Public Preferences for Forest Management Characteristics
Investigators:
Thomas Holmes,
Southern Research Station
Kevin Boyle, University of Maine
Description:
Forest managment and timber harvesting practices have become issues of considerable public debate for public and private forest lands. While public input into forestry practices is often viewed rather simplistically, the consequences for forest managers can often be quite complex. In this study, we focus on a small number of forest harvesting attributes in an attempt to make the survey instrument tractable to respondents. The attributes we investigated are all features that could affect the health of forest ecosystems (density of logging roads, number of dead and dying trees left in harvest areas for wildlife habitat, number of live trees left in harvest areas for natural forest regeneration, harvest opening size, size of riparian protection zones, percentage of land area available for timber harvesting, methods of slash disposal). Each respondent was asked to evaluate four randomly drawn combinations of these attributes in a conjoint question, and then was asked a follow-up contingent valuation question. By dividing the sample into three groups each faced with a different question format, the experimental design allows us to: (1) investigate whether the value the public places on forest ecosystems is affected by forest harvesting practices, (2) investigate the effect of the conjoint question format on estimates of preference parameters, and (3) compare the consistency of conjoint and contingent valuation estimates.
Problem Area(s):
Public involvement
Status:
Ongoing
Products:
Holmes, Thomas; Boyle, Kevin; Teisl, Mario; Roach, Brian; Phillips, Shelley. 1998. Public preferences for timber harvesting practices using conjoint analysis: a comparison of different response options. Paper presented at the First World Congress of Environmental and Resource Economists; Venice, Italy, 25-27 June 1998.
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modified:
13-MAR-2000
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USDA FS SRS
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