Peter J. Parks

Land Use with Heterogeneous Land Quality: An Application of an Area Base Model

Area base models are being used in resource assessments to project the availability of farm and forest land. In this paper we introduce a heterogenous land area base model and apply it to a five-state region in the southeastern United States. Land quality turns out to be an important determinant of land use, suggesting that existing homogeneous land area base models may have an omitted variable problem. Parameter estimates are obtained using a modified multinomial logit model, which allows for error due to the use of county averages and error resulting from the use of sample estimates of land use acreage. Copyright 1997, Oxford University Press.

Spatial Variability and Disincentives to Harvest: Deforestation and Fuelwood Collection in South Asia

A major strategy to combat deforestation caused by household fuel collection has been the establishment of plantations, especially in India. A household model is specified with a number of collection possibilities and analyzed empirically using household, vegetation, and GIS data, and the potential decrease in collection from the natural forest is estimated. The results show reduced pressure on the natural forest due to the establishment of plantations. It also questions buffer zone plantations very close to natural forests. (JEL Q23)

Responsiveness of Rural and Urban Land Uses to Land Rent Determinants in the U.S. South

Ricardian and von Thunen land rent models are combined into a single land use share model including farm, forest, and urban land uses. The land share model is applied to the Southern United States, and elasticities are extracted that measure land share response to changes in population, income, land values, prices, and costs in counties with different degrees of urbanizationT. he study explores the effect of treating either rural or urban land as a residual use. While this practice is common in existing land use studies, it is found to significantly affect parameter estimates in this county-level analysis.

Integrating GIS into farmland preservation policy and decision making

Abstract The paper describes an experiment with the integration of geographic information systems (GIS) into farmland preservation techniques using the data and policies of Hunterdon County, NJ as a case study. The automation process incorporates a variety of factors as criteria for evaluating properties for a purchase of development rights. The spatially explicit criteria include evaluations of the soils, neighboring land uses, proximity to preserved farms, and local communities’ commitment to practices contributing to sustaining farming. This automation is particularly notable in that it uses a parcel-based approach at a county-wide scale. This supports both an assessment of individual farms and a broad understanding of policy outcomes and pattern across the entire county. More interesting are the emerging pattern of benefits and barriers in the automation process highlighted by this exploration.

Natural Resource use Conflict: Gold Mining in Tropical Rainforest in Ghana

Gold is frequently mined in rainforests that can provide either gold or forest benefits, but not both. This conflict in resource use occurs in Ghana, a developing country in the tropics where the capital needed for mining is obtained from foreign direct investment (FDI). We use a dynamic model to show that an ad valorem severance tax on gross revenue can be used to internalize environmental opportunity costs. The optimal tax must equal the ratio of marginal benefits from forest use to marginal benefits from gold extraction. Over time, this tax must change at a rate equal to the difference between the discount rate and the rate of change in the price of gold. Empirical results suggest that the 3 percent tax rate currently used in Ghana is too low to fully represent the external cost of extraction (i.e., lost forest benefits).

Integrated Natural Resource Management in Northern Sweden: An Application to Forestry and Reindeer Husbandry

Forests in northern Sweden are used for both timber production and reindeer grazing. Negative externalities and open access effects threaten the ability of the region to sustain economic benefits from these uses. A discrete time simulation for three municipalities in northern Sweden suggests that modifying forest harvest practices can enhance profits from reindeer production, with relatively low timber opportunity costs. Such efforts to sustain joint benefits from these boreal environments are more likely to be successful in combination with control of reindeer herd sizes. (JEL Q21, Q23)

Using Resource Economics to Anticipate Forest Land Use Change in the U.S. Mid-Atlantic Region

Demands for forest, farm, and developed land are evolving in the U.S. mid-Atlantic region. The demand for land in developed uses, as well as demands for various forest and farm products are changing in response to population growth, demographic shifts, and market forces. As demand factors change so do relative land values. Land area in future forest, farm, and developed uses may shift as landowners re-evaluate relative net benefits from land use alternatives. This study examines the effects of various land demand and supply factors on the determination of land use patterns in the mid-Atlantic region. Driving variables include costs and benefits from various uses, population density, and measures of land quality. Model parameters are estimated using a binomial logit procedure. Results from the study are used to estimate proportions of forest area on a county by county basis. Simulated forest landscapes under hypothetical future conditions are prepared and illustrated using geographic information system (GIS) techniques.

An Integrated System for Management and Policy Analysis

This paper develops an analytical framework to simulate management- and policy-driven environmental changes in Swedish mountain environments. The framework is based on a dynamic model that includes economic connections between timber and reindeer. Economic benefits are obtained in the timber sector and the reindeer sector, by harvesting forest and reindeer stocks and selling the harvests in markets. Unharvested forest and reindeer stocks provide benefits outside of markets. Reindeer stocks provide benefits by supporting the reindeer husbandry lifestyle for members of the indigenous Saami population. The paper analyzes decisions made by a hypothetical planner of a geographical area corresponding to a Swedish sameby (Saami village). Decision outcomes are measured using the present value of net benefits measured in economic terms, and are obtained both inside and outside of economic markets. The final section gives examples of management and policy decisions that might be simulated for Swedish mountain environments, such as market-based policies to increase the economic welfare derived from private timber and reindeer harvests.

Creating a market for reduced carbon monoxide emissions from mobile sources

Abstract Marginal cost curves are developed for carbon monoxide abatement from mobile sources through the use of a hypothetical incentive program. Highway toll discounts are provided to drivers who install abatement devices beyond those required to comply with state emissions standards. With participation rates and toll demand derived from data on the Garden State Parkway, New Jersey, marginal costs would be

Least-Cost Forest Carbon Reserves: Cost-Effective Subsidies to Convert Marginal Agricultural Land to Forests

78 per ton CO to abate emissions from current stationary sources, and would require a toll discount of