Implicit Environmental Value of Old Growth on the United States National Forests in Western Washington

Abstract

The value is found to change during the study period (1963--1995) and increases with the scarcity of the resource. The average environmental value per acre is about $24,459 for the periods 1963--1976, and $128,437 for the last of periods. These values are much higher than the resulted value of previous studies, which is $2,520 per acre (Calish et al, 1978) and $1,155 per acre (Berck, 1979) for the value of total non-timber services in second growth forests, and public managers have considered the significant role of old growth to its environment and ecosystem. The result of structural change test, however, illustrates that the introduction of the National Forest Management Act of 1976 does not change public managers' view on the environmental value of the old growth stock. Unlike other studies of valuation of non-marketable goods, in this study, the imputed supply value of non-timber services that managers of large public forests place on old growth was examined.