Liisa Tahvanainen

Forest management and public perceptions — visual versus verbal information

Forest and landscape management measures have impacts on the amenity value of forests. People may have certain attitudes towards management, in particular near urban areas. The aim of this study was to evaluate the impacts on scenic beauty and recreational value of five different management practices: small clear cutting, thinning, removal of undergrowth, natural state, and traditionally managed cultural landscape. In order to compare visual perceptions with preconceptions, two evaluation methods, visual presentation (pictures produced by image-capture technology) and verbal questions were used. Scenic beauty and recreational value were assessed from slides in which management measures were presented by the pairwise comparison technique. The results indicate that scenic beauty and recreational preferences differ considerably from each other. In the study areas, small clear cuttings had the most positive effect on scenic beauty and natural state had most positive effect on recreational value. Furthermore, preconceptions concerning different silvicultural measures did not consistently correspond to perceptions based on the assessment of visual images. This fact supports the use of visual presentation methods in future preference studies as well as in participatory forest planning projects.

Effect of afforestation on the scenic value of rural landscape

Afforestation of set‐aside land will have significant impacts on Finlands rural landscape. In this study, the visual impacts of gradual afforestation were evaluated by private non‐industrial forest and agricultural landowners, potential recreationists, and professionals of land use management. The scenic beauty of 32 different rural landscapes were assessed from slides, which were produced from nine original pictures by image‐capture technology, with the open landscape becoming gradually afforested in three stages. Scenic beauty was evaluated using a pairwise comparison technique and by rating landscapes using a scale from 1 to 10. In general, the scenic beauty decreased with the increasing intensity of afforestation. An exception to this was moderate afforestation, which can have a positive effect on scenic beauty. The more attractive the original landscape was, the greater the effect of afforestation was found to be. The differences in the evaluations of landowners were not as distinct as those of the ...

Rural Tourismin Finland: Tourists' Expectation of Landscape and Environment

In many rural regions in Finland, the key development areas are forestry and tourism. However, there is little information on the landscape preferences of rural tourists or the attractivity of commercial forests. Main research questions are: What is the demand on the services of rural tourism? How significant is the quality of landscape in rural tourism? What special features are appreciated in forested landscapes? The data collected in a mail survey in 1997 show that the quality of landscape is an important attraction factor for rural tourism. In general, tourists appreciate old forests with heavy timber, an abundance of deciduous trees, and relatively good visibility. The outdoor use of these areas is concentrated to lakeside forests and to minor roads and paths, where visual landscape management should also concentrate. Furthermore, the results suggest that adjustments to present forest management aiming at timber production practises are needed in these areas.

Landscape in farm‐scale land‐use planning

Assessment of the visual impacts of land‐use changes is often neglected in the planning of agriculture and forestry. This study presents an approach for management planning, when landscape value is a parallel goal with numerical variables such as income. In this study, planning is based on the goals of both landowners and other interested groups. The importance of different goals and the utility of alternative plans are evaluated using the analytic hierarchy process (AHP). Two‐stage planning is used to produce separate management alternatives for each farm at the first stage and further for the whole planning area. The first stage guarantees the feasibility of alternative plans at the farm level and the second combines alternatives in an acceptable way at the areal level. The near‐view scene is assessed from numerical values and the distant‐view scene from graphical visualizations. The feasibility of the planning approach is illustrated with a case study. In the future, more work is needed to develop indi...

Allometric relationships to estimate above‐ground dry‐mass and height in Salix

Equations based on allometric relationships were used to estimate the above‐ground leafless dry‐mass and height of seven Salix clones. The shape of a non‐rectangular hyperbola gave the best fit for the height material. The relationship between the diameter of the stem (measured at the height of 30 cm) and the above‐ground leafless dry‐mass was best described by an exponential function. Besides the non‐linear exponent function, the linearized form of the equation was also fitted to the dry‐mass material. An error term was added to the function to correct the error caused by linearization of the function. The differences between the allometric relationships in the characters of the clones were studied by comparing the parameters of height and dry‐mass models. The results of this study show that with all the clones examined, the same dry‐mass model can be used to predict the leafless above‐ground dry‐mass. However, the parameter estimates for height curves deviated significantly between clones. The greatest ...

MODEL FOR PREDICTING THE SCENIC VALUE OF RURAL LANDSCAPE : A PRELIMINARY STUDY OF LANDSCAPE PREFERENCES IN NORTH CARELIA

A simple method for estimating landscape preferences is needed for multipurpose land‐use decisions in agriculture and forestry. In this study the scenic beauty of 29 rural landscapes in eastern Finland was assessed from slides which were produced from eight original pictures by image‐capture technology with the open landscape becoming gradually afforested. Scenic beauty was evaluated through the pairwise comparison technique. This study focused on the possibilities of estimating the far view scenic beauty of rural landscapes. Another purpose was to identify those quantitative variables, based on forest inventory and map data, which were related to preferences of three different interest groups with respect to the rural landscapes studied. The prediction models were developed using linear regression analysis and accounted for 61–82% of the variation of beauty indices. The results of this preliminary study suggest substantial potential for modelling the far view scenic beauty of ordinary rural landscapes ba...