Journal of Political Ecology (Dec 1998)

The Value of a River

  • J. Stephen Lansing,
  • Philip S. Lansing,
  • Juliet S. Erazo

DOI
https://doi.org/10.2458/v5i1.21395
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 5, no. 1
pp. 1 – 22

Abstract

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The Skokomish river was once the most productive salmon river in Puget Sound, but since 1926 the North Fork Skokomish has been diverted for hydropower. The Skokomish tribe has fought unsuccessfully to restore natural flows. At issue is the “non-market value” of the river’s biological productivity. The value of the river as “natural capital” for the tribe is analyzed from an historical, ethnographic, and ecological perspective. Keywords: non-market values, natural capital, salmon, Pacific Northwest, Skokomish, riverine ecology, ecosystem management.