Evaluating the Non-Market Value of Pacific Salmon

Why Current Water Withdrawals in the Salmon River Are Economically Unsustainable

Authors

  • Micah Lowen Thompson Rivers University

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.29173/bcelnfe763

Keywords:

pacific salmon, non-market valuation, ecosystem services, water allocation, agricultural irrigation, freshwater habitat conservation, environmental economics

Author Biography

Micah Lowen, Thompson Rivers University

Micah Lowen is an undergraduate student in Natural Resource Science at Thompson Rivers University in Kamloops, British Columbia. She is particularly passionate about Pacific salmon and the protection of cold-water habitats that support fish and amphibian species across British Columbia. Micah has contributed to projects focused on fisheries monitoring and has collaborated with federal partners on salmon-related initiatives, gaining experience in applied conservation and watershed stewardship. She has also participated in amphibian salvage work, helping locate and relocate individuals to suitable habitats during periods of environmental disturbance.

Her interests center on understanding how water management, habitat change, and climate pressures affect aquatic species and the ecosystem they depend on. Micah is motivated by a desire to support conservation that protects vulnerable populations and maintains healthy freshwater systems.

References

Androkovich, R. A. (2014, November 07). Recreational visits to the Adam’s River during the annual sockeye run: A travel cost analysis. Marine Resource Economics. 30(1), 1–20. https://doi.org/10.1086/679462

Beebe, C. R., Goetz, J., Spittlehouse, D. L. (2024). Updated water budget for Salmon River Valley aquifers upstream of Falkland. Water Science Series No. 2024-07. Province of British Columbia. https://a100.gov.bc.ca/pub/acat/documents/r63066/WestwoldWBStudy,June2024_1721325054471_ E54B8CD382.pdf

B.C. Ministry of Environment. (2007). Salmon River watershed overview. Government of British Columbia.

B.C. Ministry of Environment & Climate Change Strategy. (2022). Salmon River water quality assessment summary. Government of British Columbia.

British Columbia. (2025). Salmon species distribution in B.C. Government of British Columbia.

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). (2023). Climate change 2023: Synthesis report. Contribution of Working Groups I, II and III to the Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change [H. Lee & J. Romero (Eds.)]. IPCC. https://doi.org/10.59327/IPCC/AR6-9789291691647.

Janmaat, J. (2019). What is the economic impact of irrigation in the Okanagan? [Internet]. University of British Columbia, I.K. Barber School of Arts and Sciences. https://blogs.ubc.ca/ubcowatershed/files/2019/11/BCIA_Workshop_201911.pdf

Knowler, D., MacGregor, B., Bradford, M., Peterman, R. M. (2003). Valuing freshwater salmon habitat on the west coast of Canada. Journal of Environmental Management, 69(3), 261–273.

Levy, D. A, Slaney, T. L. (1993). A review of habitat capacity for salmon spawning and rearing. Prepared for the B.C. Resources Inventory Committee (RIC), Habitat Management Division, Department of Fisheries and Oceans. Levy Research Services Ltd.

Lewis, D. J., Dundas, S. J., Kling, D. M., Lew, D. K., Moore, J. R. (2019). The non-market benefits of recovering and protecting threatened and endangered salmon. PLoS One, 14(7), e0219713.

Statistics Canada. (2025, January 19). Table 18-10-0005-01: Consumer Price Index, annual average, not seasonally adjusted. https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/t1/tbl1/en/tv.action?pid=1810000501

Water Survey of Canada. (2025). Real-time hydrometric data for Salmon River at Falkland (08LE020). Government of Canada. https://wateroffice.ec.gc.ca/report/real_time_e.html?stn=08LE020

Water Survey of Canada. (2025). Real-time hydrometric data for Salmon River near Salmon Arm (08LE021). Government of Canada. https://wateroffice.ec.gc.ca/report/real_time_e.html?stn=08LE021

Cover image with title: Perspectives on the economics of Climate Change. Special Issue, March 2026, Online ISSN: 2819-7046. Background image taken by Peter Tsigaris of the University of Auckland campus.

Downloads

Published

2026-03-17

How to Cite

Lowen, M. (2026). Evaluating the Non-Market Value of Pacific Salmon : Why Current Water Withdrawals in the Salmon River Are Economically Unsustainable. Future Earth: A Student Journal on Sustainability and Environment. https://doi.org/10.29173/bcelnfe763

Issue

2026: Special Issue: Perspectives on the Economics of Climate Change

Section

Commentaries and Opinions

Categories

License

Copyright (c) 2026 Future Earth: A Student Journal on Sustainability and Environment

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Authors retain copyright and grant the journal the right of first publication, with the work licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike (CC BY-NC-SA) License. This license allows others to share and adapt the work, provided proper attribution is given to the original author and the work's initial publication in this journal, and that it is used for non-commercial purposes under the same terms. Authors may also enter into separate, additional agreements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., posting it to an institutional repository or including it in a book), with proper acknowledgement of its original publication in this journal.
Authors are encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their personal websites) both prior to and during the submission process, as this can foster productive exchanges and increase the visibility and citation of their work (See The Effect of Open Access).