A hedonic analysis of the effect of natural attributes and deed restrictions on the value of conservation easements

Conserving rural areas in the face of urban sprawl is a challenging issue for government and non-government agencies in the United States. These agencies have been pursuing various approaches such as zoning, fee-simple, and less-than-fee-simple mechanisms to conserve environmentally sensitive lands and stabilize the wildland–urban interface. In this paper we generate information that may be critical to the future use of one of the less-than-fee-simple mechanisms, that is, conservation easements (CE). Specifically, we estimate the effect of various natural attributes, deed restrictions, and parcel quantity measures of rural lands on the price of CE using data from negotiated transactions in Florida. Results of the hedonic analysis suggest that the further the distance from cities populated with 100,000 or more, the further the CE price is decreased, whereas upland forests, giving up the right to log in wetlands, and giving up the right to subdivide raised CE prices. Results of this study provide valuable insights for sellers and buyers of CE.