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<br />incremental benefits and incremental costs, until the incremental values are equalized. Below <br /> <br />will illustrate how this optimum was determined for flows over a scenic waterfall on the <br /> <br />Upper Snake River in Idaho. <br /> <br />TECHNIQUES FOR QUANTIFYING ECONOMIC VALUFS OF RECREATION AND <br />T&E SPECIES <br /> <br />Recreation values associated with fishing and boating can be quantified using a demand <br /> <br />estimating technique called the travel cost method (I'CM). While there is usually no on-site <br /> <br />cost to fish along a public river, the travel to the river is often expensive in tenus of time <br /> <br />and money. Using the variation in travel costs and number of trips taken by anglers living at <br /> <br />different distances from the river, a demand curve for fishing can be statistically estimated. <br /> <br />From the demand curve, the dollar amount an angler would pay, in excess of the current trip <br /> <br />costs, can be calculated. The additional amount locals would pay for their first few trips can <br /> <br />be calculated by observing what anglers who live at great distance from the site paid in <br /> <br />higher travel costs. The higher travel costs of more distant users sets an upper limit on what <br /> <br />locals user's would have paid for the first trip, the second trip, and so forth. While the actual <br /> <br />implementation involves statistical techniques such as multiple regression and multinomial <br /> <br />logit models, the approach is similar to cross-section regression analyses commonly used to <br /> <br />estimate the demand for more common goods and services. <br /> <br />By observing how the maximum distance traveled and the number of trips increase when <br /> <br />instream flow is increased, the additional willingness to pay for added flows can also be <br /> <br />g <br />