On January 12, the Governor Dick Environmental Center will host a presentation on a new Return On Environment Report for Audubon Pennsylvania and the Kittatinny Ridge Project on the economic value of services and attributes provided by the environment and natural resources in Lebanon County.
The report for Lebanon County estimates there is a $500 million annual economic value to natural resources in the county, including--
-- $316.9 million in costs avoided by natural system services
-- $47.7 million for riparian buffer services;
-- $48.7 to $183.9 million in outdoor recreation value;
-- $67 million in avoided health care costs; and
-- 487 to 1,795 jobs.
The Center is located at 3283 Pinch Road in Mount Gretna, Lebanon County. The program will begin at 2:00 p.m. For information on the event, send email to: governordick@hotmail.com or call 717-964-3808.
Return On Environment Reports
The report is part of a series of Return On Environment reports prepared by the Keystone Conservation Trust, Audubon Pennsylvania, Appalachian Trail Conservation Project and many other partners to look at the services nature systems provide free of charge.
For example, open lands provide water supply, stormwater and flood control, pollination, aquatic resources, nutrient absorption, erosion control, air pollution removal, and habitat. Open space also provides opportunities for outdoor recreation and exercise.
The financial value of these services is based on what people and governments have been willing to pay to replace these services when land has been developed.
The reports explain nature’s financial value in easy-to-understand terms--
-- Convey the economic significance of protecting and restoring nature to policy makers, investors, and homeowners;
-- Underscore nature’s connection to quality of life, public health, cost of living, economy, and sense of place; and
-- Can be immediately applied to policy decisions involving land use, economic development, infrastructure, water resources, tourism, and recreation.
The reports in this series have followed the Kittatinny Ridge which curves with the mountain ridge starting at the Mason-Dixon line in Fulton and Franklin counties, moving northeast through Cumberland, Perry, Dauphin, Lebanon, Berks, Schuylkill, Lehigh, Carbon, Northampton, Monroe and ending at the Delaware River.
So far, the Keystone Conservation Trust has completed or is about to complete 5 county return on environment studies within this area-- Berks, Carbon, Cumberland, Dauphin, and Perry, in addition to Lebanon County.
A Lehigh/Northampton ROE study was sponsored by the Lehigh Valley Planning Commission.
On average the ROE per county is $1 billion annually. Several township ROE studies and interactive maps also have been completed.
The ROE studies for several of these counties have been supported by a combination of sources, including the William Penn Foundation, the Foundation for Pennsylvania Watersheds and individual counties.
Click Here for copies of available ROE reports. Click Here for a summary of the methodology.
For more background on the ROE process, read “Can Money Grow On Trees?” by John Rogers, Keystone Conservation Trust, PA Recreation And Parks Magazine, December 2016.
For more information on this initiative, contact Jeanne Barrett Ortiz, Kittatinny Ridge Program Manager, 215-519-5648 or send email to: jortiz@audubon.org or John Rogers, Keystone Conservation Trust, or send email to: jrogers@keystoneconservation.org.
Related Return On Environment Articles:
[Posted: January 2, 2020] www.PaEnvironmentDigest.com
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