Economic Impacts of Civil War Battlefield Preservation: An Ex-Ante Evaluation

The economic impacts of preserving two individual Civil War battlefield sites in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia and establishing a Valley-wide battlefield park were as-sessed. Battlefield preservation options for the individual sites were compared with agri-cultural use to determine the cost of foregone economic opportunities on the sites. Results indicate that battlefield preservation can generate positive impacts and that it can compare favorably with agriculture in generating economic activity. However, results also indicate a shift in activity from agriculture to service sectors of the economy. The disappearance of unpreserved Civil War battlefield sites under the press of private development has recently gained national attention and led to federal and state pro-grams, private organization activities, and congressionally mandated studies of the situation. In July 1990, Department of Interior Secretary Manuel Lujan, Jr. announced the Amer-ican Battlefield Protection Program (ABPP). The ABPP is aimed at encouraging cooperation between public officials and private interest groups to guard Civil War sites with such methods as zoning, historic district designation, easement, land banking, and other means. In May 1991, the nonprofi