A hedonic travel cost analysis for valuation of multiple components of site quality: The recreation value of forest management

One benefit of managing forests is that one can alter the qualities of sites. The value of changing site qualities, however, is generally not known. This paper develops a formal hedonic travel cost model which can be used to estimate the value of both marginal and non-marginal changes to sites. The approach accommodates multiple simultaneous changes in site characteristics. Estimating this model using a set of permits from wilderness areas leads to revealed preference estimates of the recreational value of clear-cuts, old-growth, and nine other wilderness attributes.