Preferences for forest structural attributes in Germany - Evidence from a choice experiment

Using a discrete choice expenment we elicit coefficients and willingness to pay (WTP) values for eight structural characteristics of forests for 2932 respondents from a Germany-wide population sample. Results of the monetary valuation show that positive WTP values exist for increasing the share of forests, increasing biodiversity, increasing the harvest age of forests and maintaining some unused forest areas. Large negative WTP values are found for decreasing the share of forests, changing the amount of coniferous trees to 70%, and increasing the amount of trees from other countries. For some of the attributes investigated changes in any direction are valued negatively, i.e., field size and foreign species. Results are relatively robust to different model specifications, mainly regarding the signs of the preference parameters.