Semester

Fall

Date of Graduation

2022

Document Type

Problem/Project Report

Degree Type

MS

College

Davis College of Agriculture, Natural Resources and Design

Department

Division of Resource Economics & Management

Committee Chair

Michael Strager

Committee Co-Chair

Eric Bowen

Committee Member

Eric Bowen

Committee Member

Paul Kinder

Abstract

In 2011, the West Virginia Abandoned Mine Lands and Reclamation Program (WVAML) implemented a watershed-scale restoration project in Three Fork Creek, a 103 square-mile watershed in rural West Virginia impaired by acid mine drainage (AMD). This was accomplished through the installation of four in-stream lime dosers in 2011. Due to the great capital investment in the restoration of Three Fork Creek and an interest in applying this watershed-scale approach to other watersheds throughout West Virginia, it is of great interest to demonstrate the successes of this remediation. It has already been demonstrated that the watershed has visibly improved and is rebounding ecologically. Water quality has improved dramatically and dissolved aluminum concentrations have decreased by almost 98% (USEPA, 2016). However, it is difficult to quantify the economic benefit of watershed restoration due to the remote and non-market values associated with it. This is especially difficult and understudied in small rural watersheds that lack an established recreation-based industry. This study focused on property value as a remote benefit of watershed restoration to address the gap in current research. We conducted a spatial analysis of assessed property values in Three Fork Creek after ten years of watershed-scale AMD treatment to find changes in streamside property values over time due to environmental improvements. On average, property values increased 85% throughout the watershed during the study period. Property value changes increased positively as areas were focused closer to the stream. The change in property values was greatest within the 0.25-mile buffer at 181%. The results demonstrate the ability of watershed-scale remediation to produce local economic benefits, including remote benefits in Appalachia. This study furthers the growing research in quantifying successes of AMD remediation, as watershed-wide treatment of AMD is unique to the past few decades. Further research that could be accomplished utilizing the results from this study includes quantifying the total economic benefits post-AMD remediation, developing more accurate models to predict the total economic benefits expected from AMD remediation in small rural watersheds, and further analyzing the relationship between property value and water quality.

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