One of the largest areas of open landscape in Germany is the "Lueneburg Heath", situated near Hamburg in Northern Germany. Mainly for nature conservation, but also for recreational reasons, this area is maintained using several methods like mowing, sheep grazing, controlled burning, removing sods and tilling with rotary hoes. All these methods aim at a discharge of important nutrients to abet the heather compared to other plants. The methods are carried out by a non-profit-organisation, which owns most of the area. The purpose of this study is to assemble the criteria, which lead to the decision about which maintenance method should be used, implement these into a cost-effectiveness-analysis and detect a cost-optimal combination of the methods. Furthermore a cost-benefit-analysis of the maintenance measures is to be carried out. So in a first step within the framework of the cost-effectiveness analysis the costs and values of effectiveness criteria are traced and assembled in a cost-effectiveness-matrix to give an overview to the decision-maker. Beyond this a set of linear equations is assembled with the data, which provides a possibility to optimise according to one criterion. In a second step a cost-benefit-ratio of the heathland conservation is assessed. The data for the cost-benefit-analysis come from a tourists survey which was also carried out within the study. As a result of the survey the willingness-to-pay of the visitors is calculated and compared with the cost data. The study is part of an ongoing interdisciplinary research project.