Creating contiguous forest habitat: An experimental examination on incentives and communication

Forest fragmentation exists when private landowners break up large forest stands into smaller parts. Fragmentation increases risks to endangered species that find shelter in contiguous forest habitat that falls across several landowners. Policy makers interested in reuniting these forests across fences should consider how to design a voluntary incentive scheme to meet this objective cost-effectively. Herein we consider the degree to which pre-play communication – cheap talk – between landowners could work to coordinate effectively their forest protection actions.