IMPACT OF RESEARCH AND TECHNICAL CHANGE IN WILDLAND RECREATION - EVALUATION ISSUES AND APPROACHES

The development and diffusion of new technologies have had tremendous impacts on wildland recreation in recent decades. This article examine s the potential economic impacts of research and technical change in w ildland recreation. Two evaluation models are presented, a cost-price approach and a research intensity model, which are intended to shed so me light on the question of whether society has over- or underinvested in recreation research. These two evaluation models are applied to th e case of recreation on the U.S. National Forest system. The cost-pric e analysis indicates that the economic benefits of past U.S. Forest Se rvice recreation research would only need to be extremely small-about 3 cent per recreation visitor day in present value terms-to justify pa st research expenditures in economic terms. The research intensity ana lysis revealed that the intensity of Forest Service recreation researc h is about 20 times less than all Forest Service research, suggesting a possible underinvestment in recreation research.