Re: [at-l] The world a viewshed

[Andrew Priestley <andrewp@ziplink.net>]

Slyinmd@aol.com wrote:

> In a message dated 8/27/99 3:25:33 PM US Eastern Standard Time,
> andrewp@ziplink.net writes:
>
> << I don't think that it is possible to make a "valueless" inquiry, humans,
> by our
>  nature and our very involvement in the system are prejudiced in our views of
>  it, attitudes toward it and even the way we perceive it.  Our concpet of a
>  viewshed for instance, might be meaningless to someone whose vision is
> oriented
>  within a different spectrum, say up into the IR spectrum or down into the UV
>  spectrum.  Viewshed matters little to an Elk or Moose, ..........>>
>
> Are you ok?  Obviously not, elk and moose aren't capitalized!

I wasn't aware that we we had been talking about "value" in a monetary context. I
was using the term more generally.   But now that you get to that, it is
certainly possible to place a monetary value on Elk, Moose and other wildlife in
relation to their benefit and cost as a resource. If you were to consider the
state of Maine as a game preserve, then the value of a moose would be equal to
the administrative costs required to monitor and manage all activities involving
moose, the cost of their impact on ecosystems in terms of lost forest production,
the monies spent cleaning up after a moose-vehicle impact along with related
medical expenses, etc.  This cost could be balanced against the amount of money
brought in through various moose related tourist and hunting activities,
licenses. etc. and compared against the total population of moose in the state of
Maine, with relative vale ratios applied to adults vs. juveniles and bulls vs.
cows. The additionally, that value could be broken down and assigned to various
counties and towns according to what percentage of the state's total moose
population was resident in that municipality.  It could be done, but it would be
ridiculous to bother.

Iceman


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