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The Use of Hedonic Analysis Within An Ecosystem Services Assessment To Inform Post-Hurricane Sandy Recovery and Resiliency Planning in Long Island, NY
Citation:
Seeteram, N., L. Prieto, A. Dvarskas, JohnM Johnston, AND Mike Cyterski. The Use of Hedonic Analysis Within An Ecosystem Services Assessment To Inform Post-Hurricane Sandy Recovery and Resiliency Planning in Long Island, NY. 2017 US Society for Ecological Economics Conference, St Paul, MN, June 25 - 28, 2017.
Impact/Purpose:
Presented at the US Society for Ecological Economics conference in St. Paul, MN.
Description:
In the wake of Hurricane Sandy- the second costliest hurricane in U.S. history- the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Federal Emergency Management Agency, Stony Brook University, The Nature Conservancy, and New York State (NYS) Department of State partnered with the Nassau County government to identify the value Long Island communities derive from ecosystem services (ES), and how these values could be incorporated into climate change resiliency and recovery planning. Integrating ES and resiliency into government planning has garnered attention in recent years. In 2014, NYS passed the Community Risk and Resiliency Act, which requires municipalities to consider the concept of “resiliency" into t heir planning by 2017 to continue to receive state assistance. At the federal level, the Office of Management and Budget issued Memorandum M-16-01 in 2015, which directs federal agencies to develop and enact policies that incorporate ES where appropriate. In support of these efforts and to provide local planners with decision support information tailored to their localities, we are conducting an ecosystem services assessment (ESA) in Nassau and Suffolk Counties. Our work in Nassau County includes a hedonic analysis of water provisioning quality (secchi disk depth and turbidity measurements) and economic data (sales transactions for single-family homes) in the Town of Hempstead (Nassau County, NY) from 2002-2014. Independent variables considered in the regression analysis include (but not limited to) waterfront property, income, total baths, bedrooms, and acres as well as distance to parks, shore, and New York City. The hedonic analysis provides our local partners a modelled relationship between water clarity and housing values. We also discuss future work integrating enhancements in water clarity to increased provisioning of other vital ES, such as habitat for flora/fauna and recreational services, through the use of EPA's Final Ecosystem Services and Goods Classification System. The broader goal of this partnership is to demonstrate to local governments how existing data can be utilized to inform an ESA for more robust decision making.
