The aesthetic and ecological benefits of preserving wilderness and establishing parks have been acknowledged for over a century, yet rarely quantified. In contrast, the opportunity costs of foregoing development options are frequently known and large. Developing nations, striving to increase the well-being of their citizens, find it difficult to forego concrete development options in favor of preservation with its more elusively measured benefits. To address this imbalance, it is critical to begin economic valuation of the benefits of preserving natural habitats in developing nations. High on this list is determining the economic value of conserving primary rain forests.
Although a number of studies demonstrate active human use of the rain forest, there are surprisingly few economic studies quantifying the standing value of rain forests. One noticeable exception is a study by Peters et al. (1) which analyzes value of the fruit and latex extracted from a plot of primary growth Amazonian rain forest in Peru. The present paper addresses another value of conserving rain forest, the recreation value. Specifically, this study measures the ecotourism value to domestic users of the Monteverde Cloud Forest Biological Reserve in Costa Rica