ABSTRACT
This chapter provides concepts about economics and value useful for considering study results. It describes the study approach and methods based on the travel cost and contingent valuation methods. The chapter presents a large study that provides estimates of economic value for fishing and hunting in Idaho. Accordingly, travel cost method (TCM) is based on the premise that an individual’s travel cost from an origin to a destination is a proxy for price when estimating the demand curve for hunting or fishing at a particular site, since the site does not have a market price. However, contingent value method's (CVM) flexibility comes with the price that it may be relatively more cumbersome than TCM in its survey design and data gathering phases. The survey for each species group was designed to determine among other items, respondent’s trip origin; how many trips were taken; which hunting and fishing areas were visited; expenses incurred by category; and the bidding responses for CVM.
