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 devel- opment options are frequently known and large. Developing nations, striving to in- crease 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 ad- dress 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 demon- strate active human use of the rain forest, there are surprisingly few economic stud- ies 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 re- creation value. Specifically, this study measures the eco-tourism value to do- mestic users of the Monteverde Cloud Forest Biological Reserve in Costa Rica. Although the recreational value of numerous sites in developed countries has been determined in the last quarter century, this is the first study we know of which values a tropical rain forest or a natural site in a developing nation. This study applies the well known travel cost method (2-4) to measure recreation values. The travel cost method estimates the value users place upon a site they visit from their travel behavior. Thus, the technique does not