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<br />The test of the accuracy of the CGE model is its ability to reproduce the benchmark data set as <br />the equilibrium of the model. The 1995 direct impacts were scaled to reflect the level of <br />economic activity in the 1982 benchmark data set. These direct impacts were introduced as <br />changes in the components of final demand for the various sectors. <br /> <br />v. Implementing the Case Studies in the Context of the Act <br /> <br />The Recovery Implementation Program (RIP) (U.S. Department of Interior 1987) for the <br />endangered species set a goal for recovery around 2020 for the Colorado River fishes. The Fish <br />and Wildlife Service Office in SLC estimated recovery by about 2040 for the Virgin River fishes. <br />To fully capture the economic activity changes due to recovery efforts over time, a comparison <br />was made to a baseline economy where no recovery actions are undertaken. The building blocks <br />for the construction of the baseline were the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) state level <br />projections to 2020 (2040 for the Virgin study). These projections were augmented with such <br />local information as was available. <br /> <br />The SEA projections include data on employment by sector and state and were used to project <br />the gross output by sector on the basis of the 1982 or 1990 coefficients and ratios. The <br />employment/output ratios for each sector calculated from the 1989 baseline model were used to <br />generate the sector output levels for the baseline projections. The generated gross output figures <br />were then used to generate the remaining baseline forecast data. This forms the benchmark <br />against which the impacts due the critical habitat effects on economic activity within the <br />respective region were compared.]4 A recovery projection was developed utilizing the direct <br />effects of the resource reallocations as inputs to the models. The impacts associated with listing <br />and the designation of critical habitat were measured as the present value of the differences <br /> <br />14 The Virgin River flows through one the fastest growing regions in the U. S. . Recent and projected <br />population growth in this region is significantly above the state average levels for Utah and Nevada. Recent <br />population projections undertaken by the local public agencies in the St. George, UT area were used to modify the <br />BEA data. <br /> <br />22 <br />