A Preliminary Estimate of Economic Impact and Job Creation from the Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board’s Restoration Investments

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Date

2009

Authors

Nielsen-Pincus, Max
Moseley, Cassandra

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Publisher

Ecosystem Workforce Program, Institute for a Sustainable Environment, University of Oregon

Abstract

The Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board (OWEB) has proposed nearly $40 million in watershed restoration projects for state and federal stimulus funding. OWEB’s investments in ecological restoration play a large role in public and private natural resource management with projects ranging from stream habitat enhancements and fish passage to irrigation canal improvements, riparian reforestation, road decommissioning, forest thinning, and wildlife habitat enhancement. As with other capital improvements, watershed restoration activities such as those that OWEB is proposing have considerable economic impact and job creation potential. Unlike other sectors of the economy, such as transportation infrastructure, there has been little research to quantify the economic potential of these activities. In this briefing paper, we provide a preliminary assessment of the potential economic and employment impacts for watershed restoration activities.

Description

4 p.

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