How do I include the value of volunteers, benefits to park visitors, preservation benefits, impacts on surrounding property values ?
Economic impact analysis traces the actual flows of money within the local economy. Non-market transactions that do not explicitly entail purchases of goods or services are not covered. While volunteers add value to park experiences and reduce costs to NPS, the donated time should not be counted within economic impact accounts. We recommend treating these other “benefits” outside of the economic impact analysis. Note that an economic impact analysis doesn’t measure the value of the park to visitors – only what they spend and the value of this to local economy. Other methods estimate these other values of parks.
