Scholarship & Research
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Item An economic analysis of the Smith River float lottery(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Agriculture, 2020) Walker, Chase Nelson; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Randal R. RuckerOutdoor recreation is a popular pastime for many and provides an opportunity to unwind and take a break in nature and on public resources. In recent years, overcrowding and commercial use have been highlighted in the media for taking away from the recreational experience and stressing some of the resources. To explore this issue, I collect data on float permit application numbers over 15 years for the Smith River, which is a popular lottery accessed recreational river in Montana that receives over 10,000 float applications per year and also allows private commercial guiding. To attempt to gain insights into whether commercial use is viewed negatively, I use variation in the number of outfitted trips that are permitted to launch each day within the float season to identify how outfitter use impacts application rates. I find that application rates during the peak season decrease by an average of 11 percent on days in which two outfitters launch compared to days when only one outfitter can launch. Because outfitter launch allocations effect the supply of permits available in the lottery, this result could be attributed to either an outfitter effect or supply effect. Further analyses that test the differences between the early season when outfitter use is low, and the peak season when outfitter use is high, indicates that there is a combination of both effects, but that the impact of outfitter use is large and significant.Item An economic analysis of national park visitation rates(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Agriculture, 2013) Watson, Christopher Lawrence; Co-chairs, Graduate Committee: Randal R. Rucker and D. Mark AndersonThis thesis estimates visitation to U.S. national parks over the period 1993 -2010 in attempt to determine what factors influence visitation rates over time. Three factors are predicted to be important determinants of national park visitation rates. These factors are entrance fees, travel costs (represented by driving costs), and income. Both travel costs and income have been shown to be significant determinants of national park visitation rates in the economic literature; however, the effect of entrance fees on visitation rates is inconclusive. Determining how the factors of interest influence visitation rates is accomplished by first developing a theoretical demand and supply model of park visits. The theoretical model informs the empirical model with predictions for how changes in entrance fees affect the quantity of visits when fees are above, below, or at the market-clearing level of the fee. These predictions are tested empirically by estimating a linear model of both annual and monthly park-level visitation to a sample of 165 national parks. The main results of the analysis show that income is not a significant determinant of national park visitation rates, but that both travel costs and entrance fees have a negative effect on visitation. Further, more detailed estimation procedures that analyze visitation to parks pooled based on designation and level of use show that the effect of entrance fees on national park visitation rates is both park-specific and season-specific.