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Why Are Rivers Important?
Ecosystem Service Definition Via Qualitative Research:
A Southwestern Pilot Study
M. Weber USEPA Other Partners:P. Ringold USEPA Sonoran InstituteH. Thurston USEPA Arizona DEQL. Norman USGS EPA Region 9Nita Tallent-Halsell USDOI NPS Tumacacori NHPB. Labiosa USGS . . .
12/9/2010
Presentation Outline
1. Why the fuss about ecosystem service definition?
2. Background on ecosystem services of streams
3. How Qualitative Research can be applied
4. Background on the Santa Cruz River case study
5. Preliminary findings from resident interviews & next steps
What Are Ecosystem Services?
• More ‘relevant’ but hard to describe to one’s spouse
• Numerous definitions, share Human Health & Well-Being goal
• How are ESs different from the same old thing?
• Can we gain some grounding by actually talking with people?
Source: Millenium
Ecosystem Assessment, 2005
Source: P. Ringold,
after J. Boyd
What Are Ecosystem Services?
• Intermediate Ecosystem Services vs. Final Ecosystem Services
• Intermediate Ecosystem Services absolutely still important
Source: P. Ringold,
after J. Boyd
What Are Ecosystem Services of Streams?
• EPA 2009 Workshop Indicators of “Final” Ecosystem Services of Streams Working hypothesis developed for stream user groups Relevance for EPA National Monitoring Attended by 25 social and natural scientists Funded by USEPA, Corvallis, OR
Organizers: P. Ringold, J. Boyd, D. Landers, M. Weber
What Are Ecosystem Services of Streams?
• EPA 2009 Workshop Working Hypothesis http://www.epa.gov/nheerl/arm/streameco/index.html (structure below)
• 27 beneficiary categories, 16 col., 432 cells total• What is important to measure at a stream site?
• Is there some way to test the working hypothesis?
User Group Quantity Quality
… … …
Recreation … …
Non-User … …
What is Qualitative Research?
• A formal way of ‘actually talking with people’• Several disciplines, e.g “Grounded Theory”,
& numerous journals• Vetted interview and focus-group protocols• Find out what people care about – also why• Idea and hypothesis-generating. Surprises expected.• Can explore cognition, contextual factors• NOT quantitative• Under-represented in
valuation research
Human Subjects Strategy
• Phase 1: Sample of convenience
• 22 interviews in November, 2010: 12 neighborhood contacts; 10 orgs. “n” = 22
• Over 70% of those contacted agreed to be interviewed
• No incentives, no Spanish translation
What is The Santa Cruz River?
= Photo Location
= River Channel (flows north)
= Wastewater Treatment Plant
Map Key
#
US
Mexico
1
2
3
4
Map
s co
urt
esy
of
Near W. St. Mary’s Rd., Tucson, AZ
3
Near W. El Camino del Cerro, Tucson, AZ
4
Tumacacori, AZ
1
North of Amado, AZ
2
How did it go? General -
• Recruiting is time-intensive, but 70%+ ultimately agreed• If unfamiliar: difficulty with the task. Photos helped. • If familiar: difficulty imagining something different. • Difficulty abstracting from tradeoffs, so asked for ‘wish list’.• Teasing out ‘the obvious’, but preferences varied. • Pragmatic channel focus
misses important things:• Beyond Active Channel
• Beyond Natural Factors
• Ecological vs. Anthropogenic
• Context vs. Specifics
What did they say? Ecological Context -
• Desire for ‘natural’• Importance of reference state• Environmental ethics
“…health of the land, not the people so much…”
• Precautionary principle“Really a foolish thing to let them [species] go if we don’t even understand the benefits they give us”
• Deference to scientists“That’s why I love science…they can evaluatethose things and decide what is the mostresponsible…”
• Desire for self-sustaining system
What did they say? Ecological Specifics -
• Water Quantity – for water supply; recharge; floods• Water Quality – for safe water supply• Water – presence/absence, for esthetics• Vegetation: “lush”; “green”; “huge trees”; “dense”• Animals: “birds”; “fish”; “lizards”
What did they say? Anthropogenic Context -
• Human connections, history, community“It actually matters to me that other people feel connected to their river”“The way we’ve killed the river… has had an enormous impact right down to Tucson’s identity”
• Non-use value for others’ use value. Concern for “downstream”.
• Aquifer recharge: volume stored and safe quality• Hard to extract preferences from
tradeoffs, known & unknown“You are asking me to play God. I don’t have all the answers”“I Don’t know enough to know”
Photo: Sonoran Institute
What did they say? Anthropogenic Specifics -
• Personal Safety (other people; channelized banks)• Chemical/Biological Safety (drinking, contact recreation)• Lack of garbage, graffiti• Natural banks, not channelized• Accessibility (pro and con)• Sound, Odor
So now what?
• Prepare for Phase 2: Focus-Groups, incentives, translation • Integrate with EPA stream monitoring (see Ringold et al.,
ACES 2010)• Compare with definitions of FES of streams in the
literature (see Beadles et al., ACES 2010)• Proceed to Phase 3: Pre-test & Survey• Integrate with Santa Cruz Watershed Ecosystem Portfolio
Model (see Norman et al., ACES 2010)• Tribal study potential• Planning parallel qualitative study in the Willamette Valley
What Are Ecosystem Services of Streams?
• Variety in “goods” (see Beadles et al. ACES 2010)
• EPA National Monitoring grapples with this
• Meta-analyses grapple with this Johnston et al. 2005, Canadian Journal of Ag Econ van Houtven et al. 2007, Energy & Resource Econ
• EPA Regulatory Impact Analyses grapple with this
• Researchers struggle with this
Interview “Script”
• Outline• Confidentiality terms, verify consent• Warm-up, trust building• ‘Any questions before we begin?’• ‘Would you say you are familiar with rivers and streams
around here or unfamiliar?’• ‘Is there anything important to you about rivers & streams
in S. AZ.?o Follow-up, probe questions
• ‘Is there anything important to you about the Santa Cruz River?’o Follow-up, probe questions. Show & explain photos.
• ‘What would you change about the Santa Cruz River, if you could?’
• ‘Is there anything else you’d like to add?
Human Subjects Strategy
• Phase 2: Recruit average residents, broad socio-demographics, incentives & translation
• 10 Focus Groups in Spring 2011: 8 in Tucson; 1 in Tubac; 1 in Rio Rico. “n”~70
Human Subjects Strategy
• Phase 3: Choice Experiment Development
• Pre-testing interviews “n” = 16
• OMB Control # 2090-0028; Human Subjects exemption C10-013CS
• Survey deployment “n” undetermined
What is The Santa Cruz River?
• The primary drainage for a multi-national watershed• Study unit for an Ecosystem-Portfolio-Model, led by USGS• Formerly many reaches perennial, now ephemeral or
effluent-dominated in the U.S. • Two reaches designated as “Navigable”• Historically significant for human settlement
1942 1989 Photos: Bob Webb, USGS
