Durango Exhibit 24: City of Durango, Colorado: Economic Impacts of Whitewater Recreation Final Report

Home Browse Search

� _ y City of Durango: Economic Impacts of Whitewater Recreation Final Rerort 2006 APPENDIX A: NON - COMMERCIAL USER DAY METHODOLOGY This section describes the methodology and data sources used to estimate the user days generated by the Lower Animas River as a whitewater destination among Colorado residents. RECREATION DEMAND SPATIAL MODELING Establishing Market Area Participation RPI's recreation demand spatial model begins by building a participation database from the existing body of recreation participation data for Colorado and the U.S. provided by the USFS National Survey on Recreation and Environment (see http: // parks. state.co.us /scorp /reports.asp), the Colorado State Parks 2003 SCORP, and trade group studies including the Outdoor Industry Foundation 2005 Outdoor Recreation Participation Study and the Super Study of Sports Participation (American Sports Data Inc.). These survey based studies provide national and Colorado specific sports participation information (both total participants and a % participation rate) on a variety of outdoor activities including rafting and whitewater kayaking. These studies also contain information regarding the frequency of use (e.g. times per year doing activity), which is instrumental in establishing user days. Defining Market Reaches The key methodological step in employing State scale participation rates to estimate user days at a particular destination is to establish a Colorado geographic market reach for the recreation destination (Durango Whitewater Park). Since Durango is largely a drive -to destination for state resident pleasure trips, the primary factor in determining the market reach is the travel distance tolerance of Coloradoans seeking recreation destinations. Determining Travel Tolerance Information regarding Colorado residents' willingness to drive to outdoor recreation destinations is sparse, as it is regarding recreationists in the US as a whole. There is no information available that specifically discusses whitewater recreation travel tolerance, so this analysis had to rely on analogue activities. The best information on travel tolerance in the State is about resort skier behavior, and this information is confidential. The closest analogue for establishing travel tolerance for a whitewater destination comes from the survey results of the 2003 Colorado State Parks SCORP recreation survey efforts. As part of the data gathering for the 2003 SCORP, researchers surveyed a sample of over 4000 State Parks visitors for information related to how far they drove to get there. While Colorado State Parks are not a perfect analogue for whitewater destinations, they do represent tangible recreation destinations offering diverse developed recreation opportunities for activities ranging from rafting (Arkansas Headwaters) to speed boating (Navajo State Park) to backcountry skiing (Steamboat Lake). The travel tolerance of State Park visitors offers a generalized travel evr co 970.382.9153 23