Integrated economic-hydrologic modeling for examining cost-effectiveness of wetland restoration scenarios in a Canadian prairie watershed / Wanhong Yang, Yongbo Liu, Marius Cutlac, Peter Boxall, Marian Weber, Adam Bonnycastle, and Shane Gabor.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 588-589).

This study develops an integrated economichydrologic
modeling to examine cost-effectiveness of wetland
restoration scenarios in the 75-km2 South Tobacco Creek watershed
in the Canadian prairie region. The modeling results show
that spatial variations of wetland restoration costs are driven by
forgone cropping returns while wetland restoration benefits in
terms of total phosphorus (TP) reductions are related to wetland
drainage area characteristics including slope, soil, and land use,
and wetland features such as size, volume, and position relative
to the stream network. For a TP reduction goal of 141.1 kg/yr or
4.3%at the watershed outlet, the spatial targeting scenario based
on economic cost to environmental benefit ratios identifies
28.8 ha of wetland restoration costing $3,058.6/yr. The cost ceiling
scenario based on minimizing economic costs only would
have to restore 80.1 ha of wetlands costing $8,032.6/yr. In comparison,
the cost ceiling scenario requires 178.2 % more wetland
restoration areas and would cost 162.6 % more than those of the
spatial targeting scenario. The study contributes to develop integrated
economic-hydrologic modeling to inform wetland restoration
decision at farm field scale. The modeling results demonstrate
the importance of spatially targeting wetland restoration
based on economic cost to environmental benefit ratios in order
to achieve cost-effectiveness.