Land Use: Forest Lands
Ecosystem Service: Erosion Control
Regional Value Estimate: $21 per acre per year
Confidence Level (in estimated value): Moderate

How was value determined:

1. The regional value for forest lands erosion control was transferred from one peer-reviewed study which modeled changes in agricultural land to forest land in Wisconsin (Plantinga and Wu 2003).
2. According to the study, one acre of forest results in three fewer tons of soil erosion per year. One ton of soil is valued at $6.88 (Plantinga and Wu 2003).
3. The resulting figure was directly transferred to the policy region.

Value estimate limitations:

1. The Wisconsin study area is not identical to the West Michigan policy area; e.g., wind speeds, geography and soil type can create strong local variations in valuation data.