Rangelands comprise the largest land mass in California, providing forage for livestock, a marketable product. Ecosystem services such as habitat, clean water and air, viewshed, and carbon sequestration are also provided. Landowners typically do not receive any monetary reimbursement for their stewardship in providing these ecosystem services to the public. Markets have been difficult to establish with limited ability to adequately monitor and measure services provided. At the same time, rangelands have been experiencing rapid conversion to more profitable forms of agriculture such as almond and walnut orchards. During this conversion, ecosystem services are being altered, and in some cases negatively affected. To prevent further conversion of rangelands and the loss of the services they provide, there needs to be a mechanism to identify and compensate landowners for the value of all products and services being received from rangelands. This paper looks at lost opportunity costs as a method for determining the value of Payment for Ecosystem Services (PES) for rangelands. PES can raise the value of rangelands, making them more competitive financially. Real estate values as well as University of California Cooperative Extension Cost Studies will be used to demonstrate the difference in value (lost opportunity cost) between the primary products of rangelands (livestock production) and the products of the converted rangelands (almond and walnut orchards). Lost opportunity costs will provide guidance for PES. If conversion is to be slowed or stopped to protect the ecosystem services rangelands provide, this dollar value should represent the value of PES.
Oral presentation and poster titles, abstracts, and authors from the Society for Range Management (SRM) Annual Meetings and Tradeshows, from 2013 forward.