Ridge, Slope, and Hillside Protection Taskforce Projects in Knox County, Tennessee: Costs and Benefits of Reforestation of Target Areas

Many communities in the United States face the decision about whether to protect or restore forests on environmentally sensitive sites. The objective of this research is to identify priority areas for forest landscape restoration in Knox County, Tennessee. A cost-benefit analysis is conducted to determine individuals’ willingness to accept reforestation as a substitute for other potential land uses, given the explicit costs and benefits of reforestation. A sequence of hedonic models is used to estimate differences in values attached to housing prices of multiple potential sites for restoration projects values. This approach allows the establishment of an overall price-distance relationship between the amenity values attributable to both deforested and forested areas and their proximities to housing locations within the county. Based on the overall price-distance relationship, the sum of the differences between amenity values of deforested and forested areas is estimated, as reflected in housing prices across different proximities to potential restoration sites. The results of this study show that there are potentially great gains to the community through reforestation projects but those benefits can vary greatly depending on the acreages of potential target sites, the number of houses in the surrounding area, and the proximity of houses surrounding the site