This research project estimated the impact of different land uses on residential property values of 8,090 single family houses in Berks County, Pennsylvania. While this guide focuses on economic benefits, it is not meant to diminish the importance of the environmental and social benefits of land conservation. Preserving land is crucial to environmental protection and can positively impact animals, plants, and humans alike.

Additionally, wildlife-related tourism is estimated to annually generate about $3 billion of gross economic activity in New Jersey. Because open space and farmland tend to raise more revenue than they require to be spent on services, and residential lands tend to require more funds to be spent for services than they raise in revenue, cost of community services studies show the importance of open space and farmland to a community’s fiscal well-being and the importance of having a wide tax-base with a variety of land uses. The United States Society for Ecological Economics provides a venue for intellectual exchange and collaboration on issues related to the theory, policy, and implementation of sustainability and sustainable development. Without this protection, governments would have to pay to artificially replace the services naturally provided by the farmland. Some pesticides and other pollutants can be broken down by light and bacteria. The Economics of River Conservation: An Annotated Bibliography offers an extensive list of studies, papers, and articles on the economic benefits of river conservation, with summaries of their content.

Water quality: When a wooded area is developed, impervious surfaces block the absorption of rain water, and the tree canopy is no longer able to intercept rain before it hits the ground.

The society consists of a strong, interdisciplinary group of academics and practitioners who seek to develop solutions to our most pressing economic, social, and environmental problems, and who care about the well-being of this planet.

The Trust for Public Land (TPL) conducted an analysis of the return on the investment of LWCF dollars for federal land acquisition at sixteen locations that received significant LWCF acquisition funds between 1998 and 2009. The conservation of natural lands and of working farms and forests can generate financial returns, both to governments and individuals, and create significant cost savings. Land preservation helps people as well and gives them access to recreational areas and also farms for fresh produce. They are categorized by their content, recognizing that a number of the studies do not fit perfectly into one category or another. However, using planting and harvesting techniques, such as those employed in indigenous systems of tropical agrogorestry, can create economic, as well as environmental benefits. Strategically placed trees can reduce summer air conditioning needs by at least 50%. Coastal wetlands serve as storm surge protectors when hurricanes or tropical storms come ashore.

The Nature Trust works to put together complexes of land, piece by piece to allow space for species to migrate and thrive. This study looks at the impact of permanent land conservation (through acquisition or through conservation easement) on tax rates in Vermont towns. Had the land not been preserved for these plants and animals their habitat could be ruined and this could lead to extinction. 3,100 agricultural jobs associated with protected farmland, which is 45% of the employment related to protected open space. Land preservation is becoming more and more important, especially because of climate change. When open space is developed for homes, the taxes of existing residents increase because the cost of providing public services and infrastructure to the new development is usually higher than the tax revenue it generates. It also hosts 150,000 human visitors annually and serves as a research site for students, who in turn provide technical support, data collection, and monitoring that the town could not have otherwise afforded. Amongst the examples given is Mansfield Township, NJ, where every new residential unit has a net negative fiscal impact of $1,866 per year while preservation of the same land through the county farmland preservation program would result only in a one-time cost of $3,000. Net economic benefit per activity day for participation in wildlife-associated recreation activities (fishing, hunting, wildlife-watching); Visitation numbers for wildlife-associated recreation for an existing wildlife refuge or state game management area (or changes in visitation from the expansion/reduction of the acreage of that land). http://www.drgreenway.org/why_preserve.html, http://www.landchoices.org/preserve/preserve_faq.htm, https://hunterdonlandtrust.org/protecting-land/why-preserve-land/.


Trees increase shade and lower summertime air temperatures. When 75% is impervious surface, 55% of precipitation becomes run off. Reducing runoff is likely to save city residents millions per year. The total value of New Jersey’s natural capital is about $20 billion per year (present value $680 billion), plus or minus $9 billion per year (present value $300 billion). The value of carbon sequestered was calculated using a three-year average of prices on the European Union Emissions Trading Scheme. Consumers value the ability to purchase local agricultural products.
It's an easy-to-use, computer-based program that allows communities to conduct and analyze a street tree inventory and evaluate current benefits, costs, and management needs. During the same period, in 3 residential neighborhoods near unpreserved forests, there was no increase in property value for those lots bordering the forests in two of the neighborhoods, and a much smaller increase in the third. A study of adolescent girls found that those living closer to parks exercised more than those living farther away. The analysis provides a dollar value for the environmental work provided by each tree.

The goods and services that flow from Dauphin County’s existing open space and natural systems save residents, communities and businesses $939.2 million in avoided costs for natural system services, air pollution removal and revenues …, Pennsylvania’s Wildlife and Wild Places: Our Outdoor Heritage in Peril, Economic Impact of Pennsylvania’s Heritage Areas, 2008, 2011 National Survey of Fishing, Hunting, and Wildlife-Associated Recreation, State and National Economic Impacts of Fishing, Hunting and Wildlife-Related Recreation on U.S. Forest Service-Managed Lands, The Benefits to Business from Hunting and Fishing Excise Taxes, Economic Benefits of Farmland Preservation: Evidence from the United States, Evaluation of Potential Gross Income from Non-Timber Products in a Model Riparian Forest for the Chesapeake Bay Watershed, Community Benefits and Costs of Purchase of Agricultural Conservation Easements, Forests at Work: A New Model for Local Land Protection, City of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Municipal Forest Resource Analysis, The Determinants of Neighborhood Transformations in Philadelphia, Identification and Analysis: The New Kensington Pilot Study, Quantifying Urban Forest Structure, Function & Value, Shade: Healthy Trees, Healthy Cities, Healthy People, Return on Environment: The Economic Value of Protected Open Space in Southeastern Pennsylvania, The Impact of Open Space and Potential Local Disamenities on Residential Property Values in Berks County, Pennsylvania, Return on the Investment From the Land & Water Conservation Fund, The Economic Benefits of Land Conservation, Livable Places: How Protecting Land Benefits Us All, Capitalization of Open Spaces into Housing Values and the Residential Property Tax Revenue Impacts of Agricultural Easement Programs, Open Space Is a Good Investment, The Financial Argument for Open Space Preservation, The Shore at Risk: The Threats Facing New Jersey’s Coastal Treasures, and What it Will Take to Address Them, Land Conservation and Property Taxes in Vermont, The Impact of Wilderness and Other Wildlands on Local Economies and Regional Development Trends. Written by Ben Moyer with funding provided by the Pennsylvania Wild Resource Conservation Fund, Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission, Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources and the Pennsylvania Game Commission.