Research recommends compromise when choosing conserv...(isn't just how many ducks but who cares ...)

Ando cited the widespread increase in successful referendums in which counties and cities set aside their own money to purchase local lands for open space and conservation. "Increasingly I think that conservation and wildlife managers are running up against this constraint -- they want to protect one area because it has the greatest ecological value but people want to protect land near where they are. There can be a tension there."

The new U of I research builds upon previous empirical research that others have done showing how public willingness to pay for conservation often declines with distance from whatever it is that's being protected. That phenomenon, however, is not universal. "For big charismatic things like polar bears, salmon, and pandas, it doesn't matter where you are," Ando said. "People want to protect polar bears, and it doesn't matter if you're never going to see one. Proximity isn't a big deal because the value people get out of it isn't going to depend on where exactly the polar bears are."

But Ando cautions that willingness to pay can't be the only deciding factor. "If you were to maximize the willingness that people have to pay for conservation areas, then you would put all of them near the wealthy communities. I think that a lot of us are pretty uncomfortable with that. There are social justice issues with that. Everybody ought to have some access to wildlife so there may be some leveraging that you can do put some of the preserved areas near the wealthy communities to build support."

One other dilemma that surfaced in the research concerned the fact that well-being and ecological service potential is always lower when p
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