Assessment of recreational value of Chaghasabz forest park in Ilam using contingent valuation method

In general, forest recreation benefit is among the the free of charge benefits, but it can play an important role in forest resources management. Estimating the recreational value of a forest area can help forest managers to make decisions for choosing the type of correct land use. The aim of this study was to estimate the recreational value of Chaghasabz Park of Ilam city using contingent valuation method. In order to estimate the willingness to pay of the local people, the logit model based on the maximum likelihood was used. The data was obtained from 280 questionaires from visitors of the park. The results showed that the average willingness to pay per person and per household to visit this park were 13969.4 and 41908.2 Rials, respectively. Moreover, the results showed that income, education, age and the proposed amount variables had the most significant impacts on the acceptance of the suggested amounts.