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There is a paucity of studies on the subject of environmental assets and their value. This is particularly the case with the forests. In Croatia, coastal forests are an important public asset especially given their value as an indispensable part of the Mediterranean landscape, yet often threatened by fires. Recognising this value of forests, the ongoing project concerning the coastal forest protection and reconstruction was initiated in 1995. An aspect of the project was to ascertain the aesthetic and recreational value that forests have for local residents. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to report selected survey results, but more important, to give an outline of the methodological approach developed for this complex task. Contingent valuation method, as the most frequently used method for the valuation of public non‐marketed goods and environmental assets was applied. Two surveys were conducted describing hypothetical forest preservation and forest reforestation programmes. The focus of the surveys was to test local residents' willingness to pay for the protection of forests in view and for the reforestation of burnt areas in view. Results demonstrated that majority of respondents was willing to pay for the protection of forests in view as well as for reforestation, and their main motive for paying was esthetical. Both univariate and multivariate methods were applied in order to assess the best predictors of willingness to pay for both surveys.