Easement or public land? An economic analysis of different ownership modes for nature conservation measures in California

Biodiversity conservation requires space where conservation measures are implemented for a desired purpose. Setting land aside for conservation has been widely applied, while novel conservation modes (private-public partnerships, private multipurpose land management) may be fundamental to achieve conservation goals. We perform an economic analysis of the cost development for two conservation options in California, in-fee and easements, from 1970 to today. We find that in-fee options have lower costs than easements in the long run. While there are high costs of purchase for in-fee, ultimately they even-out or generate profits. Costs of easements continue growing exponentially overtaking costs of purchase. Sensitivity analysis shows increases in purchasing prices and opportunity costs positively influencing conservation costs, while increasing interest rates negatively influence them. The results suggest that easements are not yet an economically viable alternative for in-fee conservation purchases. Our analysis is a first step to assess economic viability of choosing easements.