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| Valuing Nature in Texas |
Texas' bays and estuaries are among the state's most valuable but under-appreciated natural assets. The unique habitat created where inflows of fresh river water mix with salt water is the home or nursery to a remarkable diversity and abundance of aquatic flora and fauna. A variety of other wildlife depends in complex ways upon interaction with estuaries, and coastal wetlands linked to the estuaries provide essential habitat to hundreds of species of resident and migratory birds.
Texas' rich coastal ecosystems are the foundation for a variety of important economic activities that include recreational and commercial fishing, ecotourism, and other outdoor recreation. Recreational fishing alone generates more than $2 billion in economic benefits each year. Commercial fishing contributes another $260 million. Thousands of bird-watchers and other nature tourists travel each to the Texas coast to enjoy its remarkable biodiversity, bringing hundreds of millions of dollars in economic benefits to coastal communities.
All of these activities depend on healthy bays and estuaries, which in turn, depend on freshwater inflows from Texas' rivers and streams. However, intensifying competition among upstream human water user is threatening the water needs of coastal ecosystems, putting mounting pressure on these valuable natural assets.
The Texas Legislature has taken steps to incorporate the water needs of the state's bays and estuaries into water legislation, and a significant amount of research has examined the physical, chemical and biological needs for inflows. Despite these crucial efforts, ensuring sufficient freshwater inflows to maintain the health of Texas' bays and estuaries remains a matter of contentious policy debate. Perhaps the greatest challenge to incorporating the water needs of coastal ecosystems into water use decisions and policy-making is that the economic value of these inflows is unknown. Without "economic representation" of this value, it is difficult for water managers, planners, policy-makers and users themselves to consider the estuary and related wetlands along with agriculture, industry and municipalities when making water use decisions. The notion that "a drop of water that reaches the Gulf of Mexico is a drop of water wasted" often persists.
In response to this challenge, HARC created the Valuing Freshwater Inflows Initiative to assess the economic value associated with freshwater inflows needed to sustain the ecological health of Texas' Bays and Estuaries. With a current focus on the Rio Grande Estuary and San Antonio Bay, the Valuing Freshwater Inflows Initiative will provide a detailed understanding of the economic link between freshwater inflows and the preservation of the coastal wetland and estuarine ecosystems. This work is grounded in analyses of ecotourism, hunting (primarily waterfowl), recreational fishing, and commercial fishing, as well as important "non-market" economic values.
The results of the Valuing Freshwater Inflows Initiative will be useful to a number of local, state and federal agencies in fulfilling their regulatory and management responsibilities with regard to water and Texas' coastal ecosystems. Moreover, this effort could significantly buttress the argument that ensuring sufficient inflows to sustain these coastal ecosystems can make good economic sense.
With this initiative, we hope to help decision-makers and planners address the water needs of Texas' coastal ecosystems and achieve more effective stewardship of these unique natural resources.
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| Page Updated/Reviewed: 06/20/2008 2:23 PM |
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