Using productivity and GIS data to evaluate the implicit contribution to the price of Wyoming land of environmental amenity and agricultural property attributes

The western United States has seen an influx of population in the last two decades and increased demands on scenic views and recreation. This is theorized to effect land prices and values. This study is a hedonic price model. It hypothesizes that both agricultural productivity and environmental amenities significantly affect the price of land in Wyoming. A regression including both types of attributes should better explain land price than one with only agricultural productivity measures. The dependent variable is the nominal price per acre of Wyoming land. Independent variables include agricultural productivity measures, scenic view characteristics, recreation opportunities, and distances to places of interest. The study concludes that Wyoming land price per acre is significantly affected by both agricultural and amenity attributes. Irrigated land, improvements on property, distance to town, trend in land prices, amount and productivity of on-parcel fishing, visible prairie, and relative terrain relief visible from the property positively influenced Wyoming price per acre. Total animal units of the property, pasture productivity, visible shrubland, and distance to federal grounds had negative relationships with the price per acre. The environmental amenities of land significantly affect the price of Wyoming land.