Journal of Forest Economics > Vol 35 > Issue 4

Valuation of Large Carnivores and Regulated Carnivore Hunting

Julian E. Lozano, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Sweden, julian.lozano@slu.se , Katarina Elofsson, Aarhus University, Denmark, Södertörn University and Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Sweden, Jens Persson, Grimsö Wildlife Research Station, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Sweden, Petter Kjellander, Grimsö Wildlife Research Station, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Sweden
 
Suggested Citation
Julian E. Lozano, Katarina Elofsson, Jens Persson and Petter Kjellander (2020), "Valuation of Large Carnivores and Regulated Carnivore Hunting", Journal of Forest Economics: Vol. 35: No. 4, pp 337-373. http://dx.doi.org/10.1561/112.00000518

Publication Date: 27 Aug 2020
© 2020 J. E. Lozano, K. Elofsson, J. Persson and P. Kjellander
 
Subjects
 
Keywords
Large carnivoresLicensed carnivore-huntingLeast absolute deviationsHunting lease pricesHedonic pricing
 

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In this article:
1. Introduction and Motivation 
2. Empirical Context 
3. Hedonic Model 
4. Data 
5. Results and Discussion 
6. Conclusions 
Appendix A: Calculations of Marginal Implicit Prices 
Appendix B: Figures and Tables 
References 

Abstract

Large carnivores are keystone species but represent economic costs to hunters. In Sweden, carnivore territories generally overlap with hunting areas, and as a result, conflicts occur because of the competition for prey. The wolf, lynx, and brown bear are protected species by law but are hunted when authorities allocate license hunting quotas. The aim of these quotas is to limit carnivore numbers. We estimate a hedonic model using ordinary least squares to address the effect of large carnivore occurrence on hunting lease prices by accounting for the presence of license hunting quotas for predators. This result is compared with the least absolute deviation estimations, which reduce the influence of outliers in the survey data. To isolate the effect of carnivores on hunting lease prices, we use snow depth and forest productivity as proxy variables for game harvest in the absence of carnivores. Our results show that lynx and wolf presence reduce hunting lease prices, but lynx presence shows higher significance and robustness. Based on median regressions, the marginal implicit price of an additional wolf territory is about 15% larger than that of an additional lynx territory. In contrast, we found no conclusive evidence that bear abundance directly affects hunting lease prices, but regulated bear hunting is found to have a positive and significant impact on hunting leases, suggesting indirect positive net benefits of increased brown bear abundance.

DOI:10.1561/112.00000518