Importance of Free-Flowing Rivers for Recreation: Case Study of the River Mur in Styria, Austria

Abstract

Hydroelectric power plants are often assumed to serve a wide range of purposes, from renewable electricity production to flood control and new recreational opportunities. Planning documents and strategies often presume that hydroelectric power plants have additional recreational (use) values. However, there is some evidence of both alternatives in empirical studies which accentuate the benefits of additional recreational opportunities, as opposed to those studies that draw attention to the costs in terms of reduced recreational values. The objective of this paper is to clarify whether respondents in a survey value recreational opportunities along free-flowing sections of a river differently to those along dammed-up stretches. The novel discussion in this paper is on the results of a representative empirical survey of households in the River Mur Basin in the Federal Province of Styria in Austria. The respondents presented a detailed and differentiated picture of their recreational activities along the river. It turned out that all the activities, such as walking, hiking, and wildlife observation, are mostly pursued along the free-flowing sections of the river, contrary to some existing empirical papers emphasizing the great importance of dammed-up river stretches for recreation. In order to compute the recreational benefit of the free-flowing stretches of the river, recreational demand models (travel cost) were estimated econometrically for those recreational activities most often chosen by the respondents. While some prior hypotheses were supported (e.g., that the respondents make less frequent trips to the River Mur with higher travel costs, and with lower (perceived) water quality), the free-flowing character of the river adds a significant benefit. There is a close correlation between the free-flowing stretches of the river and the recreational benefits that range from 24 Euro to over 130 Euro per person and trip which are higher than those along the dammed-up sections depending in particular on the kind of recreational activity.