9388

• UCREFRP Catalog Number: 9388
• Author: Maddux, H. R., W. R. Noonan and L. A. Fitzpatrick.
• Title: Overview of the Proposed Critical Habitat Designation for the Four Colorado River Endangered Fishes.
• USFW Year: 1993.
• USFW - Doc Type: Salt Lake City.
• Copyright Material: NO

PART III - Economic Overview

INTRODUCTION

Section 4 (b)(2) of the Act directs the Secretary of the Interior (Secretary) to consider
economic .and other relevant impacts in detennining whether to exclude proposed areas from
the final designation of critical habitat. The Service, as delegated by the Secretary, may
exclude areas from critical habitat designation when the costs or impacts of designation
outweigh the benefits, provided that exclusion will not result in extinction of a species. An
Economic Analysis was conducted on the costs of the proposed critical habitat designation.

The study region for the Economic Analysis encompasses Arizona, California, Colorado, New
Mexico, Nevada, Utah, and Wyoming. Economic input-output (1-0) models were constructed
for each State and for the seven-State region. A computable general equilibrium (CGE)
model also was developed for the seven-State region. The models are aggregated to 20
representative sectors in the economy. The time frame chosen for the study, 1989 through
2020, reflects the time period projected for the' recovery of the endangered fishes.

Linkages between the biological requirements for recovering the endangered fishes and the
economic activities in the region were assessed and these formed the basis for the economic
analysis. The biological requirements include adjustments made in the operations of Federal
reservoirs in the Basin and/or mitigation of nonflow-related activities along the river loo-year
floodplain. The effects of recovery efforts on future water depletions in the basin were also
taken into consideration, The impacts of these possible changes on current and prospective
economic activities were then estimated for each State, the region and the national economy.

ECONOMIC SETTING

Economic Output

Economic output measures the values of all goods and services produced and/or consumed in
a regional economy. The region consisting of seven States, generates approximately $1.3
trillion in economic output annually. This output is dominated by the combined
manufacturing and the finance, insurance, and real estate sectors, which produce 18.4 percent
and 14.9 percent of total output, respectively. The petroleum and gas production sector .
generates 2.4 percent of the total output, while the recreation services sector produces 7.7
percent of the total output. The electric power production sector comprises about 1.5 percent
of the total output. The combined agricultural sectors are responsible for 3.0 percent of the
total output, of which the livestock feed sector produces 0.33 percent of total regional output
and the other crops sector produces 0.95 percent of the output.

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