"What is the value of wild places?" - For example what are the
economic value of wild places (wildernesses, national parks, site of
special interest, rain forests, seas, etc).  What is this value
compared to not have the wild place (e.g. benefits (of all kinds
[cultural, medical, economic, etc. placed into dollar amounts) of
preservation versus developing it into a built environment).

ivanthomson-ga,

Wild places are worth $33.3 trillion dollars.

At least, that's the answer given in a seminal and widely-read paper
on the topic of valuing the world's natural places:


 

"The Value of the World's Ecosystem Services and Natural Capital" 
R. Costanza et al
Nature Vol. 387 (1997)


Thanks to the graciousness of the authors, and of Nature magazine, the
complete article is available online, and at no charge, at:


http://www.esd.ornl.gov/benefits_conference/nature_paper.pdf



The key dollar figures are summarized here:


http://pubs.wri.org/pubs_content_text.cfm?ContentID=1387
Valuing ecosystem services


===========================================

Ecosystem services.................... Value
.................................(trillion $US) 
 
Soil formation .........................17.1 

Recreation ..............................3.0 

Nutrient cycling ........................2.3 

Water regulation and supply .............2.3 

Climate regulation 
(temperature and precipitation)..........1.8 

Habitat .................................1.4 

Flood and storm protection ..............1.1 

Food and raw materials production....... 0.8 

Genetic resources .......................0.8 

Atmospheric gas balance................. 0.7 

Pollination .............................0.4 

All other services...................... 1.6 

Total value of ecosystem services...... 33.3 

=============================================


This figure is larger than the size of the total world economy in 1997!


A more recent and very comprehensive discussion of valuing the earth's
wild and natural places can be found in this 2004 study from the
National Academy of Sciences:


http://newton.nap.edu/books/030909318X/html
Valuing Ecosystem Services: Toward Better Environmental Decision-Making 



Unlike the Costanza paper (am I the only one who thinks of Seinfeld?),
the National Academy book doesn't fix a particular value on the
earth's ecosystems, but instead discusses the many factors involved in
trying to conduct such an exercise.

The NAS report includes an in-depth, and fairly critical, discussion
of the Constanza paper on page 188:


http://www.nap.edu/openbook/030909318X/html/188.html



Although the links above are based on only two sources of information,
I believe you will find that these are the most comprehensive and
well-regarded resources available on this intriguing topic.  The
figure of $33+ trillion as the value of the world's natural heritage
is probably the most widely-cited figure available as an answer to
this question:



://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8&rls=GGLD,GGLD:2003-43,GGLD:en&q=%2233%2e%2e34+trillion%22+costanza


I trust this information fully answers your question.  


However, please don't rate this answer until you have everything you
need.  If you would like any additional information, just post a
Request for Clarification to let me know how I can assist you further,
and I'm at your service.

All the best,

pafalafa-ga

Very concise and to the point answer.  Very speedy responce time and
very professional.  This has been a most positive experiance.  Thank
you very much.

One way of calculating 'value', and the very crudest method, is to
find out what people actually pay for it.

For example in the UK we have the National Trust which appears to have
an income of GBP 200m (info found elsewhere) some basic details:

http://www.fountainsabbey.org.uk/aboutnt/aboutnt7a.html

Factor that up with a PE of 20 (5% yield) and we get GBP 4,000m ($3,800m say)

Since the UK would fit into most states larger than Rhode Island, one
could rather spuriously scale things up.

You bring about a very good point and I appreciate your input very
much.  It would appear that voluntary payments (e.g. charities) are a
good measure of what a wild places' value is (at least to the
people/culture of that region).

This subject appears to be very complicated as it brings in many
things from many disaplines and there appears to be no clear cut idea
of what the value of something is (let alone the value of a wild place
to people) (commercial/economic value, aesthetic value,
cultural/historical value, unforseeable future values, infinite value
versus a value that makes more sense, etc).

However, the references provided by pafalafa-ga and yourself (frde-ga)
have provided me with very good information on which to base a report.
 Your help on the matter has been most appreciated.  Thank you.

Mostly, you do not value a place until you have lost it.

- that can be taken many ways