8169b

• UCREFRP Catalog Number: 8169b
• Author: Brookshire, D. S., M. McKee and G. Watts.
• Title: Draft Economic Analysis of Proposed Critical Habitat Designation in the Colorado River Basin for the RRazorback Sucker, Humpback Chub, Colorado Squawfish, and Bonytail.
• USFW Year: 1993.
• USFW - Doc Type: \
• Copyright Material: NO

In general, these endangered species are not traded through markets and the nonmarket value
of the species as represented in the overall value of the ecosystem is not directly observable.
The value of all of the Colorado River Basin resource flows would need to be completely
known to in order to apply a efficiency test of the present value of net benefits (market and
nonmarket) of designating critical habitat.
The legislative history of the Endangered Species Act of 1973 is indicative of the "value"
placed by Congress on endangered species. Specifically, it was believed by many that the
"value" was incalculable and invaluable.' This effectively assigns an infinite value to the
species.
The values of individual or groups of endangered species is complicated by the fact that the
species cannot be separated from the value of the ecosystem. That is, the value of the fishes
is incorporated in the overall value of the biodiversity of the ecosystem. In order to place a
value on the overall ecosystem, the genetic diversity, species diversity, ecosystem diversity
(eg. variety of communities and habitats) and the landscape biodiversity (eg. the spatial
heterogeneity of ecosystems) must be specified.
For the case at hand, this would be the physical situation prior to the designation of critical
habitat. Then, depending upon the activities necessary for the recovery of the species, the
biodiversity that would result from the activities undertaken would need to be specified. The
value of the ecosystem is then associated with the willingness, of society, to pay for the
potential incremental change in the biodiversity of the Colorado River Basin ecosystem.
Techniques exist for the determination of nonmarket goods. However, a valuation project of
an ecosystem of the scale involved in this study has never been undertaken. Effectively,
' During critical habitat designation, consideration of benefits and costs can occur when "economic and other
relevant impacts" are considered in the process of final determination.
II-2-8