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Central Washington University

The Economic Impacts of Cougars in Western Washington

Abstract

dc:description.abstract

The combination of increasing cougar populations and the rising human population in Wildland-Urban Interface (WUI) areas suggests that the number of human-cougar encounters will rise as well. The increase in human-cougar encounters creates potential issues in regard to public safety, public policy, and management of predators. For the purposes of this research, I employ a housing dataset for eleven counties in western Washington in order to quantify the impacts of a confirmed cougar sighting on the sale value of a home. Specifically, I employ the hedonic real estate price model. Results show statistically significant impacts on housing values in the presence of a cougar sighting. These results suggest the need for changes in policy regarding management of cougars, as well as land use management.

Degree

thesis:*
Name thesis:degree_name
Master of Science (MS)
Discipline thesis:degree_discipline
Cultural and Environmental Resource Management
Year dc:date.available
2017

Author and committee

dc:creator, dc:contributor.*
Author dc:creator
  • Stoothoff, Todd
Contributors dc:contributor
  • Toni Sipic
  • Charles Wassell, Jr.
  • Robert J. Hickey

Subjects

dc:subject × 6

Rights

Language dc:language
English

Identifiers

dc:identifier.*
Repository record dc:identifier
https://digitalcommons.cwu.edu/etd/687
OAI identifier oai:identifier
oai:digitalcommons.cwu.edu:etd-1699

Chain of custody

source
Harvested from
Central Washington University
Base URL
digitalcommons.cwu.edu/do/oai/
Last updated
2026-07-24
Source record
OAI-PMH GetRecord
citation

Stoothoff, Todd. The Economic Impacts of Cougars in Western Washington. 2017. https://digitalcommons.cwu.edu/etd/687