Description:Participants will receive an overview of common economic concepts, methods, and tools (e.g., equivalency methods, recreational use valuation, and discounting) used to scale restoration and estimate damages for different types of injuries in natural resource damage assessment cases. Participants will get to apply the concepts, methods, and tools covered in an interactive session for a hypothetical natural resource damage assessment case scenario.
Presenters:Christian Crowley (Department of the Interior), Leslie Richardson (National Park Service), Heather Best (National Park Service), and Peter Grigelis (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service)
Learning objectives:- Learn about economic concepts, methods, and tools used in NRDAR:
- Scaling restoration and estimating damages
- Accounting for ecological and human-use (recreation, cultural) injuries and claims
- Understand the role of discounting and inflation for claim development
- Understand the importance of considering restoration early in the process, and the quality of scientific inputs
- Apply what you’ve learned in an interactive session of a hypothetical natural resource damage assessment case scenario.
Prerequisites (homework)- Recommended: basic familiarity with NRDAR process
- Watch the HEA/REA video (6 min) … link coming soon
- read Kahoot instructions ppt … link coming soon
- bring a calculator just in case!
Instructor BiosChristian Crowley is a natural resource economist in the Office of the Secretary's Office of Policy Analysis. He began his career at the Department of the Interior in 2005, after working as a contractor in the Department of Energy. Christian provides economic support for the Restoration Program in NRDAR case-work, training, and policy capacities, and he enjoys working with field staff across the DOI Bureaus and DOI's Trustee partners. He has worked on projects in the areas of recreation, wildland fire, royalties, and economic impacts. Christian holds a Ph.D. in economics from The George Washington University in Washington, DC. In his free time he enjoys riding his bike, playing music with friends, traveling with his husband, and visiting his twins who live up the road with their moms.
Leslie Richardson has been a natural resource economist with the Department of the Interior since 2011, first working with the U.S. Geological Survey and then joining the National Park Service in 2015. Leslie’s work focuses on quantifying the value of nonmarket goods and services, including recreation opportunities, the preservation of wildlife, and ecosystem services. She conducts natural resource damage assessments, benefit-cost analyses, and various projects demonstrating the values supported by national parks and other public lands. Leslie holds a Ph.D. in environmental economics from Colorado State University. In her free time, she enjoys dancing, playing racquetball, biking, and spending time with her wonderful husband and pets.
Heather Best has worked as an economist for the National Park Service, Environmental Quality Division, for the past 20 years. Heather’s work focuses on conducting and supporting economic analyses of natural resource damage assessments. She serves a member of the NRDAR technical support group, as well as a case economist. Heather also manages numerous restoration projects within the National Park Service. She has a degree from the University of Denver in Statistics and Economics. She loves spending time with her husband and 4 girls and has a passion for baking and creating custom cakes.
Peter Grigelis is a Senior Economist with the Economics Branch of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS). During Peter’s time at the USFWS, he has provided economics expertise in the areas of natural resource damage assessment, ecosystem services valuation, invasive species, land conservation and restoration, endangered species, and economic impact analysis of USFWS program activities. He has also worked at the Office of Policy Analysis of the U.S. Department of the Interior and at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Peter received his B.A. in Economics and Mathematics from Ithaca College and his Ph.D. is Economics from Georgia State University with a focus on urban, environmental and natural resource economics. When away from work, he enjoys hockey (watching and playing), learning about the world of soccer from his son, and spending time and relaxing with his wife and dog.
