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GreenSpace Alliance Study: Economic Value Of Open Space In Southeast
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The GreenSpace Alliance and the Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission recently released the Economic Value of Protected Open Space in Southeastern PA Report.
The findings, featured at a news conference held at Valley Forge National Historic Park on November 16th, are the first to quantify the economic value of protected open space in the five-county area-- Bucks, Chester, Delaware, Montgomery and Philadelphia counties.
Among the findings were--
-- Open space adds $16.3 billion to the value of southeastern Pennsylvania’s housing stock.
-- Protected open space generates $240 million annually in property tax revenues to support county and municipal governments and local school districts.
-- Southeastern Pennsylvania realizes nearly $61 million in annual cost savings from protected open spaces’ ability to naturally filter out pollutants and replenish water supply.
-- The total annual benefit generated by natural flood mitigation services is more than $37 million.
-- Trees on protected open space are estimated to provide $17 million in annual air pollution removal and carbon sequestration services.
-- Responses to the 2009 statewide outdoor recreation survey indicate that, on average, 41 percent of moderate or strenuous physical exercise is performed in a park or on a trail.
-- Nearly $577 million in benefits accrue annually to residents who participate in recreational activities on protected open space within southeastern Pennsylvania.
-- Each household in the region saves $392 per year by having open space available for recreation and exercise.
-- The health-related cost savings resulting from physical activity on protected open space amount to $1.3 billion per year including avoided workers’ compensation costs and avoided productivity losses.
-- $795 million of those health-related cost savings are medical cost savings.
-- Economic activity associated with protected open space in southeastern Pennsylvania results in more than 6,900 jobs and $299 million in annual earnings.
-- Total annual expenditures in the five-county region associated with protected open space equal $566 million. Specifically $174 million, or 31 percent, is attributable to spending associated with the management and maintenance of publicly protected open space; $206 million, or 36 percent, accounts for agricultural sales associated with preserved farmland; and $187 million, or 33 percent, is generated through tourist activity associated with protected open space.
-- Agricultural jobs associated with protected farmland make up 45 percent of employment related to protected open space in southeastern Pennsylvania, totaling 3,100 jobs.
-- Economic activity associated with protected open space generates $30 million per year in state and local tax revenue.
More than just pretty places, preserved open spaces contribute to our local economies and property values, they help us save on everything from health care to recreation, and they perform valuable ecosystem services that naturally improve the air we breathe and the water we drink. These are the messages that the new study documents and will be used to convey to the public.
A summary and full copy of the study are available online.
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12/13/2010 |
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