RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Valuing Grassland Restoration: Proximity to Substitutes and Trade-offs among Conservation Attributes
JF Land Economics
JO Land Econ
FD University of Wisconsin Press
SP 237
OP 259
DO 10.3368/le.90.2.237
VO 90
IS 2
A1 Dissanayake, Sahan T. M.
A1 Ando, Amy W.
YR 2014
UL http://le.uwpress.org/content/90/2/237.abstract
AB We demonstrate how choice experiment survey methods can be used to guide ecosystem restoration efforts. We use a choice experiment survey to estimate willingness to pay (WTP) for different attributes of restored grassland ecosystems. We find that the presence of nearby grasslands increases a respondent’s WTP and that species richness, population density, and the presence of endangered species are all significant factors that contribute to the respondent’s WTP. This implies that all these conservation success measures should be taken into account in planning and in research. To our knowledge this is the first study to calculate the WTP for grasslands. (JEL Q51, Q57)