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How many people use the Three Bays estuary system for recreation?
Citation:
Lyon, S., K. Mulvaney, N. Merrill, AND M. Mazzotta. How many people use the Three Bays estuary system for recreation? U.S. EPA Office of Research and Development, Washington, DC, EPA/600/F-17/194, 2017.
Impact/Purpose:
This one pager is intended to provide the public with a brief introduction to our ongoing social science research activity. It was prepared as a handout to provide to members of the public who might observe our fieldwork and be curious about the objectives of our research. The research will provide estimates of the number of people that use a waterbody. This can be used for understanding the scale of possible benefits for restoring environmental quality in coastal systems.
Description:
Little is known about recreational use on estuaries like Three Bays, MA. We are testing a practical approach to quantify recreational use of the Three Bays estuary system so we can better understand how many people are affected by changes in environmental quality. This involves counting all visitors at various access points throughout the day. Statistical methods will later be applied to estimate the total number of visitors for a day at each of the public access points. These methods can then be applied in many other coastal settings. We will use this information to conduct an economic valuation study of the Three Bays estuary system as it relates to changes in environmental quality. This research is one piece of a broader application of the social-ecological systems framework for resilience and adaptive management of coastal systems.