Tools

Authors: John Loomis, Timm Kroeger, Leslie Richardson, and Frank Casey.

The Benefit Transfer and Use Estimating Model Toolkit, by Dr. John Loomis, can help analysts quantify annual economic benefits using primarily secondary data.

The Fish and Wildlife Benefit Transfer toolkit provides:

• Use values per day of hunting, fishing, and viewing;
• Use and passive use values per acres of habitat;
• Use and passive use values per household of threatened and endangered species.

These values are provided in:

• Spreadsheet tables that include average values;
• Spreadsheet databases of the individual studies;
• Meta analysis equations that allow the analyst to tailor the benefit transfer to their study sites

There is also a set of visitor use estimating models for:

• Hunting, fishing, and viewing.

Two use estimating models for each activity are available for:

• National Wildlife Refuges and Wildlife Management Areas;
• State level for private, state, and federal lands in 48 states.

By combining the visitor use estimates with the values per visitor day, an analyst can calculate annual hunting, fishing and viewing benefits. By combining the number of acres of wildlife habitat and the values per acre the analyst can calculate annual benefits of gains or losses in wildlife habitat. As user manual and technical documentation is provided.

Detailed instructions for using the toolkit itself are provided in the documentation files.

Documentation – 4.586 MB – Compressed File

• Benefit Transfer User Manual
• Community Economic Competitiveness Analysis
• Introduction to the Wildlife Habitat Benefits Estimation Toolkit
• Open Space Property Value Premium Analysis
• Technical Documentation of Benefit Transfer and Visitor Use Estimating Models of Wildlife Recreation, Species and Habitats

Toolkit Presentations – 3.498 MB

• Toolkit Application Examples
• WHRPR Benefits Toolkit

Tables and Models – 0.915 MB

Meta Functions:

• Aquatic Habitat Nonuse Value Meta Function
• Fishing Value Per Day Meta Function
• Salmon Values Meta Function
• Total Economic Value of Threatened and Endangered Species
• Terrestrial Habitat Value Per Acre Meta Function
• Wetland Value Per Acre Meta Function 1
• Wetland Value Per Acre Meta Function 2
• Working Hunting Value Per Day Meta Functions

• Property Premium Model

• Summary Output Model 

Value Tables:

• Fishing Value Table
• Hunting Value Table
• Salmon Value Table
• Total Economic Value Table
• Wetland Value Table
• Wildlife Viewing Value Table 

Visitor Use Estimating Models:

• Refuge Big Game Hunting
• Refuge Freshwater Fishing
• Refuge Migratory Bird Hunting
• Refuge Nonconsumptive
• Refuge Saltwater Fishing
• Refuge Small Game Hunting
• Refuge Total Hunting
• State Level Big Game Hunting
• State Level Freshwater Fishing
• State Level Migratory Bird Hunting
• State Level Saltwater Fishing
• State Level Small Game Hunting
• State Level Total Hunting
• State Level Wildlife Viewing

Contact: Dana Hoag

RightRisk develops risk management education products developed by the RightRisk Education Team Jay Parsons, coordinator. RightRisk is an innovative risk research and education effort to help you the farmer or rancher understand and explore risk management decisions and evaluate the effects of those decisions.

• Risk Navigator – Strategic Risk Management
• Ag Survivor – Scenario Selection

Contacts: Dawn Thilmany McFadden and Martha Sullins

The presentations listed below, all in pdf format, were used during workshops in Colorado designed to provide instruction and information on developing and operating a branded beef operation. These workshops were developed by Colorado State University, Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Department of Animal Sciences, CSU-Extension, and American Farmland Trust.

In addition, there are video and DVD sets of these presentations available for use. For additional information, please use the links in the contacts box.

• Section 1.1 Marketing Niche Beef: Is It An Alternative For Your Operation? – 106 KB
• Section 1.2 Colorado Niche Beef Producers & Products – 63 KB
• Section 2.1 Developing Producer Objectives and Dealing with Change – 125 KB
• Section 2.2 Business Planning for Niche Beef Production – 281 KB
• Section 2.3 Financial Planning for New Enterprises and Your Business Venture – 216 KB
• Section 2.4 Business Organization: Structure and Issues – 171 KB
• Section 2.5 Production Flow and Related Issues (286 KB)Section
• Section 2.6 Meat Safety: Handling, Quality Assurance & Processing – 3,148 KB
• Section 2.7 Labeling Claims & Guidelines – 1,420 KB
• Section 2.8 Managing Risk – 145 KB
• Section 2.9 Ethics of Production, Business Practices, Truth in Advertising – 96 KB
• Section 2.10 Monitoring Your Business & Re-planning – 71 KB
• Section 3.1 Consumer Tastes & Preferences: What Research Indicates – 260 KB
• Section 3.2 Using Analytical Tools to Understand the Marketplace – 120 KB
• Section 3.3 Developing a Marketing Plan – 135 KB
• Section 3.4 Product Pricing – 131 KB
• Section 4.1 Business Development Resources
• Section 4.2 Financial and Technical Resources for Niche Production & Marketing – 79 KB
• Section 4.3 Project and Curriculum Development Contact Information – 34 KB

Contact:  Chris Goemans

Author: Cathy Thomas – Co-Advisors: Chris Goemans and Craig Bond

This model by Cathy Thomas was developed for her thesis, and can be used to simulate mussel spread and benefits and costs of a boat inspection regime in the Colorado Big Thompson and similar water systems. Users can download the model and change parameter values to explore alternative scenarios.

To use the model, download and extract the model .zip file, which contains an Excel .xlsm file, and run it on your local machine. Depending on the security settings of your computer, you may have to enable macros in order for the model to run. There may be problems running an .xlsm model in versions of EXCEL other than 2007.

The second bulleted link provides a copy of Cathy Thomas’ Masters thesis, which presents some results from this model.

Documentation is provided on a worksheet within the model itself.

• Colorado Big Thompson Mussel Spread Model
• A Cost-Benefit Analysis of Preventative Management for Zebra and Quagga Mussels in the Colorado-Big Thompson System – pdf