Land Use: Forest Lands
Ecosystem Service: Fish and Wildlife Habitat
Regional Value Estimate: $3 per acre per year
Confidence Level (in estimated value): Moderate - Low

How was value determined:

1. The regional value for forest lands fish and wildlife habitat was transferred from one peer-reviewed study on decreases in forest production resulting from habitat conservation in Alberta, Canada (Haener and Adamowicz 2000).
2. The study values were converted to a per acre figure by dividing the lost production values by the total number of forested acres in the Alberta study area (Haener and Adamowicz 2000).
3. The resulting figure was directly transferred to the policy region.

Value estimate limitations:

1. The majority of studies valuing fish and wildlife habitat are specific to certain endangered species. These species cannot be found in West Michigan, making the transferability of the estimate inappropriate.
2. The value estimate that could be determined is therefore very conservative when compared to these other studies valuing fish and wildlife habitat for endangered species.
3. The Alberta study area is not identical to the West Michigan policy area; e.g., population densities, topography, proximity to large water body, etc.