Walking in the Irish countryside: landowner preferences and attitudes to improved public access provision

Abstract

This paper explores the attitudes of landowners across Ireland to the wider provision of public access for recreational walking using a multinomial logit model. The study also investigates the level of compensation required to improve the supply of this public good.Results indicate that 51% of landowners are not willing to provide access (non providers), 21% are willing to provide access free of charge (free providers) and 28% seek compensation (willing providers). Our findings indicate that participation by landowners in a proposed public access scheme is influenced by landowners' experience with walkers, farm type, farm insurance costs, household demographics, regional variations, opportunity cost of land and participation in other agri-environment schemes.Mean willingness to accept for landowners willing to facilitate improved public access for walking was found to be €0.27 per metre of walkway.

Supply of an ecosystem service—Farmers’ willingness to adopt riparian buffer zones in agricultural catchments

“…However, there is some evidence that farmers through exposure to agri-environment schemes have become familiar with the trade-off between agricultural production and provision of environmental public goods (Buckley et al, 2009 Table 4 for WTA intervals). The log likelihood is given by:…”

“…CVM has been used to estimate WTA for improved access to farmland for recreation (Grala et al, 2009;Buckley et al, 2009) and provision of agricultural forestry (Bateman et al, 1996;Shaikh et al, 2007). Amigues et al (2002) examined the WTA of households that own land on the banks of the Garonne river in France to supply a strip of riparian land for habitat preservation.…”

“…Having said this, productive agricultural land in itself can provide many ecosystem services in its own right such as habitat cover for farmland species or recreational opportunities. Agri-environmental schemes have also been adopted to improve the provision of such services by productive agricultural systems (for example, see Buckley et al, 2009, andHynes et al 2011).…”

Forest owners’ willingness to accept compensation for voluntary conservation: A contingent valuation approach

“…Related studies using CV include Bateman et al (1996) and Buckley et al (2009) who investigate landowners' WTA to establish recreational woodlands or provide public access in England and Ireland, respectively, Amigues et al's (2002) and Kline et al's (2000) studies of landowners' WTA for protection of riparian habitat in France and the USA, respectively, and finally, Kilgore et al's (2008) and Sullivan et al's (2005) investigation of WTA and enrollment in forest stewardship and banking programs in the USA. 2 In Scandinavia, the only study we are aware of is Layton and Siikimäki's (2009) analysis of forest owner enrollment in a Finnish conservation program.…”

Exploring preferences towards the provision of farmland walking trails: A supply and demand perspective

“…In this context, this paper examines both the general publics' preferences towards the provision of farmland walking trails and the attitudes of landowners to the issue of public access to the countryside. To date, estimates of individuals' willingness to pay (WTP) for access to the countryside have typically been on sites of special interest such as developed walking routes, public rights of way in specific areas, national parks and forests (see Lockwood and Tracy, 1995;Bennett and Tranter, 1997;Crabtree and MacDonald, 1997;Liston-Heyes and Heyes, 1999;Garrod et al, 1998;Bennett et al, 2003;Buckley et al, 2009b;Morris et al, 2009). There has been little if any attempt to derive estimates of individuals' WTP for the provision of walking trails in the wider countryside at a national level.…”