Environment and Development Research Group
	School of Resource and Environmental Management Simon Fraser University, 8888 University Drive, Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada, V5A 1S6

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The Economics of Protecting Old Growth Forest in the Fraser Timber Supply Area of British Columbia Conservation of old growth forests has been a contentious issue in BC in recent decades but surprisingly little effort has been devoted to economic analysis of this issue. This research consists of two projects, both concerned with valuing spotted owl habitat within the Fraser Timber Supply Area of southwestern BC. The spotted owl is close to extinction in BC, yet logging continues in spotted owl habitat. Two major land use options are at issue: logging of forests containing spotted owl habitat or protecting spotted owl habitat.  Although the perceived costs of foregoing logging appear to be high, few economic studies have examined these two land use options in BC in sufficient detail to determine which best meets society's interests. Past economic evaluations of this issue are out of date and examine the issue only narrowly. Beyond the moral and ecological arguments to protect spotted owl habitat, there may be an economic argument as well. Alternatively, protecting spotted owl habitat may impose substantial and even prohibitive economic costs on society. The goal of this first study was to determine the economic opportunity costs and economic impacts to society of protecting spotted owl habitat, as opposed to continued logging. The study area was the Fraser Timber Supply Area in the Lower Mainland region of BC. The methodology for the study involved spatially explicit modelling of forest growth and harvest using the SELES modelling language combined with cost-benefit analysis methods. The study must be seen within the context of initiatives being carried out by government, such as the Spotted Owl Recovery Strategy. The second study, "Valuing low-elevation old growth forests of the southwestern British Columbia mainland: an application of the contingent choice and production function techniques", was funded by the FIA-FSP program of the BC government. The issue of spotted owl preservation raises an important point with regard to old growth valuation but there are other important values associated with old growth and these are the topic of this second study. For example, existence value summarizes a large suite of non-use values, many having public good qualities. There are also important watershed values that have not been previously valued. The first year of the two year project was concerned with undertaking a contingent choice exercise to value coastal old growth forest. For the survey, a random sample of the population of the Lower Mainland of BC was drawn and surveyed via the web. In the second year, we addressed watershed values by focusing on how cutting of old growth affects the values associated with downstream fisheries and/or the availability of water for human use. We plan next to combine this valuation information with information about the opportunity costs of preserving spotted owl habitat/old growth forest from the earlier study in a cost-benefit framework. Publications/Presentations: Knowler, D. and K. Dust, 2008. The Economics of Protecting Old Growth Forest: An Analysis of Spotted Owl Habitat in the Fraser Timber Supply Area of British Columbia, Report prepared for the Western Canada Wilderness Committee (WCWC), David Suzuki Foundation and Sierra Legal, Vancouver. Knowler, D. and K. Dust, 2008. Summary document Dollars and Sense: The Economic Rationale to Protect Spotted Owl Habitat in British Columbia, produced by the David Suzuki Foundation, Ecojustice and Western Canada Wilderness Committee, Vancouver.

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last updated: May 2009