In this study, we analyze the preferences for recreational use of forests in Lorraine (Northeastern France), applying stated preference data. Our approach allows us to estimate individual-specific preferences for recreational use of different forest types. These estimates are used in a second stage of the analysis where we test whether preferences depend on access to recreation sites. We find that there is significant preference heterogeneity with respect to most forest attributes. The spatial analysis shows that preferences for forests with parking and picnic facilities are correlated with having access to such forests while for the other attributes considered (dominant tree species, trekking paths and presence of lake and rivers) we find no correlation between stated preferences and accessibility. This implies that the problem of endogenous distances in the travel cost method (Parsons, 1991) may be present in the estimation of welfare economic values for parking and picnic facilities in the analyzed model. The results underline the importance of considering spatial heterogeneity of preferences carrying out economic valuation of spatial-delineated environmental goods and that the spatial variation in willingness to pay for such goods is not only explained by the users' transport costs of accessing the sites

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Forest land use is often associated with the protection of water resources from contamination and the reduced cost of drinking water supply. This study attempted to measure the value of the forest on the quality of water resources from a contingent market, namely drinking water supply, by estimating variations in drinking water costs as a function of variations in land uses. Spatial correlations were taken into account because of the use of different geographical scales (i.e., water service area and land uses) and the potential existence of organizational and technological spillovers between water services. We found a significant negative effect of forest land use on water costs. We found no evidence of spatial spillovers concerning the management regime but did find that organizational choices (i.e., grouping of municipalities within a water service) and factors related to the scarcity of resources in neighboring water services have an impact on water costs.

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