In the recent past, public concern over environmental degradation has prompted public agencies to impose restrictions on the use of the natural resource base. For example, in the Pacific North West (PNW), vast areas of forests are closed for logging in order to protect the habitat for the spotted owl. In British Columbia, the Protected Areas Strategy policy has made a commitment to increase British Columbia's protected areas from the existing 6% to 12% of the total land base. Alberta's Special Places 2000 also seeks to identify and designate land which is integral to the preservation of the province's natural heritage. Such restrictions on the use of land may have implications for resource dependent regional economies. In the long run, these restrictions on land use may improve environmental quality and thus promote growth in tourism and service sectors. An increase in tourism and service sectors may offset the negative impacts associated with land use restrictions. However, in the short-run, a reduction in the use of land resource may impact all sectors in the economy and natural resource sectors in particular. The overall impacts of land use restrictions may be pervasive in regions where resource sectors are the mainstay of the economy. We believe that information regarding the impacts of changes in land use restrictions may help corporate managers and policy makers in making land use decisions.

Land use, impacts, model forest