56 In 1992, the Forestry Commission established a value for recreational visitors to forests of £1 per visit. More recent work on the recreational value of forests in Northern Ireland suggested that mean willingness-to-pay (WTP) varies between £0.60 and £1.74 per visit, depending upon the location of the forest, its attributes and socio-economic characteristics of the visitors.33 If a high level of accuracy is required, recreational values need to be more sensitive to the attributes of individual forests, the location and availability of substitutes, and the characteristics of the visitors in the catchment area. However if a broader estimate is sufficient, the 1992 value (£1 per visit) indexed to the year of the appraisal should suffice.
57 The Forestry Commission commissioned a further study to estimate the range of non-market benefits associated with forestry. This reviewed existing methodologies and research to determine the best approach to valuing the non-market benefits of UK forestry and made recommendations on non-market values for recreation, landscape, amenity, biodiversity and carbon sequestration.34
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33 Summarised in a report to the Forestry Commission. "Non-Market Benefits of Forestry, Phase 1". (See http://www.forestry.gov.uk)
34 ibid.