Declining freshwater delivery has negatively impacted the productivity of the Florida Everglades (FE) ecosystem over the years. Sea-level rise will likely conflate these impacts due to increasing salinity in the coastal ecosystem. Restoring freshwater flow in FE is the major goal of the ongoing multi-year, multi-billion dollar restoration project. FE restoration effort has often become politically contentious and does not enjoy sustained funding commitment. Missing in this contentious debate is the adequate information and awareness about the true economic values of non-market benefits of restoration. This research develops an integrated methodology to determine the economic value of two major FE ecosystem services, recreation and carbon storage by its mangrove forests. The study first used bio-hydrological models and published literature to link managed freshwater inflows to indicators of fishery productivity, overall ecosystem health, mangrove productivity and carbon flux. We then linked those models to anglers’ willingness-to-pay for various attributes of the recreational fishing experience and as well as economic values of carbon storage and flux. This approach allowed us to estimate the foregone economic benefits of failing to meet monthly freshwater delivery targets.
Results/Conclusions
The study found that managed freshwater delivery to parts of the Everglades had declined substantially over the years and fallen short of management targets. This shortage in flow resulted in the decline of biological productivity of recreational fisheries and the overall water depth, in turn affecting overall ecosystem health. The study estimated the annual value of lost recreational services alone to be at $9.6 million. The losses were greater in the months of dry season when the water shortage was higher and the number of anglers fishing also was higher than the levels in wet season. Further, the annual value of carbon emission from open water in the FL coastal estuaries was estimated at $1,211 per ha per year. These costs can change significantly as a result of changing time and quantity of freshwater flow in the system. Linking the economic values of the above two ecosystem services directly to a decision variable such as water delivery is a powerful and effective way to make management decisions. This methodology has relevant applications to water resource management, serving as useful decision-support metrics, as well as for policy and restoration scenario analysis.