Pinyon’s Economics team is currently working with the Montana Natural Resource Damage Program to evaluate the impacts of a train derailment and subsequent asphalt liquified petroleum “asphalt” spill on recreational use of the Yellowstone River. Our team is leading all aspects of the recreation survey effort—from developing the sampling design, developing survey questions to administering the survey and analyzing results. We’re using a combination of targeted angler outreach and passive intercept surveys to collect feedback from river users, with the goal of producing statistically reliable, and defensible data that can support damage claims. This project highlights our experience with survey planning, stakeholder coordination, and defensible, litigation-ready data analysis.
