Until recently, few studies have explored landowners’ knowledge and understanding of the term ecosystem services and whether or not landowners would agree to participate in a payment-for-ecosystem-service (PES) program. The socioeconomic study we propose here explores the extent to which agricultural landowners and tree farmers understand what ecosystem services are. Moreover, we attempt to determine what specific attributes would affect farmer participation in PES programs in Maryland, such as monetary incentives, financial entry points that would draw farmers into a program, who farmers would trust entering into a program contract with, and contract lengths.