Effect of conserving habitat for biodiversity on optimal management of non-industrial private forests in Florida

Healthy forests and enhanced habitat for wildlife is a growing concern among public and policy makers. These concerns have led to substantial interest in promoting various regulatory and voluntary compliance policies to further biodiversity on private forests. These policies, however, might result in additional cost to forestland owners. In this paper, we estimate the opportunity cost of adopting various biodiversity-friendly forest practices. We do this in the context of slash pine, a dominant commercial tree plantation species in Florida. Results suggest that prescribed burning, invasive species control, maintaining streamside buffer zones, and extending timber harvest beyond the optimal rotation age would significantly decrease the profitability of slash pine forestry. If the major objective of landowners is to maximize profits, results indicate that they are less likely to adopt these practices at socially desirable levels without a policy support. More specifically, results suggest that an annual payment of $38–83 per hectare is required for landowners to adopt these practices. The paper further argues that see front matter r 2008 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved. .jfe.2008.08.001 ional Commission on Science for Sustainable Forestry funded this research. nding author. Tel.: +1352 846 0899; fax: +1 352 846 1277. dress: [email protected] (J.R.R. Alavalapati). this article as: Matta, J.R., et al., Effect of conserving habitat for biodiversity on optimal t of non-industrial.... Journal of Forest Economics (2008), doi:10.1016/j.jfe.2008.08.001