Christopher T. Bastian

Environmental amenities and agricultural land values: a hedonic model using geographic information systems data

Abstract Remote agricultural lands, which include wildlife habitat, angling opportunities and scenic vistas, command higher prices per hectare in Wyoming than those whose landscape is dominated by agricultural production. Geographic information systems (GIS) data are used to measure recreational and scenic amenities associated with rural land. A hedonic price model is specified with GIS measures. It is used to estimate the impact of amenity and agricultural production land characteristics on price per acre for a sample of Wyoming agricultural parcels. Results indicate that the specification performed well across several functional forms. The sampled land prices are explained by the level of both environmental amenities as well as production attributes. Statistically significant amenity variables included scenic view, elk habitat, sport fishery productivity and distance to town. This analysis permits a better estimation of environmental amenity values from hedonic techniques. Improved estimation of amenity values is vital for policies aimed at open space preservation, using agricultural conservation easements and land use conflict resolution.

Agglomeration bonus: an incentive mechanism to reunite fragmented habitat for biodiversity conservation

This paper examines an experiment conducted to explore a voluntary incentive mechanism, the agglomeration bonus, designed to protect endangered species and biodiversity by reuniting fragmented habitat across private land. The goal is to maximize habitat protection and minimize landowner resentment. The agglomeration bonus mechanism pays an extra bonus for every acre a landowner retires that borders on any other retired acre. The mechanism provides incentive for non-cooperative landowners to voluntarily create a contiguous reserve across their common border. A government agency’s role is to target the critical habitat, to integrate the agglomeration bonus into the compensation package, and to provide landowners the unconditional freedom to choose which acres to retire. The downside with the bonus, however, is that multiple Nash equilibria exist, which can be ranked by the level of habitat fragmentation. Our lab results show that a no-bonus mechanism always created fragmented habitat, whereas with the bonus, players found the first-best habitat reserve. Once pre-play communication and random pairings was introduced, players found the first-best outcome in nearly 92% of play.

Estimating visual properties of Rocky Mountain landscapes using GIS

Abstract View quality rating is an important component of land management that is still undergoing parameter definition and technical development. Methods enabling the efficient and accurate quantification of viewshed properties over large viewsheds using readily available data are particularly needed. This paper describes a procedure for measuring a suite of visual properties known to influence viewer preferences for hundreds of observation points in extensive Wyoming landscapes. Planimetric and panoramic simulations were used for quantifying appropriate viewshed parameters. These simulations were created in ArcInfo using USGS digital elevation data and satellite-derived landcover. The planimetric simulation was ideal for quantifying the dimensions of views (areal extent, depth, relief), but not adequate for quantifying the composition of views (landcover, diversity, and edge of landcover). Instead, a high correlation existed between panoramic estimates of landcover and equivalent images captured in the field ( r 2 =0.97). The viewsheds examined in this study had large areal extents, large relief, extended depth, and naturalness, and may extend beyond the spatial scales for which view-quality concepts and preference relationships were developed.

Economics of grassland conversion to cropland in the prairie pothole region.

Much of the remaining grassland, particularly in North America, is privately owned, and its conversion to cultivated cropland is largely driven by economics. An understanding of why landowners convert grassland to cropland could facilitate more effective design of grassland-conservation programs. We built an empirical model of land-use change in the Prairie Pothole Region (north-central United States) to estimate the probability of grassland conversion to alternative agricultural land uses, including cultivated crops. Conversion was largely driven by landscape characteristics and the economic returns of alternative uses. Our estimate of the probability of grassland conversion to cultivated crops (1.33% on average from 1979 to 1997) was higher than past estimates (0.4%). Our model also predicted that grassland-conversion probabilities will increase if agricultural commodity prices continue to follow the trends observed from 2001 to 2006 (0.93% probability of grassland conversion to cultivated crops in 2006 to 1.5% in 2011). Thus, nearly 121,000 ha (300,000 acres) of grassland could be converted to cropland annually from 2006 to [corrected] 2011. Conversion probabilities, however, are spatially heterogeneous (range 0.2% to 3%), depending on characteristics of a parcel (e.g., soil quality and economic returns). Grassland parcels with relatively high-quality land for agricultural production are more likely to be converted to cultivated crops than lower-quality parcels and are more responsive to changes in the economic returns on alternative agricultural land uses (i.e., conversion probability increases by a larger magnitude for high-quality parcels when economics returns to alternative uses increase). Our results suggest that grassland conservation programs could be proactively targeted toward high-risk parcels by anticipating changes in economic returns, such as could occur if a new biofuel processing plant were to be built in an area.

The economic benefits of snowmobiling to Wyoming residents: a travel cost approach with market segmentation.

Little research has been done on the economic benefits of snowmobiling. This study uses cluster analysis to identify different snowmobiler segments, and then uses the travel cost method to estimate the respective consumer surplus values for the pooled sample and the different market segments. Consumer surplus per trip for the pooled sample is

Optimal Rangeland Stocking Decisions Under Stochastic and Climate-Impacted Weather

68 and for the different market segments ranged from

Factors Impacting Agricultural Landowners' Willingness to Enter into Conservation Easements: A Case Study

31 to

Market Segmentation of Wyoming Snowmobilers

101 per trip. Differences between the pooled model and segments highlight the importance of differentiating recreational users for both management related issues and for economic benefit measurements.

Estimating the Economic Value of Improved Trout Fishing on Wyoming Streams

A Stochastic Dynamic Programming (SDP) model is developed to analyze optimal stocking rates in the face of weather uncertainty and potential climate change projections. The model extends previous work modeling grazing as a predator‐prey relationship. Attention is given to profit maximizing decisions when growing season precipitation is unknown. Comparisons are made across results from a model that utilizes constant growing season precipitation in all years. Results suggest that optimal stocking rates and profitability decrease in climate change scenarios with increased precipitation variability as compared to the historical stochastic weather scenario.

The Effects of Environmental Amenities on Agricultural Land Values

Agricultural lands offer an abundance of environmental goods and services, yet face residential development pressures. Conservation easements are frequently used to protect both productive land and environmental amenities. The landowner retains ownership, and may donate development rights or receive compensation for permanently limiting development on the property. Focus groups were conducted with agricultural landowners in Wyoming and Colorado to explore factors affecting their preferences for conservation easements. Results from the focus groups reveal that landowners have concerns about providing easements in perpetuity. They also considered public access to and loss of managerial control of their property as obstacles. Focus-group results indicated that landowners valued the provision of public goods, such as wildlife habitat and open space, to neighboring communities, and generally felt something important would be lost to their communities if their lands were developed. Addressing landowner concerns could potentially increase the volume of easement transactions.