ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the practice of measuring damages to natural resources. These assessments must respond to multiple influences—the statutes defining natural resource damage liability, suggested guidelines for damage measurement from the Department of the Interior (DOI), established practices in science for measuring injuries and in economics for valuing nonmarketed goods and services, and past court decisions and case settlements. These damage assessments are complex evaluations; even the simplest of them must make a set of assumptions about what is important and what is not.
