Abstract
In the Colorado River Basin, annual weather variability and a changing climate complicate the management and allocation of water resources. As dynamic pressures alter this complex watershed, individual stakeholders make sense of these changes and form perceptions of the ecosystem services afforded under different conditions. We characterized recreational and conservation stakeholder perceptions (n = 40) of the relative (in)elasticity of ecosystem services afforded by the Dolores River, a tributary of the Colorado River, to inform ongoing regional planning. Findings indicate perceived vulnerability of water resources to climate change, an increased value ascribed to cultural services (i.e., recreation) due to scarcity – highlighted through negative elasticity and what we term the ‘boater’s paradox’ – and the political prominence of provisioning services. Improvement to the allocation of supporting services (i.e., habitat) is, in part, dependent on aligning ecosystem management with flow regimes through collaborative management and adaptive water governance in the watershed on a multiyear scale.
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Data Availability Statement
The data that support the findings of this study are currently not available online. However, the associated data are available from the corresponding author, M.H., upon reasonable request.
Notes
Active capacity is the total amount of reservoir capacity available for release and subsequent use.
In the final EIS for McPhee Reservoir the Bureau of Reclamation defined minimum releases of 20, 50, or 78 cfs respectively for ‘dry,’ ‘normal,’ or ‘wet’ years. Fey et al. (2012) of American Whitewater define year-types by ranking the total annual flow (a.f.) at each stream gauge.
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Acknowledgements
The authors gratefully acknowledge the Rio Mesa Bonderman Field Station, the University of Utah, and Old Dominion University for their support of this research. The research team would additionally like to recognize the people of the Dolores River watershed who generously shared their time, experience, and insight for the purposes of this research; this work would not be possible without their passion and participation.
Funding
This research was funded by separate small grants from the Sustainable Campus Initiative Fund and Rio Mesa Bonderman Field Station of the University of Utah. The authors acknowledge the University of Utah and Old Dominion University for their support of this research. The research team would additionally like to recognize the people of the Dolores River watershed surveyed for this research, who generously shared their time, experience, and insight; this work would not be possible without their passion and participation.
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Hendrick, M., Zajchowski, C.A.B., Rose, J. et al. Do Rising Flows Lift All Boats? Ecosystem Services Elasticity in the Dolores River Watershed. Hum Ecol 51, 173–183 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10745-022-00387-5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10745-022-00387-5