In the News
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Herald Journal Saturday, Jul. 15, 2017
USU study: Low-Income Earners Spend More to Avoid Outdoor Site Fees
People who make lower incomes use outdoor recreational sites differently than higher earners, shunning sites with user fees — even if it means they pay more for gas to do so. That’s according to findings from a study by Utah State University’s Institute of Outdoor Recreation and Tourism in which researchers surveyed people at 44 recreational sites with fees and no fees in the Central Wasatch Mountains. The findings from USU professors Steve Burr, Chase Lamborn and Jordan Smith show individuals making below $25,000 were willing to travel three times as far from a user fee destination — that changed as little as $3, in some cases — to visit an area with no user fees. ... “When it comes to attracting the public’s attention and influencing their behavior, ‘the difference between two cents and one cent is small. But the difference between one cent and zero is huge!’” the USU researchers wrote, quoting behavioral economist Dan Ariely. ... Although the USU professors’ study only looked at the Central Wasatch Mountains, there are several outdoor recreational sites nearer Cache Valley, such as Tony Grove, that have user fees. ... Smith and his co-authors believe the findings that low-income individuals are willing to ditch user fees in the name of no fees has implications for entities like the Uinta-Wasatch-Cache National Forest and the Bureau of Land Management.