Implicit Prices of Wetland Easements in Areas of Production Agriculture

Impacts of Fish and Wildlife Service wetland easements on agricultural land values in North Dakota were estimated by regressing sale prices on physical and institutional characteristics of sold parcels. While easements on temporary wetlands did not influence prices, each additional acre of permanent wetland under easement decreased average prices by $321 (–79%). Because non-eased permanent wetlands were shown to reduce land prices by $161/acre, we can estimate the implicit price of a wetland easement per se to be $160/ acre—6% below historical easement payment levels in the study area.