Valuation of goods and services produced by coppice and high forest management alternatives in the Pabucdere Watershed

Abstract

To effectively manage forest resources, consideration of all benefits provided by forests in management decisions is necessarily required. In this study, the value of benefits gained through management approaches such as coppice forest and high forest was estimated using choice experiments. According to this method, 16 different choice sets were created to include the combination of the level of benefits. There are three forest management options-one status quo (current situation) and two different management options in each choice set. This study aimed to determine the effect of possible management options on marketable and nonmarketable benefits produced by different types of forest management regimes in the Pabucdere watershed. Four ecosystem benefits in form of resources such as timber, water. wildlife. and mushroom were considered. A face-to-face survey was conducted on 384 respondents living in villages inside and near the watershed. Data obtained were analyzed using conditional logit and random parameter logit models with the NLOGIT 5.0 statistical program. Marginal values of the benefits for different parts of the research area and the annual total economic value of each option were calculated. Results revealed that changes in forest management approaches cause a corresponding change in the values added by the society. Considering social preferences as a whole, the more number of "high forests" in the Pabucdere watershed, the more is the value added by the society to forest services.