Investment in natural capital restoration is rapidly increasing as a response to the widespread ecological degradation of dryland areas in Latin America. Nonetheless, few attempts have been made to evaluate the costs and benefits of restoration initiatives in dryland ecosystems. By combining ecological and economic information, we assessed the benefits and costs of restoring ecosystem services in a dryland forest landscape in the Colliguay Valley, in central Chile. An active restoration program was evaluated by comparing its benefits and costs over a twenty five-year period.