ABSTRACT
Payment for Ecosystem Service (PES) programs, which incentivize private landowners to protect ecosystem services when making land use decisions, have grown rapidly in the past few decades (Daily et al. 2009; Nelson et al. 2009; Sanchirico and Springborn 2011). Forested watersheds in particular provide a wide range of services, including those related to water resources, species habitat, biodiversity, subsistence activities, hunting, aesthetic values, commercial harvest, and ecotourism, among others, and those services can have substantial value. For example, Kaiser et al. (1999) estimate that the 99,000-acre Koolau Mountain Range on the island of Oahu (Hawaii) provides forest benefits valued between US$7.4 and US$14 billion. Though the motivation for watershed conservation activities is clear, the abundance of potential conservation instruments—removal of any number of invasive species, reforestation or afforestation, construction of capital such as fencing or settlement ponds, etc.—creates a considerable challenge for resource managers: what type of conservation should be employed and in what order?
