From Water Quality to Riparian Corridors: Assessing Willingness to Pay for Conservation Easements Using the Contingent Valuation Method

This article reports a survey to elicit public response to a proposal to fund a purchase of a conservation easements program to protect an environmentally sensitive riparian corridor. The results from two versions of the contingent valuation method (CVM)--a payment card and a referendum--reveal that mean household willingness to pay (WTP) is $16.80 and $29.16, respectively. Factors influencing WTP include proposed cost, age of respondent, and individual sense of local environmental priorities. This type of study represents an important opportunity for Extension educators to assist local officials as they struggle to make policy decisions regarding a variety of public projects.