Invasive species and delaying the inevitable: Valuation evidence from a national survey

A survey was designed to elicit donations for delaying inevitable aquatic invasions of inland water bodies within a respondent's region. Surveys were distributed throughout the United States. Assuming all aquatic species groups invade simultaneously, our results suggest that the average person was willing to make a one-time payment of $48 to delay low to high impacts one year (aggregates to nearly $4 billion for all U.S. households). By comparison, the federal government currently (2006) invests $394 million annually for all invasive species (aquatic and terrestrial) prevention and early detection/rapid response. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.