The Amenity Value of Woodland in Great Britain: A Comparison of Economic Estimates GUY GARROD and KEN WILLIS Countrystde Change Umt, Department of Agricultural Economics & Food Marketing, Um- versity of Newcastle upon Tyne, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 7RU, Great Britain. Abstract. Forests produce benefits over and above the revenue ymlded from timber and other wood based products. Most important among these may be the recreational benefits for visitors, which have been examined in several studies. Total benefits for residents are perhaps more accurately captured in property values since, ceteris paribus, the price of a house reflects willingness to pay to live near an environmental amenity such as a forest to gain access to it, and also the amenity (non-use) value of the forest in so far as it creates a pleasant landscape. However, the total non-priced value of forestry is not the sum of HPM and ITCM benefit estimates. Recreational benefits will typically be less, and will be subsumed in the HPM estimates, since the hedonic price is partly induced by the value of recreational access. Key words. Hedonic price method, travel-cost method, forestry. Introduction The economic value of woodland is typically measured in terms of the revenue generated from timber and associated goods, and the benefits yielded from the non-priced recreational activities of visitors. These latter values are often estimated through the use of some non-market valuation techniques such as the travel-cost method (TCM) or contingent valuation. Leaving the valuation there, would ignore the wide range of non-use benefits which arise from forestry, plus the amenity value which accrues to those indi- viduals and households who choose to live in close proximity to woodland. While non-use values are typically calculated using some form of con- tingent valuation approach, another well-established non-market valuation technique, the hedonic price method (HPM), is often used to value amenity. Derived from consumer theory (Lancaster, 1966) the HPM relies on the proposition that an individual's utility is based on the attributes of the good in question. In the case of housing, consumer theory postulates that the purchase price which a potential buyer is willing to pay is dependent upon the existence and level of a wide range of housing attributes including: (a) structural characteristics: e.g., lot size, number of rooms, garage space, central heating and structural integrity; (b) local socio-economic and public sector characteristics: e.g., unemployment rate, social conditions, wage differ- entials, quality of schools and local taxes; (c) environmental and neighbour- hood characteristics: e.g., view, tree cover, air quality, noise, and water frontage; and (d) accessibility characteristics: e.g., access to shops, mainline rail links, major roads and urban centres. Envtronmental and Resource Economzcs 2:415--434, 1992. 9 1992 Kluwer Academic Publishers. Prmted in the Netherlands.