PRESERVING OLD-GROWTH FOREST ECOSYSTEMS - VALUATION AND POLICY

If valuation processes are dualistic in the sense that ethical values are given priority over instrumental values, and if old-growth forests are considered to be valuable in their own right, then the cost-benef its approach to valuing old growth is inappropriate. If this is the ca se, then ethical standards must be used to determine whether preservat ion is the correct policy when human material needs and ecosystem pres ervation are in conflict. Such a standard is suggested and evaluated i n the context of the policy debate over the preservation of spotted ow l habitat in the Pacific Northwest region of the U.S.