Playas in the Southern

High Plains A conceptual framework for ecosystem

service valuation

By Ron Nelson and William Gascoigne

Presentation Outline

Background

What are Playas and why are they important

Problem and Purpose

Study Area

Valuation Process

Ecological Functions and Biophysical Data

Economic Methods

Applications

Recreation

Groundwater Recharge

Discussion

Source: Ducks Unlimited

Background

What are playas?

Playas are defined as “isolated,

depressional wetlands that represent [the]

terminus point of a closed (i.e. internally

drained) watershed” (Johnson et al., 2012)

Why are playas important?

Habitat

Groundwater recharge

Flood attenuation

Biodiversity

The Problem

The Problem

Since the

1930’s and

1940’s, there has

been a physical

loss of 17-60% of

playas in the

SHP (Johnson et al.

2012)

Source: Playa Lakes Joint Venture

Purpose

To address the challenge of valuing the ecosystem

services from playas and provide conceptual

frameworks on how to value select playa ecosystem

services, including groundwater recharge and

recreation.

Source: Kansas Geological

Survey (Photos by Rolfe

Mandel)

Study Area

Valuation - Process

1.Identify the ecosystem service

2. Quantify the biological values associated

with the ecosystem service

3. Monetize the quantified biological values

using economic methods

4. In some cases, sum the values across

each land use to compare

References: Gascoigne et al., 2011; Jenkins et al., 2010;

Murray, 2009

Ecological Functions and

Biophysical Data

Waterfowl with lower access to playas were found

to have lower body weight (Moon et al., 2005)

Waterfowl with lower body weight have higher

mortality rates (Moon and Haukos, 2006)

Source: AgriLife Today

Playas are

responsible for

about 95% of the

groundwater

recharge,

approximately 11

to 19 mm per year (USGS, 2000)

Economic Methods

Linear models

Production Function Approach

𝐶𝑜𝑟𝑛 𝑌𝑖𝑒𝑙𝑑 = 𝐵0 + 𝐵1(𝐹𝑒𝑟𝑡𝑖𝑙𝑖𝑧𝑒𝑟) + 𝐵2(𝑃𝑒𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑐𝑖𝑑𝑒) +𝐵3(𝐿𝑎𝑏𝑜𝑟) + 𝐵4(𝑊𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑟) + ⋯

Hedonic Pricing Method

𝐻𝑜𝑢𝑠𝑒 𝑃𝑟𝑖𝑐𝑒 = 𝐵0 + 𝐵1 # 𝑜𝑓 𝑅𝑜𝑜𝑚𝑠 +𝐵2 𝐵𝑎𝑡ℎ𝑟𝑜𝑜𝑚𝑠 + 𝐵3 𝑆𝑄 𝐹𝑇 +𝐵4(𝑉𝑖𝑒𝑤 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑂𝑐𝑒𝑎𝑛) …

Hunter Demand Model

Benefit Transfer Method

Application – Recreation

Hunting has value in the Southern High Plains

1.1 million hunters spend $2.2 billion per year in

Texas (FWS, 2006)

Largest hunting lease market in the US (US Census,

2007)

Hunting is related to playas

The biophysical data indicates that the quality and

quantity of playas is positively related to the quality

and quantity of wildlife

Valuation technique

Hunter demand model

Benefit transfer method

Application – Groundwater

Recharge Groundwater recharge has value to the region

2.7 million acre feet of water is required to meet the

forecasted demand in 2060 (TWDB, 2011)

It will cost an estimated $1.8 billion to secure the

additional supply of water (TWDB, 2011)

Valuation Hedonic pricing method

Production function method

Benefit transfer method

Groundwater recharge is biophysically

connected to playas

Losing 1% of the existing playas per year and the

associated recharge (Johnson et al., 2012)

Discussion Conservation and restoration

ROI

Groundwater management plan

Data gaps

Source: Kansas Geological Survey

Questions?

References Pictures

Flood - http://www.taos-telecommunity.org/epow/epow-

archive/archive_2006/EPOW-060522.htm

Ag playas - http://www.kgs.ku.edu/Publications/PIC/pic30.html

Waterfowl - http://today.agrilife.org/2007/06/07/playa-

management-for-wildlife-meetings-planned-in-june/

Groundwater recharge and basemap for playas -

http://www.pljv.org/landowners/playas/recharge