Recreational Beneficiaries and Landscape Dependencies across two National Estuary Program (NEP) Sites
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Estuaries provide many opportunities for the public to engage in nature-based recreation. This presentation characterizes the value associated with that utilization and identify estuarine attributes most valued by users. With the National Ecosystem Service Classification System as a framework, we assessed the relationship between recreational beneficiary subclasses and ecological end products available to those beneficiaries in Tillamook Bay, OR, and Tampa Bay, FL, estuaries. The InVEST recreation model helped assess the spatial distribution and intensity of estuarine-based recreation. We evaluated photo content and collected complementary observational data at high-use sites within each estuary. Surveys of onsite habitat attributes gave an indication of ecosystem service ecological end product availability. Findings highlight the propensity of recreational “experiencers and viewers” to value habitat mosaics, even across estuaries with vastly different geographical settings. Understanding how humans derive well-being from coastal landscapes is crucial to ecosystem-based management that accounts for diverse uses and users. As such, results are presented with the audience in mind – managers as staff at the Tillamook Estuaries Partnership (National Estuary Program).