The Economics of the California Desert Protection Act

1
The Economics of the California Desert Protection
Act

• The Benefits of the Desert
• Dylan Mathieu

2
The California Desert Protection Act (CDPA)

• October 31, 1994
• Designated 7.8 million acres of land as
  wilderness
• Expanded Death Valley 1.3 million acres and
  Joshua Tree 234,000 acres
• National Parks
• Established Mojave National Preserve
• 1,419,800 acres

3
CDPA Provisions For Mojave

• Primary use
• Protection of wilderness for present and future
  generations
• Native Americans
• Use for cultural and religious purposes
• Temporary park closures
• Hunting, fishing, trapping permitted
• Also some mining and grazing
• Why???

4
A Compromise

• Passed 9 years after introduction
• 4 filibusters
• Amendment for hunting required
• A volunteer effort in Louisiana
• senior Senator J. Bennett Johnston of the Senate
  Energy Committee
• Hunter
• Stephanie Jowers, a high school student in a
  suburb of New Orleans

5
More Fighting

• Republican Representative Jerry Lewis
• Symbolic of larger split between conservatives
  and environmentalists in outlook towards desert
  protection
• Dollar Budget
• NPS given 1 for the Mojave National Preserve
• Rest of budget given to BLM to multiple-use
  management
• Lasted until 1996

6
Economic Benefits

• These desert wildlands display scenic,
  historical, archeological, environmental,
  ecological, wildlife, cultural, scientific,
  educational, and recreational values used and
  enjoyed by millions of Americans (CDPA 1994)

7
Why Economic Valuation of Non-Market Benefits?

• Efficient allocation of limited resources and
  spaces for wilderness protection
• Economic defense for protecting the desert
• Justify tax expenditures
• Growing threats to the desert

8
Market Vs. Non-Market

• 1998 2.5 million visited Death Valley and Joshua
  Tree, 374,000 visited Mojave
• Market gains 182 million in sales, 19 million
  in tax revenue
• Including non-market gains
• 1.4 BILLION!

9
Heres the Breakdown
Data From 2004
10
Conspiracy Theory!

• The REAL reason CDPA passed
• Catellus Corporation, a subsidiary of Santa Fe
  Pacific, will receive land that contains some of
  the richest gold deposits in the world
• Trade desert lands for abandoned military bases
• Gold value 40 to 100 billion

11
Sources

• California Desert Protection Act the Fifth
  Anniversary. National Park Service. 1999.
• "California Desert Protection Act." Joshua Tree.
  24 Aug. 2006. National Park Service. 2 Mar. 2007
  lthttp//www.nps.gov/jotr/parkmgmt/caldesprotect.ht
  mgt.
• Feinstein, Diane. ""Celebrating the 10th
  Anniversary of the California Desert Protection
  Act." Congressional Record. 8 Oct. 2004.
  Congress. 2 Mar. 2007 lthttp//feinstein.senate.gov
  /04Speeches/desertprotection04.htmgt.
• "Human Impacts on the Mojave National Preserve
  Area." 14 Jan. 2004. USGS. 2 Mar. 2007
  lthttp//pubs.usgs.gov/of/2004/1007/humans.htmlgt.
  
• "Introduction." Mojave Administrative History. 5
  Apr. 2004. National Park Service. 8 Mar. 2007
  lthttp//www.nps.gov/archive/moja/adminhist/adhi1.h
  tmgt.
• Richardson, Robert B. "The Economic Benefits of
  California Desert Wildlands 10 Years Since the
  California Desert Protection Act of 1994."
• Teddy. "Senator Diane Feinstein the Desert
  Wilderness Protection Act." Pittsburgh
  Independent Media Center. 26 Oct. 2006. 2 Mar.
  2007 lthttp//pittsburgh.indymedia.org/news/2006/10
  /25031.phpgt.
• Wheat, Frank. "Stephanie Jowers and the
  California Desert Protection Act." DesertUSA. 2
  Mar. 2007 lthttp//www.desertusa.com/mag99/aug/papr
  /jowers.htmlgt.