Laserfiche WebLink
other relevant impacts, and to determine costs and benefits associated with the final <br />designation. <br />Proper development of the links between the biology and the economics of the Colorado <br />River Basin (Basin) area is critical to the evaluation of the economic impacts of critical <br />habitat designation. Only if these links are clearly delineated can a dollar value on the <br />impacts of designating critical habitat be determined. Bridging the gap between the <br />biological dimensions of this study and the economic dimensions was a complex process. To <br />properly estimate the impacts of critical habitat designation it was necessary to estimate the <br />combined economic effects of listing and designating critical habitat. The economic effects <br />of critical habitat designation are the incremental effects above and beyond those which may <br />be attributed to listing the species. Thus, economic effects of the critical habitat designation <br />are those that remain after the listing effects have been subtracted from the total effects. <br />Chapter II -14 of Brookshire et al. (1993) presents the methodology for determining the <br />incremental critical habitat impacts. <br />The economic team's efforts were directed along three principal lines. First, the economics <br />team worked with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's (USFWS) critical habitat team to <br />identify the management practices that may need to be altered in order to ensure the recovery <br />of these fishes. Second, the economics team identified the sectors of the economy that would <br />be impacted based upon the potential alteration of these management practices. These <br />include the agricultural, hydroelectric, mining /gas /oil, recreation, municipal, and industrial <br />sectors. Finally, the economic team developed a series of models to' perform the analysis of <br />the economic impacts due to the critical habitat designation. <br />The economic modeling analyses involved a three -stage approach. First, an input - output <br />(I -O) model was developed for each of the seven States in the study region: Arizona, <br />California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming. Second, an input- output <br />model was developed for the entire Basin. Third, a computable general equilibrium (CGE) <br />model was developed for the study region. This staged approach allowed the economics <br />I -2 <br />