Economic Impact of Leafy Spurge on Grazing Land and Wildland in North Dakota

Authors

F. Larry Leistritz, North Dakota State University, Fargo, ND
Dean A. Bangsund, North Dakota State University, Fargo, ND
Nancy M. Wallace, North Dakota State University, Fargo, ND
Jay A. Leitch, North Dakota State University, Fargo, ND

Date of this Version

February 1993

Comments

Published in Great Plains Research 3:1 (February 1993), pp. 21-37. Copyright © 1993 The Center for Great Plains Studies, University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Used by permission. http://www.unl.edu/plains/publications/GPR/gpr.shtml

Abstract

A variety of undesirable plants pose problems for managers of grazing land and/or wildland because they reduce the land's usefulness for livestock grazing or are detrimental to its other functions, such as wildlife habitat or watershed protection. The purpose of this study was to assess the direct and secondary economic impacts of leafy spurge infestations in North Dakota. This involved estimating the extent of leafy spurge infestations on grazing land and wildland, estimating the effects of the infestation on the outputs of both types of land, estimating the direct economic effects of these changes in outputs, and using input-output analysis to estimate the secondary economic effects accruing to other sectors of the state economy.