Valuing Wild Salmon and Steelhead Recovery in Oregon's Most Urbanized Watershed

We estimate the public benefits associated with conservation of wild salmon and steelhead in the Willamette basin of Western Oregon. Upper Willamette Spring Chinook and Winter Steelhead are the two historically native anadromous salmonids found in the basin above the Willamette Falls. Both are currently listed as Threatened under the Endangered Species Act. Using choice experiment survey methodology, we examine Oregonians' willingness-to-pay higher taxes to support different recovered fish populations, at different recovery timelines. We estimate substantial non-market benefits of up to $469 million per year associated with increasing fish populations from 20,000 returns per year to 70,000. According to a recent recovery plan, this increase would reduce extinction risk to a level that would allow de-listing. The public appears to apply an extremely low discount rate to future recovery benefits, implying support for multidecadal conservation efforts to reach a recovery goal. We also find evidence that the public would likely support reducing hatchery salmon and steelhead releases currently providing increased angler opportunities, if this were required for recovery. Our results can be used by policymakers to gauge public support for various policies and watershed programs designed to improve salmon and steelhead conditions.

Impact/Purpose

In this work, we implement an original choice experiment survey of the general population in Oregon and quantify the economic value the public places on protection and restoration of wild salmon in the Willamette Basin of Oregon.  A continuing problem for communities dealing with natural resource management problems has been the issue of how to integrate natural resource valuation - both use and non-use values - into a feasible decision making process. One of the primary reasons for conducting economic valuation studies should be to improve the way in which communities frame choices regarding the allocation of scarce resources and to clarify the trade-offs between alternative outcomes. This problem is particularly relevant to salmon conservation efforts in the Pacific Northwest. Despite the deep cultural importance of salmon to the citizens of the Pacific Northwest, there is a remarkable lack of valid empirical economic studies quantifying this importance to the general public who live in the region. This is conspicuously true for the Willamette Basin, home to more than half of the state of Oregon's human population and to the few remaining spring-run Chinook salmon runs in the state. There are many competing uses for Oregon's waters and decision-makers are often faced with trade-offs on how to allocate resources to accommodate these uses. Many of these uses conflict with salmon conservation and to date there is not adequate information to quantify societal values for salmon preservation. The goal of this project is to obtain estimates of the general Oregon population's preferences and values to protect and restore wild origin Chinook salmon and steelhead populations in the Willamette Basin. Estimates of the public value for salmon will be useful in numerous policy contexts and will support numerous government agencies and community organizations to factor the value of salmon preservation benefits into their strategic policy and financial decisions.  Our findings suggest substantial support and economic benefits associated with salmon recovery. The results show that a program aimed at increasing numbers of fish to levels suitable for de-listing under the Endangered Species Act would generate significant economic benefits.

Citation

Papenfus, M. AND M. Weber. Valuing Wild Salmon and Steelhead Recovery in Oregon's Most Urbanized Watershed. Elsevier Science Ltd, New York, NY, 236:108540, (2025). [DOI: 10.1016/j.ecolecon.2025.108540]

DOI: Valuing Wild Salmon and Steelhead Recovery in Oregon's Most Urbanized Watershed