What is the Value of Long Island’s Environment?

By Kevin McDonald, Director of Public Lands,
The Nature Conservancy on Long Island

This past Labor Day was one of the busiest beach weekends of the year on Long Island. The region’s parks were crowded with folks enjoying the great summer weather. This is Long Island at its best, one of the key reasons people choose to live here.

But what are the values that Long Islanders put on these natural systems? It is human nature to take things around us for granted, failing to appreciate their value until they are lost or impaired. Beach closures, favorite fishing locations blocked, depleted shellfish and finfish resources that older friends and family tell us about that are gone– these thoughts come to mind.

It is important, though, to reflect on the value added that beaches, parks, farmland, open spaces and other natural areas provide to Long Islanders. Broken down into three segments, value added would be: 1. direct economic investment, like tourism; 2. ecosystem services and 3. enhanced quality of life. Combined, the economic value of parks and open spaces to Long Island is significant.
Tourism alone is Long Island’s largest industry generating $4.7 billion annually.

Ecosystem services, which economists refer to as natural systems or natural capital, are hard to value and here is why: Even though rain falls on the pine barrens, and trillions of gallons of pure water are then stored in the groundwater beneath us, readily available to meet our drinking water needs, we spent no money providing this process. Economists do not usually place a value on this natural process as compared to auto body workers paid to repair two cars in an auto accident; the last is counted as economic activity. We know the price of a gallon of gas because we read the signs at service stations, but we drive past parks, beaches, pine barrens and other natural areas which have no such signs to tell us the value of the natural services provided by them.

Society has a more difficult time valuing Long Island wetlands, pine barrens or bays and harbors and the functions that they provide. But we do know this: ecosystems provide a number of critical economically important services for the public including pollution abatement, water supply and groundwater protection, storm and flooding mitigation and plant and animal habitat. We also know that once impaired, natural systems are very difficult and very costly to remediate. One plume of gasoline or oil in the groundwater can cost scores of million of dollars to clean up. So the idiom that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure surely applies to the environment and its value to us.

A recent study found that New Jersey’s natural capital (the worth of all the benefits provided by natural systems to the residents and visitors) is valued at between $15 and $19 billion annually, with a present value of around $500 billion. If, for example, a series of development decisions reduced the function of New Jersey’s natural capital by 20% it would cost its residents about $3 billion annually, $100 billion at present value to replace these natural services with artificial or man-made ones. No such study has been undertaken for Long Island, but it is critical that the public and officials grasp the notion of natural capital and the likely significance to our economic well-being.
Finally, it is the natural systems or capital that anchors so much of Long Island’s quality of life. We all smile at the sight of an 18 month-old toddler squealing with delight while she bravely runs from tiny waves at the beach, or a father and son fishing together, for what appears to be the first time. How is this valued? Individually they are priceless and collectively they are substantial and why so many of us love to live here.

So the region’s economy and quality of life are dependent on quality parks and natural systems that still need to be protected and restored. Today there are about 70,000 acres of vacant land left on Long Island and there is a major effort underway to ensure that the best of our natural capital is protected and that it continues to pay dividends to Long Islanders well into the future. This is why three years ago a coalition of 100 civic, environmental and business leaders agreed that we needed to protect 25,000 acres of open space, 10,000 acres of farmland, and to restore parks, harbors and bays across the region. This effort is known as Long Island’s Last Stand. This would leave the other half of Long Island’s vacant land for development as well as plenty of opportunity to redevelop abandoned downtowns, shopping centers and other disinvested areas across Long Island. The strategy is really simple. Let’s protect the best of what remains and let’s redevelop communities that are showing signs of disinvestment.

Let us never lose the appreciation for the value that the environment and its natural systems have, because once lost, we may never get them back.

Kevin McDonald is director of public lands for the Nature Conservancy on Long Island. He is responsible for identifying public funding to support initiatives for land protection as well as habitat restoration and management across Long Island. He has been involved in 12 environmental ballot propositions over the last 20 years.