OICC Press International Journal of Agricultural Management and Development 2159-5860 12 2 2022 06 01 Preservative   Value   of   Rudkhan   Castle:   Protest, Uncertainty, and Unwillingness Behaviors 129 143 10.71877/ijamad.2022.6613 EN Amin Delavar Ph.D. of Agricultural Economics, Payame Noor University, Tehran, Iran Mahyar Jamaati Ghashti Ph.D. of Agricultural Economics, Payame Noor University, Tehran, Iran Nasim Pakbaz Ph.D. Student of Crop Physiology, Faculty of Agriculture, Shahed University, Tehran, Iran Journal Article 2022 06 01 Economic appraisal of historical sites is the key to planning rural development for their management, preservation, and protection. This study aimed to estimate the preservation use value accrued to visitors to Rudkhan Castle in the northwest Gilan Province, Iran. The visitors' willingness to pay (WTP) was measured by using the contingent valuation method (CVM) and the one-and‐one‐half‐bound (OOHB) model’s dichotomous choice (DC) questionnaire. Throughout the research, we stressed that indifference, uncertainty, and protest behaviour can and do occur simultaneously in contingent valuation (CV) studies. The results showed that 75 percent of the people in the protection program of the Ghaleh RudKhan Case are willing to pay. The rest are unwilling to contribute and are divided into three groups: unwilling to pay (4%), protests (20%), and uncertain (1%). Using the OOHB bid function, an expected WTP recreational value of US$0.566 per visit per household was estimated in 2019, and the annual welfare surplus of visitors was estimated at US$96250000. The average WTP in the ethical and consequentialist groups was estimated at US$ 0.643 and 0.67325, respectively. Also, the group unwilling to pay or true zeros was composed of seven respondents who explained their reasons as personal budget restrictions (86%), and the unnecessity of the program (14%). The protest group was also composed of 33 respondents and argued that it is only the task of the government (38%), only rural residents should pay (3%), only nonresidents should pay (56%), and not enough information is given on the proposal (3%).