Paper Title
Estimating The Recreational Value of Forest Ecosystems (Case Study: Kalibarchae Forest in Iran)

Abstract
Forests are part of the environment, where in, recreational activities nowadays play an important role. The recreational value of Qale Daresi Park in Kalibarchae has been estimated through a contingent valuation method with in linear and logarithmic functional forms, and the visitors' willingness to pay for visiting the park with its statistical significance level having been assessed for both of the functional forms. To this end, the necessary data has been collected from 174 visitors, visiting the Park. The results indicated that the willingness to pay was estimated 3908 and 3587 Rials per visit in linear and logarithmic model respectively, and the calculated χ2 statistic value was 1.95 and 0.68 for the two functions, respectively; and where the value derived from the linear function being statistically significant. Therefore, the results related to the linear function have been used in the final analyses. The annual recreational value of the park is estimated at 1074.72 million Rials for the average number of visitors to the park (275000 visitors per year). This value can provide the policy makers with a useful tool for making appropriate decisions for preservation and sustainable management of the Kalibarchae Forests. Keywords- willingness to pay, contingent valuation method, functional forms.