Study developing tools to measure nature-based recreational benefits provided by water bodies

SCCWRP and its partners have launched an effort to develop tools for quantifying the nature-based recreational benefits provided by water bodies – benefits that include birdwatching, nature-viewing and similar activities that rely on natural elements of the environment.

The study, which kicked off in December, will focus on developing frameworks for measuring how changes to water quality, stream flow patterns, local demographics and land use affect a range of nature-based recreation activities.

While nature-based recreation is included in California’s regulatory definition of non-contact water recreation (REC-2), most assessments have been limited to examining illness risks and other public health risks, not on assessing the ability of water bodies to provide recreational benefits.

Managers will be able to use the frameworks to explore how changes in one factor (e.g., flow patterns) affect the water body’s potential to provide nature-based recreation and other benefits.

Although focused on REC-2 beneficial uses, researchers expect that the framework developed during this study will be able to serve as a template for evaluating other human benefits provided by healthy water bodies.