Quantifying the Health Care Costs Savings of Outdoor Recreation

Planners, policy makers and elected officials alike need economic arguments to advance investments in health-related infrastructure and programs. This workshop will highlight two SHIFT Award Official Selections, one from Oregon, and the other from Brownsville, Texas, that quantified the cost savings of physical activity, and pair the economists responsible for the analyses with representatives from those communities who can speak to how they used the results to procure greater funding for their initiatives. 

• The Oregon Outdoor Recreation Health Impacts Estimator Tool was used to calculate that Oregonians’ participation in outdoor recreation activities saves the state $1.4 billion annually in health care costs.
• The City of Brownsville (TX)’s Lower Rio Grande Valley Active Transportation and Active Tourism Plan (aka The Caracara Trails) estimated annual health care cost savings of $5.9-$12.3 million from increased physical activity on 291 miles of multi-use trails.

Panelists will review existing tools and economic data, create strong economic framing, and build the economic argument for different types of applications.

Moderator: Tania Briceno, PhD, Ecological Economist, Batker Consulting LLC

Panelists:

• Shelton Brown, Associate Professor, Management, Policy & Community Health, University of Texas School of Public Health 
• Tara Pesterfield (née Dunn), Let’s Go Camping Event Coordinator, Oregon Parks and Recreation Department (2019 SHIFT Award Official Selection)
• Randall Rosenberger, PhD, Associate Dean of Undergraduate Studies, Oregon State University (2019 SHIFT Award Official Selection) (via Skype)
• Terry Bergerson, Outdoor Recreation Planner, Oregon State Parks
• Eva Garcia, Project Manager, Lower Rio Grande Valley Active Plan (2019 SHIFT Award Official Selection)