Introduction

An urban park is an ecological function and process that provides spiritual, recreational, aesthetic, and social benefits to the human and community. Moreover, urban parks are categorized as Green Infrastructure (GI). Mell (2008) argues that  Green Infrastructure (GI) is “the physical environment within and between cities, towns, and villages. The network of open spaces, waterways, gardens, woodlands, green corridors, street trees and open countryside that brings many social, economic, and environmental benefits to local people and communities” (p. 73). Urban parks provide several ecological benefits such as cultural and recreational facilities, wildlife habitat, pollination, climate regulation, and disturbance regulation. Costanza et al. (2017) stated that “ ‘Ecosystem services’ (ES) are the ecological characteristics, functions, or processes that directly or indirectly contribute to human wellbeing: that is, the benefits that people derive from functioning ecosystems”(p. 3). This study’s aim is to estimate the value of  Peterson Creek Nature Park (which is in Kamloops, in the interior of British Columbia) through holistic and benefit transfer methods, which were used by Sutton and Anderson (2016) to estimate the value of ecosystem services provided by Central Park in New York City.

Peterson Creek Nature Park

Figure 1 shows a satellite view of 94 hectares size of  Peterson Creek Nature Park and its surrounding areas such as Downtown Kamloops and Upper Sahali.

Peterson Creek Park is one of the best hiking trail parks in Kamloops, and the park offers 30 km of hiking trails. In addition, the trails are varied from easy to most complex and offer an astonishing city view, and the park has several entrances, but two main entrances have parking facilities: for instance, Downtown and Summit Drive entrance (City of Kamloops, 2022). The park has a picnic area located at Columbia Street, near 6th Avenue; further, “this park includes the Xget’tem’ Trail multi-use path, which opened in Fall 2018” (City of Kamloops, 2022). The park has a waterfall called Bridal Veil Falls; by strenuous hiking, anyone can enjoy the dazzling view of the falls.

Methodology

This study used holistic and benefit transfer methods to evaluate the value of  Peterson Creek Nature Park, which was used by Sutton and Anderson (2016) to estimate the value of ecosystem services provided by Central Park in New York City. Moreover, to estimate the total value of Peterson Creek Nature Park data is collected from BC Assessment (2021). This study showed land values of the surrounding area of  Peterson Creek, which is a total of 42 land values with 41 single-detached homes and one hospital, were used to assess the park’s value. The land values are converted per hectare basis and calculated as the averaged value to get the per hectare price of the land. Then, the average per hectare value of the land was multiplied by the 94 hectares of park size to demarcate the park’s assessed valuation. Sutton and Anderson (2016) assumed a 5% return from the park’s value to represent the annual ecosystem services; hence, the study used this method to evaluate the ecosystem services that Peterson Creek Park provides. Furthermore, the study also applied ESVD database for estimating the value of ecosystem services that the Park delivers.

Result

Table 1 demonstrates descriptive statistics of the relevant variables obtained from the BC Assessment website. The average land value is $434,071 for 41 residential houses and one hospital, and the average land size is 0.196 hectares. Land values vary from a minimum of $297,000 to maximum $2,291,000, although 75% (Q3) of the values are less than $404,750. The land values are converted on a per hectare basis, and the study finds average land value is $3,258,548, ranging from a minimum of $755,745 to a maximum of $5,426,390.

Table 1: Descriptive statistics of 41 residential houses and one hospital by Peterson Creek Nature Park

Using the average land value, the study estimates that the total value of  Peterson Creek Park will be $306 million and contributes $15.3 million in annual ecosystem services. Further,  if one uses the value of ecosystem services per hectare per year for green infrastructure of US$109,503/ha/year (ESVD, 2020) translating to Canadian at the exchange rate of 1.25 CDN per US yields CDN $136,879 per ha per year giving annual ecosystem services slightly lower at $12.8 million or a yield of 4.2% per year.

Discussion and conclusion

This study found the value of Peterson Creek park at $306 million with ecosystem services per year in the range of $12.8 – 15.3 million. Estimating the value of urban parks and ecosystem services is challenging because the urban area community is unaware of their values. Further, seasonal diversity will be another challenge, and the intrinsic values that communities get from the urban park will not be measurable. Nevertheless, by assigning a dollar value to urban parks, the community will know the value of good mental health, conservation facilities of the park will increase, and awareness of protection among the community will develop.

References

British Columbia Assessment (2021). British Columbia Property Values. Kamloops BC. https://www.bcassessment.ca/.

Costanza, R., De Groot, R., Braat, L., Kubiszewski, I., Fioramonti, L., Sutton, P., … & Grasso, M. (2017). Twenty years of ecosystem services: how far have we come and how far do we still need to go? Ecosystem services, 28, 1-16. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecoser.2017.09.008

Costanza, R., Kubiszewski, I., Ervin, D., Bluffstone, R., Boyd, J., Brown, D., … & Yeakley, A. (2011). Valuing ecological systems and services. F1000 biology reports, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecoser.10.3410/B3-14

City of Kamloops (2022). Parks & Recreation: Peterson Creek Nature Park. https://www.kamloops.ca/recreation-culture/parks-sports-fields/peterson-creek-nature-park

De Groot, R., Brander, L, Solomonides, S (2020). Ecosystem Services Valuation Database (ESVD) Version June 2020. www.es-partnership.org/esvd

Mell, I. C. (2008, June). Green infrastructure: concepts and planning. In FORUM ejournal (Vol. 8, No. 1, pp. 69-80). https://d1wqtxts1xzle7.cloudfront.net/30399004/green_infrastructure-with-cover-page-v2.pdf?

Sutton, P. C., & Anderson, S. J. (2016). Holistic valuation of urban ecosystem services in New York City’s Central Park. Ecosystem Services, 19, 87-91. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecoser.2016.04.003