STUDY AUTHORS TO SPEAK AT ANNUAL MEETING

WILL ADDRESS ISSUES OF WATER CLARITY & LAKESHORE LAND VALUE

Patrick Welle and Charles Parson, authors of the recently published and award winning study of the relationship between water clarity and the value of lakeshore properties, will speak to the TMLA membership about the study and its implications for TML at our annual meeting on Saturday, August 2, 2003. The study was discussed briefly in the Newsletter, Spring, 2003 (page 2).

The study, which recognized Ten Mile Lake as having water that is clear to a depth of nearly 22 feet, estimated that shore frontage here would increase in value $9 per foot if water clarity increased, and drop $11 per foot if clarity decreased by more than 3 feet. The study was conducted by researchers at Bemidji State University under the direction of the Mississippi Headwaters Board.

Patrick G. Welle holds a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He currently is a Professor of Economics & Environmental Studies at Bemidji State University. In addition to teaching, Dr. Welle enjoys research in the area of environmental and natural resource economics. Much of his research has focused on estimating the economic benefits of maintaining water and forest quality. He has published numerous journal articles and technical reports, many of which report findings from economic surveys on the public's willingness to pay for environmental quality.

(Dr. Parson is presently attending a conference in Iceland; his bio is unavailable at this writing.)