Epsilon Archive for Student Projects

Abstract

The need of integrating aesthetic aspects into forest management has been
stressed both in research and in practice. The current study aims at finding possible
explanations for the public preferences on forest landscapes with special regard to
young forests. The study consists of two parts. The first part is a literature review,
which is dedicated to systematizing the existing information regarding the nature of
human perception of forest landscapes. The second part presents the results of the
survey. Two different methods of surveying public preferences were used. The
psychological method was used while surveying people in the field, and the
psychophysical method – for the indoor survey using photographs. The statistical
treatment of the data was based on correlation analysis, and to some extent on principal
component analysis. The study resulted in a set of findings, and most of them are
reliable on the chosen level of significance (p=0,05). The results showed that the image
of recreational forest differed to a great extent from the image of forest in general.
Attractiveness of young forest, i.e. perceived aesthetic beauty, was mostly correlated
with sense of easy access and safety. Thus, presence of deadwood, understory and high
stand density were the most important factors towards negative attitude about the forest.
Single tree characteristics (height, diameter) showed a small but significant positive
correlation with aesthetic quality, which contradicts with previous studies, where those
variables were the main predictors of the forest scenic beauty. Standing and total
volumes had a very small negative relationship with scenic beauty. The results also
indicated a correlation between aesthetic and ecological values within the group of
respondents, who were not educated in forest ecology. This finding suggests about the
influence of good-looking appearance of forest on the overall public attitude towards
sustainability of forest management practices.