A framework for developing marked-based policies to further biodiversity on non-industrial private forests (NIPF) Jagannadha Matta a, ⁎ , Janaki Alavalapati a , George Tanner b a School of Forest Resources and Conservation, University of Florida, P.O. Box 110410, Gainesville, Florida 32611-0410, USA b Department of Wildlife Ecology and Conservation, University of Florida, P.O. Box 110410, Gainesville, Florida 32611-0410, USA Received 20 September 2005; accepted 13 March 2006 Abstract With the increasing concerns for healthy forests and enhanced habitat for wildlife, private landowner involvement has become a critical component of biodiversity conservation in the US. Since biodiversity conservation is largely a public good, landowners have little incentive to promote it at their own cost. Strategies to develop socially optimal policies for biodiversity conservation should however consider three aspects—identifying forest practices that best promote habitat for a wide range of species at landscape level, estimating the costs associated with adoption of identified practices, and assessing the adoption potential of the identified practices among landowners. In this paper, we developed a framework to achieve these three tasks, applying an analytical hierarchy process, a dynamic optimization model, and an attribute based contingent valuation technique, respectively. The framework was applied to the context of enhancing habitat for biodiversity on private forests in Florida. © 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. Keywords: Biodiversity conservation; Private forest management; Sustainability; Dynamic optimization; Contingent valuation; Willingness to accept 1. Introduction Concerns for healthy forests, enhanced wildlife habitat, and improved water quality in recent times have made sustainable forestry a major societal ob- jective the world over. With more than half of the listed endangered species having 80% of their habitat on private lands, involving forest landowners in habitat protection has become a major focus of wildlife con- servation in the Unites States (US) (Langpap, 2004). Several policies initiated to further this objective on forestlands include both regulatory and marked-based instruments. Regulatory measures such as the Endan- gered Species Act (ESA) are, however, criticized in view of the inequitable distribution of costs and benefits they entail to landowners. The ESA has also been criticized for its species-focused approach. Although total acquisi- tions of private lands or buying partial interests such as conservation easements are increasingly becoming pop- ular, they are observed to be costly and also ineffective if Forest Policy and Economics 9 (2007) 779 – 788 www.elsevier.com/locate/forpol ⁎ Corresponding author. Tel.: +1 352 846 0877; fax: +1 352 846 1277. E-mail address: raojm@ufl.edu (J. Matta). 1389-9341/$ - see front matter © 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.forpol.2006.03.008