Wetland Symposium

Dollar Values of Prairie Potholes: Two Case Studies

JAY A. LEITCH AND BRETT P. HOVDE

North Dakota State University, Department of Agricultural Economics, Fargo, ND 58105

Dollar values are estimated for two Type III wetlands in North Dakota. Attributes of both wetlands are first translated into functions, then into outputs, and finally into economic values based on site-specific considerations. A host of assumptions was necessitated by the dearth of applicable physical-biological science information. Explicit identification of these data shortcomings is made to encourage others to fill data gaps. Values for specific outputs as well as total values were found to be substantially different between the two study wetlands.

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