Progress 10/01/15 to 09/30/17
Outputs
Target Audience:During this reporting period (and the previous period), we reached two target audiences: 1) academic environmental and resource economists and 2) wildlife ecologists and wildlife managers. PhD student Jennifer Raynor presented at the Western Economic Association International Annual Conference. She also shared one of her dissertation essays with an email list serve of about 100 deer researchers and managers. Finally, Jennifer shared her dissertation with Meredith Cornett at The Nature Conservancy, upon her request. Meredith is involved in Minnesota's statewide deer planning process, and is the Director of Conservation Science at TNC in MN/ND/SD. Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?The project has created excellent opportunities for the training and professional development of PhD student Jennifer Raynor. Two of her three dissertation essays were supported by this Hatch Grant. Jennifer defended and graduated in December 2017, and is now employed by NOAA in Honolulu Hawaii. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?The results are published in Raynor's Dissertation on "Essays on Measuring the Economic Impacts of Keystone Species." The results have been reported to environmental and resource economists at conference and workshops and to applied ecologists and wildlife managers. The next goal is to publish the papers in peer-reviewed journals. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?
Nothing Reported
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
The research has delivered two primary findings, which are published in two separate essays of Raynor's dissertation on "Essays on Measuring the Economic Impacts of Keystone Species." First, using data from Ohio and Wisconsin, the research produces the first casual estimates of the marginal impact of deer abundance on roadway collisions. The findings can be summarized as follows. A one percent reduction in deer abundance in every county in the study area would lead to 195 fewer DVCs and a $1.8 million reduction in DVC losses each year. A 30 percent reduction in the deer population, which would roughly achieve deer population management goals in each state, would lead to about 5,800 fewer DVCs and a $54 million reduction in DVC losses each year. The results suggest that a relatively small decrease in deer abundance yields an economically significant reduction in DVCs. Second, using data from Wisconsin, the research also produces the first casual estimates of the marginal impacts wolves on roadway collisions through predator-prey relationships. The findings can be summarized as follows. Results show that wolves reduce DVCs both by decreasing deer populations and causing deer to avoid roads. The population effect dominates in core and secondary wolf habitats, while the behavioral effect dominates in wolf dispersal areas. One additional wolf above the mean reduces DVC losses by $600 to $1800 each year in primary wolf habitat and $156,000 to $375,000 per wolf per year in dispersal areas. By comparison, the average wolf in Wisconsin causes about $235 per year in verified depredation losses. Overall, wolves are a cost-effective biological control on the economic losses caused by DVCs.
Publications
- Type:
Theses/Dissertations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2017
Citation:
Raynor, Jennifer L. 2017. Essays on Measuring the Economic Impacts of Keystone Species. PhD Dissertation. University of Wisconsin, Madison. Dept. of Agricultural and Applied Economics.
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Progress 10/01/15 to 09/30/16
Outputs
Target Audience:During the reporting period, we reached two target audiences for this research: 1) academic environmental and resource economists from across the United States and 2) wildlife managers at the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (WDNR). PhD student Jennifer Raynor presented results on the impact of deer abundance on DVCs at the Heartland Environmental and Resource Economics Workshop at Illinois poster session in November. Economists from across the country attended this event. Jennifer also shared the associated manuscript with the lead deer biologist at the WDNR. Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?The project has created excellent opportunities for training and professional development of PhD student Jennifer Raynor. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?The preliminary results have been reported to environmental and resource economists at conferences and workshops. The results were also reported to government agencies that manage wildlife. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?We plan to expand the deer population and DVC data set to other states, other than Wisconsin. The data collection process is underway. The next step is to estimate impacts of wolves on deer populations. The research is underway, as we are in the process of mapping wolf locations over time, based on radio collar information.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
The research has thus far produced the first causal estimates of the marginal impact of deer abundance on roadway collisions. The data collected thus far cover 67 Wisconsin counties spanning 1998 to 2013. Over the study period, there were over 300,000 deer-vehicle collisions (DVCs) reported by law enforcement agencies, representing 7% of all reported collisions. Accounting for under-reporting, there likely was about one million total DVCs. Almost 10,000 people were injured and 146 people were killed in DVCs. In terms of preliminary results, we find that a one percent reduction in deer abundance leads to a 0.3 percent decrease in DVCs. The "marginal" deer in the study area - one additional deer above the county-year average - causes $30 in economic losses annually, based on the national average loss per DVC. Alternatively, 311 additional deer cause one more DVC per year. A one standard deviation reduction in the herd would reduce DVC losses by $27.6 million annually.
Publications
- Type:
Other
Status:
Other
Year Published:
2016
Citation:
A poster for The Heartland Environmental and Resource Workshop, University of Illinois, Nov. 11-13 2016
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