Identifying public preferences for land preservation using the analytic hierarchy process

Much debate exists on whether purchase of development rights programs are cost-effectively targeting the nonmarket attributes of preserved land that the public truly demands. This paper applies the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) to general population survey data in order to compare the public's sources of value for the environmental, agricultural, growth control, and open space attributes of preserved land. AHP is a methodology that encourages respondents to make subtle trade-offs in nonquantifiable, nonmarket attributes of preserved land. AHP also measures the relative public preference of one attribute over another attribute. Although this methodology is entirely different from conjoint analysis and other choice-based methods for processing trade-offs for nonmarket goods, the results of AHP are highly comparable to and offer another way to adjudge the validity of these complementary methods. The results of the AHP application to data collected from Delaware residents find that public preference is strongest for the environmental and agricultural attributes of farmland, two potentially opposing attributes. Growth control and open space are found to be less important. At a more precise level, a comparison of the qualities of these attributes shows that the public favors agricultural land preservation because it protects a rural way of life, which also is seen to protect human-regarding environmental quality. Results generally validate those of Kline and Wichelns (Land Econ. 72 (1996, p. 538) and Rosenberger (Land Econ. 74 (1998, p. 557). (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.