Public Law 95-87, the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977 (SMCRA), mandates that mined land be reclaimed in a fashion that renders the land at least as productive after mining as it was before mining. In the central Appalachian region, where prime farmland and economic development opportunities for mined land are scarce, the most practical land use choices are hayland/pasture, wildlife habitat, or forest land. Since 1977, the majority of mined land has been reclaimed as hayland/pasture or wildlife habitat, which is less expensive to reclaim than forest land, since there are no tree planting costs. As a result, there are now hundreds of thousands of hectares of grasslands and scrublands in various stages of natural succession located throughout otherwise forested mountains in the U.S. The purpose of this study is to develop a framework for understanding/calculating the economic implications of converting these reclaimed mined lands to forests under various silvicultural regimes, and to demonstrate the economic/decision-making implications of an incentive scheme on such a land use conversion. The economic feasibility of a range of land-use conversion scenarios was analyzed for both mixed hardwoods and white pine, under a set of low product prices and under a set of high product prices. Economic feasibility was based on land expectation values. Further, three types of incentive schemes were investigated: 1) lump sum payment at planting (and equivalent series of annual payments), 2) revenue incentive at harvest and 3) payment based on carbon volume. Mixed hardwood LEVs ranged from -$2416.71/ha (low prices) to $3955.72/ha (high prices). White pine LEVs ranged from -$2330.43/ha (low prices) to $3746.65/ha (high prices). A greater percentage of white pine scenarios yielded economically feasible land-use conversions than did the mixed hardwood scenarios, and it seems that a conversion to white pine forests would, for the most part, be the more appealing option. It seems that, for both mixed hardwoods and white pine, it would be in the best interests of the landowner to invest in the highest quality sites first. For a conversion to mixed hardwood forests, a low intensity level of site preparation seems economically optimal for most scenarios. For a conversion to white pine forests, a medium intensity level of site preparation seems economically optimal for most scenarios. Mixed hardwoods lump sum payments, made at the time of planting, ranged from $0/ha to $2416.71/ha (low prices). White pine lump sum payments, made at the time of planting, ranged from $0/ha to $2330.53/ha (low prices). Mixed hardwoods benefits based on an increase in revenue at harvest, ranged from $0/ha to $784449.52/ha (low prices). White pine benefits based on an increase in revenue at harvest ranged from $0/ha to $7011.48/ha (high prices). Annual mixed hardwood benefits, based on total stand carbon volume present at the end of a given year, ranged from $0/ton of carbon to $5.26/ton carbon (low prices). White pine benefits based on carbon volume ranged from $0/ton of carbon to $18.61/ton of carbon (high prices). It appears that, for white pine scenarios, there is not much difference between incentive values for lump sum payments at planting, revenue incentives at harvest, and total carbon payments over a rotation. For mixed hardwoods, however, it appears that the carbon payment incentive is by far the cheapest option of encouraging landowners to convert land. / Master of Science

人口成長與產業結構的變遷，使得土地使用變更行為的產生，成為一種必然而難以避免的結果。針對有些土地由低價值變更為高價值土地，地主未曾對土地進行任何投資改良，卻獲取大部分變更利得，即所謂社會自然增值部分歸於一已之私。因此，本研究對目前台灣地區土地使用變更利得分配方式予以探究，並試圖提出土地使用變更利得分配模式，作為未來政策施行之參考。 　　為改善現況問題，本研究將土地使用計畫過程區分為四階段：1.計畫構想提出階段；2.計畫擬定階段；3.計畫審議通過階段；4.計畫實施開發階段，將法定程序之變更利得界定在第三階段，此一利得應歸屬社會大眾所有，然而由於實際估算變更後地價不易，因此藉由實際土地使用變更行為（包括開發行為），利用整地後地價反推變更後地價，其中同時考慮投資報酬觀點，透過數學模型的建立來說明土地使用變更利得分配。 　　基於對土地使用變更利得分配現況探討，利用二個個案分析現況與本研究所建立模式差異，認為土地使用變更利得分配比例應以彈性方式處理，透過給予地主（或是開發者）一合理報酬方式，計算實際可拿回可建地比例。實際上，所估算地價的不同，將影響土地分配比例。因此，建議未來應建立完善估價制度，並將土地使用變更利得分配模式予以立法加以規範，且擬訂完整具前瞻性之國土資源分派計畫，使土地使用變更利得分配更為公平合理。