Economic valuation of riparian buffer and open space in a suburban watershed

Zeyuan Qiu, Tony Prato, Gerry Boehm

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

26 Scopus citations

Abstract

This study evaluates the economic value of riparian buffers and open space in a suburban watershed through two nonmarket valuation methods. A contingent valuation survey was implemented in the Dardenne Creek watershed, a suburban watershed of the St. Louis metropolitan area in Missouri, to evaluate the residents' perceptions of and willingness to pay (WTP) for adopting riparian buffers and preserving farmland in a hypothetical real estate market. A hedonic pricing model based on actual sale prices of homes in the watershed was applied to estimate the market value of open space and other environmental conditions such as flood zone and stream proximity in the study area. The results showed that residents' WTP was consistent with the economic values of open space and proximity to streams embedded in existing home prices. Through a better understanding of residents' perceptions and values, riparian buffer and open space programs can be designed and promoted to achieve greater implementation success and environmental benefit. Journal of the American Water Resources Association (JAWRA) (

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)1583-1596
Number of pages14
JournalJournal of the American Water Resources Association
Volume42
Issue number6
DOIs
StatePublished - Dec 2006

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • Ecology
  • Water Science and Technology
  • Earth-Surface Processes

Keywords

  • Buffer zones
  • Contingent valuation
  • Hedonic price
  • Land use
  • Nonpoint source pollution
  • Riparian ecology
  • Urbanization

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