Abstract: The topics of economic assessment of damages to wetland ecological systems and willingness of the farmers to accept ecological compensation have long been hot spots for researchers at home and abroad. In this study the double-bounded contingent valuation method was used to evaluate willingness of the farmers to accept ecological compensation and quantitatively estimate ecological losses of the Qilihai wetlands incurred by "reclamation of farmland, artificial division and over-exploitation", and the logistic model was to identify major factors affecting willingness of the local farmers to accept compensation. Results show that the annual mean compensation the local farmers are willing to accept is 23 896.65 yuan·hm^-2·a^-1, and the annual total ecological loss 129.221 1 million yuan·a^-1; Household income, non-farming income, pension and knowledge about status of the wetlands are the main factors affecting willingness of the farmers, land attachment is the major cause of the local farmers resisting loss of land.