Ecuador’s Intag region spans two of the world’s most biologically significant areas within the Tropical Andes Biodiversity Hotspot and is home to over one hundred species at risk of extinction. Intag’s critical ecosystem services and unique species, however, are threatened by mining operations. In 2022, regional Intag community leaders used a 2011 Earth Economics report to support an amicus brief in a lawsuit against the Ecuadorian government over mining concessions. Earth Economics was present at the Provincial Court of Justice of Imburra to present the amicus brief in a case which is now headed to the Ecuadorian Supreme Court.
Environmental Community Action, Inc. (ECO-Action) helps vulnerable communities in Georgia prevent, confront, and resolve environmental health threats. Collaborating with local universities and others, ECO-Action has been using green infrastructure to address frequent flooding. ECO-Action partnered with Earth Economics to analyze the public economic benefits of the proposed Green Infrastructure Conceptual Plans. Analysis focuses on the stormwater management benefits of 1) greenways, 2) street trees, and 3) cisterns and vaults.
Building on 2020’s “Economic Analysis of Outdoor Recreation in Washington State”, a coalition of state agencies tasked Earth Economics with a focused assessment of the total visitation, consumer spending, and economic output associated with outdoor recreation on state-managed lands. This analysis improves significantly on earlier efforts by leveraging voluntarily provided mobile device locational data throughout 2019 and 2020 to generate data-driven estimates of the total economic contribution of visitors to state-managed recreation lands, detailed at more granular geographic and temporal scales.
The City of Kent and South King County are home to immigrant and refugee families from around the world. In response to calls for community space, World Relief Western Washington began developing the Paradise Parking Plots Community Garden in 2016, transforming a frequently flooded parking lot at Hillside Church into a vibrant multi-cultural garden oasis and resilience hub. Earth Economics assessed the ecoystem services benefits and the benefit-cost ratio of the community gardens, which provide gardeners with $127,000 in market value in foods produced each year.
Earth Economics partnered with the Washington Department of Ecology and Puget Sound Partnership to produce a study that reveals the breadth and magnitude of the ecosystem services provided by the Salish Sea Basin’s lands and waters. The results—an estimated US $124 billion in ecosystem services every year— show significant benefits to restoring natural capital in the Salish Sea. A second report focuses on value changes in landcover in Island County, Whidbey Basin, and contributing watersheds from 1992 to 2016. The ecosystems within this study area produced over $1.4 billion in non-market benefits each year.
Hipcamp is an online company that offers unique outdoor stays via website and mobile app. Visitors can discover and book tent camping, RV parks, cabins, treehouses, and glamping—everywhere from national parks to blueberry farms—all run by private landowners. Hipcamp partnered with Earth Economics to assess the economic impact of Hipcamp properties in Nevada County, California and the environmental benefits of Hipcamp properties within six counties in California, Colorado, and Utah. The result—big gains for the local economy, including an average $886,000 in annual spending for Nevada County, California, and anywhere from $17 million to $1 billion in environmental benefits each year across various counties.
In partnership with the Mississippi River Cities and Towns Initiative (MRCTI), Earth Economics has completed Phase 1 of a study that takes important steps towards quantifying—for the first time—the cost of excess nitrogen and phosphorus in the Mississippi. This project mapped the various pathways by which different sectors of the economy bear costs as a result of excess nutrients in the river, and identified existing data that can be used to estimate those costs.
Vilicus Farms is a nationally recognized first generation, organic, dryland crop farm in Northern Hill County, Montana. The cropping systems here model a vision where organic practices are considered the norm, seeking to advance land stewardship practices at scale that promote healthy ecosystems. This case study looks at a few of the ecosystem services enhanced by activities on Vilicus Farms.
The Hood Canal Salmon Enhancement Group (HCSEG) spearheads conservation and habitat restoration efforts on the Big Quilcene River, using easements and land acquisition to permanently protect areas of the floodplain and restore the benefits that a more natural floodplain provides. The group commissioned Earth Economics to conduct an analysis of the economic benefits, both market and non-market, of two planned large-scale restoration projects that would reconnect the Big Quilcene River to its historic floodplain.
Two major industries are at the heart of the Lake Chelan Valley economy– agriculture and tourism. Tourism attracts over 2 million visitors annually, with visitors spending an estimated $417 million per year that supports about 5,000 jobs. The Valley’s five golf courses attract tourists from around the world, contributing to the larger tourism economy. The City of Chelan owns and operates the Lake Chelan Golf Course (LCGC), and commissioned Earth Economics to perform a study on the economic impact of this course to better understand its contribution to the regional economy.
