70. Smutko, L.S., J. A. Leitch, L.E. Danielson, and R.K. Stroh. 1984. 

 Landowner attitudes toward preservation policies in the prairie pothole 

 region. Agricultural economics miscellaneous report no. 78, North Dakota 

 State University, Fargo. 



Nonpecuniary returns to on-farm wetland drainage investment by farmers may 

 be an important factor underlying agricultural wetland conversion and loss, but 

 these returns are difficult to quantify. Smutko et al . attempted to assess a 

 factor associated with nonpecuniary returns, namely the attitude of landowners 

 with respect to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife wetland preservations programs and 

 the Agricultural Soil Conservation Service waterbank program. The survey 

 indicates that the success of the Federal and State wetland preservation efforts 

 could be improved by keeping the public better informed about the program and 

 its goals and by increasing the monetary incentives for potential participants. 

 One interesting qualitative variable that is positively correlated with positive 

 attitudes toward the preservation programs is fondness for hunting. The authors 

 found that the prices of fee simple purchases in certain areas were $200 less 

 than the market value of the land (of course for a pothole to be productive, it 

 must be drained at positive cost). However, in those geographical areas in which 

 the attitudes of the farmers were favorably disposed to participation in the 

 easement program, farmers were willing to sell land to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife 

 Service at less than market prices. Hence the authors suggest that the 

 preservation effort be targeted toward such regions. 



71. Barbard, W.D., C.K. Ansell, J.G. Harn, and K. Daniel. 1985. Establishing 

 priorities for wetland management. Water Resources Bulletin 21(6):1049- 

 1054. 



The authors argue that implementation of section 404 of the Federal Water 

 Pollution Control Act of 1977, in conjunction with State programs, is responsible 

 for reducing wetland conversions to 50% of the permit application rate. An 

 important assumption underlying the paper and research approach is that the 

 permit applications are a significant fraction of the actual dredge and fill 

 activity that occurs in wetlands. 



72. Batie, S.S., and C.C. Mabbs-Zeno. 1985. Opportunity costs of preserving 

 coastal wetlands: a case study of a recreational housing development. Land 

 Economics 61(1) :l-9. 



This paper also studies the economics of wetlands development. Batie and 

 Mabbs-Zeno use a hedonic price model to quantify and estimate the price of lots 

 at the Captain's Cove subdivision on Virginia's eastern shore. The approach is 

 similar to that used by Abdalla and Libby ([58]), Shabman and Bertelson ([37]), 

 and Ostro and Thibodeau ([57]). The regression model relates lot characteristics 

 to lot prices for suitable sample lots; independent variables for this regression 

 include four dummy (binary) variables that indicate the presence or absence of 

 amenities such as waterfront footage, canal front footage, placement next to a 

 wetlands, and sewer access. The regression results were used to provide a 

 statistical estimate of gross returns to investment in lot improvements (while 

 holding various economically significant physical characteristics of the lot 

 constant). Cost construction data were not available, but cost estimates were 



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