Moving beyond the exchange value in the nonmarket valuation of ecosystem services

There has been much discussion across the ecosystem services literature as to the role of economic valuation in identifying ecosystem service values and shaping policy. This article demonstrates a non-typical use of a nonmarket valuation technique known as the stated choice experiment (CE) for understanding a range of public preferences for stream-related ecosystem services in Macon County, NC. The experiment was carried out as part of the National Science Foundation funded Coweeta Long Term Ecological Research initiative, and it reflects an interdisciplinary attempt to produce knowledge regarding ecosystem service values that is of relevance to policy makers. The CE uses a split-sample design to test for the impact of mechanism of program implementation on respondent preferences and demonstrate a range of public willingness to pay (WTP) for stream health improvements. Responses are analyzed with a latent class logit and the results show that altering the mechanism of program implementation changes the latent class composition. Results also demonstrate consistent preferences for certain attributes of stream health, but WTP for ecosystem service provisioning varies widely with proposed program implementation. The use of the CE in this research demonstrates the flexibility of the tool for combining with interdisciplinary knowledge, as well as the usefulness of information provided by nonmarket valuation techniques for informing policy design.