Acknowledgements We would like to thank USDA-NIFA for funding (award number 2014-51130-22495); the Florida Department of Environmental Protection for permission to survey recreational users at Florida springs; Erin Moynihan, Bryan Nguyen, Oren Erhlich, Qianyan Wu, and Shujin Gao for research assistance; and the Florida Survey Research Center for administering the recreational user survey.

Ying

Preliminary  Results  Hydrological Model •  Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) hydrological and water quality

model (Neitsch et al. 2011) •  Evaluate water conservation and pollution reducing measures •  Evaluate the effects of adopting less water and/or fertilizer intensive

crops, including conversion to forest •  Consider changes in water flows and nutrients from changes in

precipitation, temperature, and evapotranspiration as predicted for the region in climate change scenarios

•  Status: In progress Agricultural Landowners, Costs, Programs to Induce Adoption •  Opportunity cost of reducing water and fertilizer calculated from literature

review •  Survey of agricultural land owners •  Assess current adoption of water conserving and pollution reducing

practices •  Provide pairwise choices of two programs that vary in terms of subsidy

amount, contract length, administering agency, and kind of payment (initial investment vs. initial investment and maintenance costs) •  Determine which program attribute combinations increase likelihood of

adopting conservation strategies •  Status: Survey drafted, waiting for final recommendations from

hydrological model Value of Water Quality and Water Flows •  In-person survey of recreational users: •  Determine current uses of springs, frequency of visits, and expenditures

on visits. •  Determine perceptions of water quality changes •  Determine how increases in fees would affect frequency of visits

•  Online household survey •  Determine use of water resources •  Determine valuation of improved water quality and water flows

•  Status: Recreational user survey administered and data analysis in progress. Online survey in development

Educational Outreach and Extension •  Water Schools: introduce elected officials, community leaders/planners,

citizens, etc. to the region’s water management issues •  University of Florida biannual Watershed In-Service Trainings: Train

county extension agents regarding water regulations and provide them with materials for stakeholder engagement

•  Status: Water Schools in preparation. In-service programming in preparation for 2018 training

Methods/Progress  

Recreational User Survey Table 1. Activities Undertaken by Respondents at Spring Site Table 2. Average Expenditures, Distance Traveled, and Annual Frequency of Visits to Spring Site among Respondents Table 3. Effect of Higher Fee to Fund Conservation on Frequency of Visits (Current Entrance Fees are $6/Vehicle at 3 of the 4 Surveyed Springs and $5/Vehicle at One of the Surveyed Springs.) Further analysis is required to determine whether increasing park fees could result in revenue generated for conservation and to determine how different kinds of recreational users value improvements in water quality.

Overview  

Kelly Grogan, Xiang Bi, Tatiana Borisova, Alan Hodges, and Christopher Martinez

Lower Suwannee/Santa Fe River Basin, Florida •  Rich environmental resources •  Springs, swamps, estuaries, rivers, streams •  National Wildlife Refuges, State Parks and Preserves

•  Economically important agricultural production •  22% of land area in region •  Pasture, peanuts, sorghum, vegetables, corn (grain)

•  Water quality target for region’s springs: 0.35 mg/L nitrate-nitrogen (monthly average)

•  Minimum Flows and Levels under development •  Current plan to achieve quantity and quality goals: Basin

Management Action Plans and adoption of Best Management Practices

Objectives 1.  Develop hydrological model to determine practices/land uses

required to meet water quantity/quality targets 2.  Determine attributes of cost-share programs that would induce

adoption of necessary practices and land uses by agricultural land owners

3.  Determine the value of water quality and flow improvements to a) recreational users of water resources and b) Florida households in general

4.  Evaluate policy options to reach quantity and quality targets 5.  Communicate results to policymakers and stakeholders

Figure 1. Land Uses in the Lower Suwannee/Santa Fe River Basin.

Activity % Participating in Activity

Swimming 72.1%

Tubing 30.0%

Picnicking 26.7%

Nature Viewing 9.3%

Hiking 8.5%

Kayaking 6.3%

Other 8.7%

Variable # of Obs. Mean Std. Dev. Min. Max

Trip Expenditure

439 98.8 140.5 0 1470

Distance Driven (Miles)

479 134.9 226.1 5 2229

Visits in Past Year

307 7.3 16.5 0 100

New Fee

Effect on Visit Frequency Decrease No Change Increase

$10 43.7% 55.2% 1.1% $15 57.6% 39.8% 2.5% $20 76.7% 22.5% 0.8% $25 77.6% 21.6% 0.8%