Other Environmental and Natural Resource Analysis

In 2002, in anticipation of problems achieving restoration goals for the Chesapeake Bay, the EPA undertook a demonstration "Use Attainability Analysis". The purpose of this Use Attainability Analysis was to show the states with legal jurisdiction over the Chesapeake Bay how to undertake their own analyses. As a member of the Chesapeake Bay Program's Use Attainability Workgroup, Robert Wieland helped to demonstrate the fundamental need for cost efficiency in any assessment of the costs implied by various levels of water quality restoration. Because there is no single budget constraint spanning all of the water quality restoration efforts, incentives for cost minimization are limited. Further, because technical efficiencies for various restoration practices are poorly known, the possibility that administrative solutions could overcome this problem is also limited.

In 2004, Main Street Economics analyzed the private timber resource implications of various management strategies for pine forests on the Eastern Shore of Maryland. In this study, several forest growth models were used to estimate production under each of nine different scenarios. Using historical cost and price data and the results of these simulations, a net present value of timber production was developed for each scenario.

In 2003 - 2004, Main Street Economics estimated the net present value of oyster stocks in the Chesapeake Bay with respect to their role in removing nitrogen and phosphorus from the water column. This work supported research undertaken by oyster scientists at the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science.