Spatial allocation of forest recreation value

Non-market valuation methods and geographic information systems are useful planning and management tools for public land managers. Recent attention has been given to investigation and demonstration of methods for combining these tools to provide spatially-explicit representations of non-market value. Most of these efforts have focused on spatial allocation of ecosystem service values based on land cover types, but recreation value has yet to be considered. This article presents an objective method for spatially allocating forest recreation value that is based on readily available data, demonstrates the method for a Southern California study site, and discusses the policy relevance of the method and how it might be extended to other applications and tested with additional primary survey data. (C) 2009 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved.