Journal of Parks

This research assesses how land-cover transitions from 2012 to 2022 have impacted the value of ecosystem services in Denton County, Texas. Using remote sensing and spatial analysis, this study quantitatively links land-use change to its ecological and economic consequences. Full-county Landsat data were analyzed in ArcGIS Pro through supervised classification and categorical change detection. To quantify the impact of these changes, an accuracy assessment was performed, and a benefit-transfer method using both global and Texas-specific coefficients was applied to estimate the change in Ecosystem Service Value (ESV). Results revealed a complex dynamic: while the county experienced significant urban expansion, it also saw substantial greening as large areas of bare land transitioned to vegetation. However, this greening was not enough to offset the economic impact of losing high-value ecosystems. The analysis shows a net loss in total ESV over the decade, estimated between USD 24 million and USD 95 million per year, primarily driven by the significant reduction of water bodies. This study provides a replicable framework for policymakers to assess the environmental trade-offs of development and highlights the critical importance of preserving existing high-value ecosystems alongside urban greening initiatives.

(1) Background: Analyses using participatory GIS (PGIS) data have primarily focused on reporting landscape values (e.g., subsistence, spiritual) or activities (e.g., hunting, meditation) and less frequently on identifying patterns of value and activity co-occurrence. This paper explores whether consistent combinations of landscape values and activities associated with meaningful places identified by visitors—referred to as “bundles”—emerge across protected areas. These bundles represent the cognitive-behavioral components of sense of place. (2) Methods: We used exploratory factor analysis on aggregated PGIS data collected between 2011 and 2017 to identify value-activity bundles across three protected areas administered by the Forest Service in the northwestern United States. (3) Results: We found no universal bundles of landscape values and activities across the protected areas, limiting the ability to describe consistent sense of place bundles. Instead, relationships between landscape values and activities varied across areas. Weak associations between them highlight heterogeneity in how individuals perceive and interact with meaningful places, reflecting the subjective and context-dependent nature of the sense of place. (4) Conclusions: These findings suggest that identifying visitor “types” for outreach and planning may be more nuanced than anticipated. To provide diverse opportunities for visitors to protected areas, planners and decision-makers may need to move beyond standard audience segmentation practices and consider the context-dependent nature of sense of place.

Researchers, policy- and decision-makers, and planners have historically focused on the monetary value of parks and green spaces (either as costs or potential sale value). In this article, we argue that researchers, practitioners, and policymakers need to consider and investigate the non-economic values of parks and green spaces to more fully understand the worth of these spaces. We apply the total economic value framework (TEVF) to parks and green spaces in Kalamazoo, Michigan, to assess how use values and non-use values shape how people value local green spaces. This methodology provides a more comprehensive value of park spaces beyond the economic value which, in most cases, undervalues natural spaces. Our research indicates that, in the case of Kalamazoo, Michigan, parks and green spaces are worth more than the monetary value of their property to people. Non-use, existence, and bequest values all load strongly in our analysis, and these results indicate that people in the Kalamazoo area believe the worth of their park spaces extends well beyond the purely economic realm. We further argue that TEVF is an effective tool for park managers to incorporate diverse value systems and perceptions to quantify the importance of these values.