Alternative public land management: Judging the economic, regional, and institutional context of the charter forest experiment on the Valles Caldera National Preserve (New Mexico)

Tucked away in the 2003 Budget Report of the President is a general proposal for legislative action to establish pilot charter programs on the nation's public lands. The proposal has generated considerable debate and many do not yet fully understand the concept or how it will be applied. However, a charter forest experiment is already underway in northern New Mexico. The 89,000-acre Valles Caldera National Preserve (VCNP) represents the first federal land acquisition to create a charter forest.; As a unique public land management experiment, the VCNP merits close scrutiny by land managers, policy makers, and researchers. The objective of this dissertation is to provide an economic, institutional, and policy analysis of the recreation program at VCNP, with particular attention to initial efforts at revenue generation, public access, and program design of the Mature Bull Elk permit auction and raffle.; An institutional assessment of the VCNP and initial economic analysis of the elk-hunting program are given in Chapter 2. The economic analysis draws on permit auction and mature bull permit raffle (MBR) ticket sales data to scope-out resource ownership, market structure, revenue generation, and equity issues.; In Chapter 3 hunting transactions data is used in a hedonic pricing analysis of the big game hunting market that exists in the four corners region. The primary purpose of the chapter is to identify where the VCNP mature bull elk hunts fit within the context of the regional market.; In Chapter 4 stated and revealed preference mature bull permit raffle (MBR) ticket purchase data are used to estimate raffle ticket demand equations with the purpose of analyzing price elasticity of demand, revenue generation, and consumer welfare under alternative policy scenarios.; The dissertation concludes with a fifth chapter that briefly summarizes the research presented herein and provides suggestions for future research. The VCNP is a unique landscape and the VCT a unique management institution. The findings provide insight into the applicability and efficacy of the charter forest concept in general and serve to highlight what the VCT can do to ensure its success.