Forest owner incentives to protect riparian habitat

Abstract

Private landowners increasingly are asked to cooperate with landscape-level management to protect or enhance ecological resources. We examine the willingness of nonindustrial private forest owners in the Pacific Northwest (USA) to forego harvesting within riparian areas to improve riparian habitat. An empirical model is developed describing owners’ willingness to accept an economic incentive to adopt a 200-foot harvest buffer along streams as a function of their forest ownership objectives and socioeconomic characteristics. Results suggest that owners’ willingness to forego harvest varies by their forest ownership objectives. Mean incentive payments necessary to induce owners to forego harvest in riparian areas are higher for owners possessing primarily timber objectives ($128–137/acre/year) than for owners possessing both timber and nontimber objectives ($54–69/acre/year) or primarily recreation objectives ($38–57/acre/year).