Iowa Lakes Drive over $1 Billion in Recreational Spending Each Year

Abstract

Outdoor recreation in natural resource venues, such as state parks, lakes, and trails that accommodate a variety of recreational and wildlife-related pursuits, is one of the most popular forms of entertainment in the United States. As such, it makes large contributions to the nation’s economy. As a result, residents’ recreational usage and how they value water quality improvements are of interest to policymakers and researchers. In 2002, Iowa State’s Center for Agricultural and Rural Development (CARD), Department of Economics, Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Organismal Biology, and Limnology Laboratory worked together to create the Iowa Lakes Valuation Project to determine use and valuation information for more than 100 in-state lakes over a comparable time period (figure 1).