Pacific salmon restoration: Trade-offs between economic efficiency and political acceptance

There is no simple solution to the problems of salmon restoration given substantial political and scientific uncertainties. There are, however, some local findings in Oregon that can provide guidance to resource managers charged with allocating funds for conservation purposes. This article shows that in most salmon habitat investments, there are likely to be strong nonlinearities (cumulative and threshold effects) that mitigate against politically palatable allocation criteria., In fact, this research indicates that decisions based on political equity concerns may actually lead to the lowest possible benefits to society. These scientific nonlinearities may make the political resolution of salmon recovery more difficult.