15:30 - 17:00
Room: Track D (Amsterdam - 2nd Floor) - 4:3 Format
Chair/s:
Esteban Biondi
Marina Management in the Natural Resources Program: The US Army Corps of Engineers Case Study
Wen-Huei Chang 1, Esteban Biondi 2
1 US Army Corps of Engineers
2 Applied Technology & Management

Recreational boating and other water recreational activities have always been popular in the US. As one of the largest water management agencies in the world, US Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) provides recreational boating opportunities thru its missions in both Natural Resources and Navigation Programs. As the leading federal provider of water based outdoor recreation with more than 400 lake and river projects in 43 states, the Corps’ Natural Resources Program hosts more than 500 marinas totalling about 120,000 slips across the nation. These marinas are all on federal lands and waters but owned and operated privately by local businesses and citizens.

It was estimated that in 2016, visitors to these marinas spent about $2 billion on trips and supported about 30,000 jobs to the nation’s economy. Marina users, advocate groups and industries are increasingly employing economics (e.g., economic impacts, user values) to gain support of for continued and increased investments in recreation facilities and services.

As the mission of the Corps’ natural resources program is to provide quality outdoor public recreation experiences to serve the needs of present and future generations and contribute to the quality of American life, while manage and conserve natural resources consistent with ecosystem management principles, it is important to ensure marinas to be developed and operated to maximize recreation benefits while minimize the environmental impact.

This paper will provide an overview of current techniques for estimating the economic benefits of marinas hosted by the Corps. This will include a review various methods (e.g., surveys) for estimating visitation and spending (e.g., annual craft, trip spending) required for use in economic impact assessment models. It will also discuss the importance of the consideration of social and environmental factors and benefits, and how the agency can benefit from the Working with Nature framework that is currently being developed by PIANC.


Reference:
Mo-S3-D - Marinas-3
Session:
Session 3 - Sustainable and resilient marina design - Marinas Working with Nature (best practices and case studies)
Presenter/s:
Wen-Huei Chang
Room:
Track D (Amsterdam - 2nd Floor) - 4:3 Format
Chair/s:
Esteban Biondi
Date:
Monday, 7 May
Time:
15:30 - 17:00
Session times:
15:30 - 17:00