An ex post analysis as a followup to stated preferences for management strategies in Nevada's Black Rock Desert

Nevada's Black Rock Desert in High Rock Canyon (BRD/HRC) provides a variety of recreation services to a multitude of user groups, which makes the development of a management plan for the area a challenge. Stated preference analysis is a widely accepted method for analysing resource management plans; however, resource users with heterogeneous preferences make it difficult to estimate an empirical choice model across all user types. This study introduces an ex post analysis of attribute preferences by introducing a conjoint experiment with a set of follow-up questions in order to better understand how visitors to the BRD/HRC feel about various management plans. The cost of data collection for the follow-up questions is low, while their ability to provide explanatory power of choice behavior is significant.