expectations in terms of accidentology progress, thus further enhancing the credibility of the study proposed in this paper. Our results show that the parent population profiles(in terms of age, gender, place of residence, etc.), weighted by the level of exposure(frequency of participation, level of engagement, etc.) appears to have an impact on the accident victim profiles. There is certainly a very marked gender bias and a serious age impact to be taken into account, as well as the influence of the level of experience, which counter certain preconceived ideas and which, at the very least, go against instinct. However, aside from a probable over-exposure of experienced or expert participants, much remains to be explained concerning the accident mechanisms and circumstances involved. At this stage, we regret the analytic deficiencies induced by a lack ofknowledge concerning the parent populations in many cases, which makes interpretation difficult.

Rural Landscape Types and Recreational Value Spatial Analysis of Valley Area of Loess Plateau:A Case of Hulu Watershed,Gansu Prov-ince,China

Rural landscape is a complex of natural landscape and human landscape, with various values. The recreational value of rural landscape is a kind of comprehensive benefit with economic, social and ecological, which is provided by the rural landscape as a recrea- tional resource. Loess Plateau is located at the junction of northern and northwestern of China, with serious water and soil erosion and fragile ecological environment. Jingning County is the national poor county, belonging to Liupanshan concentrated poverty areas. Hulu Watershed in Jingning is the typical valley area of Loess Plateau. In the past few decades, Jingning facing the fragile ecology and pov- erty, has been focusing on apple industry, forming unique rural landscape, exploring an ecological development path, and making much progress in green industrialization and urbanization. The author, according to the apple tree＇s growing stages, divided the rural landscape of Hulu Watershed into 15 types and analyzed its spatial patterns. The recreational value of Hulu Watershed was evaluated at 1.8 x 108-3.6 ~ 108 yuan （RMB） in 2014, by Travel Cost Method and Contingent Valuation Method. The territorial differentiational features of recreational value were that the higher value landscape types concentrated in the surrounding areas of towns and central vil- lages, and the areas along the traffic and river had more development potentiality. The main influence factors were the construction of rural landscape and the development of recreation industry. And the development paths of different landscape types were also proposed. The research conclusions can provide reference for the landscape exploration and recreation industry development in the similar underdeveloped areas in the valley area of Loess Plateau with fragile ecology and poverty.

A regionalized IO-model to value seasonal recreational ecosystem services in a mountain National Park in Spain

Recreational Ecosystem Services(RES)are among the most frequently evaluated ecosystem services.RES are seen as a major opportunity for sustainable development in areas of high ecological value resulting from the presence of emblematic species,habitats or scenery,often integrated in conservation areas,in particular in mountain areas affected by depopulation,rising environmental risks and poverty.Economically,the assessment of RES has been based on Contingent Valuation and Choice Experiments,methods with limitations related to their subjectivity.Alternatively,Input-Output(IO)models provide a very accurate and effective way of valuation of RES with regional information regarding interindustry transactions.Whilst data on nature tourist expenditure may be only available annually,tourism inflows have a strong seasonal behavior,which impacts the profitability of several local economic activities.In this paper,we firstly constructed a novel regionalized IO-model based on Cross-Industry Location Quotients using employment data and,secondly,based on Monte Carlo simulation,we estimated nature tourist expenditure monthly using data on nature tourism inflows.This method allowed for a more precise RES evaluation,estimating direct,indirect and induced monthly economic impacts of nature-based tourism.The method was applied to the Ordesa and Monte Perdido(OMP)National Park in the Spanish Pyrenees.To estimate the average tourist expenditure,we collected and analyzed spending on commerce,hospitality and restaurants,leisure,and transport of 385 visitors.Results suggest that using a regionalized IO model leads to a considerable reduction of over-estimation of the economic impact of tourist expenditure estimated by conventional methods.Taking into consideration the direct,indirect and induced effects of tourist expenditure in 2016-2018,the total annual output effect in the OMP National Park amounted to€208.8 million,while the total income effect amounted to€86.29 million.Also,a total of 2,429 jobs were created which indicates that for each thousand annual visitors to the National Park,3.8 jobs are created in the surrounding area.Overall,the proposed methodology can be easily applied to the remaining National Parks in Spain or other regions in the world,making it a valuable tool to estimate the value of RES in areas affects by strong seasonality,to set priorities and support regional policies for mountain sustainable development.

Recreational Use of Acidic Pit Lakes—Human Health Considerations for Post Closure Planning

Pit lakes may form in mining voids that extend below groundwater level after mining ceases and many have been found to have elevated metals concentrations and low pH through acidic and metalliferous drainage (AMD). Pit lakes are often used for recreational activities including swimming, fishing and boating and poor water quality may present health risks to recreational users. Pit lakes also provide the opportunity for additional water resource uses. The Collie Coal Basin in south-western Australia currently has a number of pit lakes with moderate AMD effects which are also used for recreational pursuits. Twelve hundred questionnaires were mailed to selected addresses in the Collie shire with an additional 170 questionnaires to specific interest groups. Participants were asked about the type of activity, frequency and duration and any health symptoms experienced after use of the lakes. Two hundred and fifty questionnaires were returned, which comprised 176 returns from the random sample and 74 from the targeted sample. Three pit lakes with elevated metals concentrations and low pH were used for recreational purposes by 62% of respondents. This was mostly in summer with swimming the most common activity. Of all respondents 52% were concerned about lake water quality and 38% using the lakes reported a variety of symptoms. Recreational use of Collie pit lakes did not represent a health risk for most of the surveyed population due to the low frequency and duration of use, however health risks may be elevated in sensitive users such as children and those consuming seafood from the lakes. Comprehensive water quality monitoring for chemicals and further characterisation of recreational use of pit lakes is warranted to more comprehensively assess the potential health risks to recreational users. Post closure mine plans need to consider potential future community uses combined with assessments of water quality and physical characteristics to reduce the potential for adverse health and safety impacts.

Nature Experience, Recreation Activity and Health Benefits of Visitors in Mountain and Urban Forests in Vienna, Zurich and Freiburg

Mountain forests are managed for various purposes. Of these, recreation, leisure, and ecotourism are increasingly gaining prominence. Yet, with the development of new techniques for creating and managing urban forests, the perception of the public with regard to mountain forests and such urban forests is narrowing. For the purpose of this study, eight mountain forests and urban forests located in Zurich(Switzerland), Vienna(Austria) and Freiburg(Germany) were shortlisted. These places are renowned for their well-functioning management of mountain forests and creation of urban forests. As the study was to focus on the comparison of the perceptions of visitors in terms of their satisfaction in urban and mountain forests, the interview covered the following questions:(i) how satisfactory was the nature experience;(ii) how satisfactory were the outdoor recreational activities;(iii) whether the nature experiences influenced the mental and physical health of visitors. Responses thus received for each of the mountain forests and urban forests were assessed, with the total number of respondents being 247. Tourists visiting the selected areas were randomly chosen for a one-on-one interview survey. Results of the survey show that there is a clear perceptions of visitors differed between urban and mountain forests. However, the gap is insignificant or almost nonexistent with respect to satisfaction level of outdoor recreational activities and health benefits. These results are contrary to the findings of previous studies, which argued that the natural landscape of mountain areas is superior to other artificially built green spaces. Visitors did not perceive significant differences in outdoor recreational activities and health effects between the two spaces.