Background:Around2000plantspeciesoccurnaturallyinLorestanProvinceofwhich250speciesaremedicinalandmyrtleisoneofthem.Myrtleisashrubwhoseleavesandfruitshavemedicinalvalueandthus,ifmanagedandharvestedproperly,couldproducesustainedeconomicbenefits.Inrecentyears,however,overhalfofthemyrtlesiteareaswasdestroyed,duetoinappropriatemanagementandexcessiveharvestingpractices.Thus,comingupwithapracticalharvestingapproachalongwithidentifyingthosefactorsdamagingthesites,seemstobeverycrucial.Methods:Inourinvestigation,wecalculatedtheconservationvalueperhectareofmyrtleintheDoorehforestareainLorestanProvince.UsingtheContingentValuation(CV)andDoubleBoundedDichotomousChoice(DBDC)methods,wedeterminedthewillingnesstopay(WTP)formyrtleconservation.TheWTPwasestimatedwithalogitmodelforwhichindiceswereobtainedbasedonamaximumprecisioncriterion.Results:Theresultsshowedthat86.67percentofpeoplewerewillingtopayfortheconservationofthesemyrtlesites.AveragemonthlyWTPperfamilywascalculatedas$0.79.TheannualconservationvalueintermsofWTPforthepreservationofthemyrtlesitesinDoorehwasestimatedas$102,525.Amongthevariablesofthemodelpresented,educationhadapositiveimpact,whiletheamountproposedforpaymentandfamilysizehadanegativeimpactontheWTP.Conclusions:Ourestimateofthevalueofmyrtleconservationshouldprovidejustificationforpolicymakersanddecisionmakingbodiesofnaturalresourcestoimplementpoliciesinordertoconservethenaturalsitesofthisspeciesmoreeffectively.
