Victor A. Rudis

The Psychological Utility of Visual Penetration in near-view Forest Scenic-Beauty Models:

Empirical studies of the perceived scenic beauty of forest settings have followed either the psychophysical or psychological traditions of environmental-perception research. Although psychophysical models of forest scenic beauty have proven useful to resource managers, they tend to lack theoretical content. On the other hand, psychological research often fails to produce results directly applicable to landscape management. This paper reports on an analysis combining the strong points of both the psychophysical and psychological approaches to environmental-preference research. Psychological theories of aesthetic response are used to deduce a variable, visual penetration, which is evaluated in psychophysical models of forest scenic beauty. Visual penetration is shown not only to be a significant positive contributor to explained variance, but also to be more important in accounting for scenic beauty evaluations than measures more typical of psychophysical models.

Regional forest fragmentation effects on bottomland hardwood community types and resource values

In human-dominated regions, forest vegetation removal impacts remaining ecosystems but regional-scale biological consequences and resource value changes are not well known. Using forest resource survey data, I examined current bottomland hardwood community types and a range of fragment size classes in the south central United States. Analyses examined resource value indicators, appraised tree-based flood zone and shade tolerance indices, and identified potential regional-scale processes. Findings revealed that the largest fragments had fewer tree species, reduced anthropogenic use evidence, and more older and wetter community types than small fragments. Results also suggested the need for incorporating hydrologic, geomorphic, and understory vegetation parameters in regional forest resource monitoring efforts.Two regional-scale processes are hypothesized: (1) forest fragmentation occurs more frequently in drier habitats and dry zone (inundated ≤ 2 months annually), younger seral stage bottomland community types; and (2) forest fragmentation induces establishment of drier habitats or dry zone, younger serai stage community types. Both hypotheses suggest that regional forest fragmentation impacts survival of distinct community types, anthropogenic uses, and multiple resource values.

Regional Assessment of Remote Forests and Black Bear Habitat from Forest Resource Surveys

We developed a spatially explicit modeling approach, using a county-scaled remote forest (i.e., forested area reserved from or having no direct human interference) assessment derived from 1984-90 forest resource inventory data and a 1984 black bear (Ursus americanus) range map for 12 states in the southern United States. We defined minimum suitable and optimal black bear habitat criteria and geo-referenced remote forest classification with existing black bear range. Using a suitable habitat criterion, we classified 97.2% of occupied and 9.7% of unoccupied range (38.9% of the south. U.S. regions area). Using optimal habitat criteria, we classified 69,8% of occupied and 60.1% of unoccupied range (63.3% of the regions area), interpreted occupied range without optimal habitat and suboptimal areas (9.9% of the regions area), and unoccupied range with optimal habitat as areas with repopulation potential (26.8% of the regions area). There was a lack of high-density (≥34%) optimal habitat linkages among existing black bear populations, which we construed as a limitation on interpopulation gene flow. We recommend expansion of future regional land surveys to (1) address large carnivore mammal habitat and broad home ranges of other species that may conllict with humans or domestic animals, (2) include field inventories of woodland and reserved areas, (3) use standard measures to assess remote forests, and (4) organize available data in a geographic information system

Scenic beauty estimation of forestry images

The aesthetic quality of forests in the US is actively managed by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Forest Service. To support this mission, several forest lands in the southern US have been carefully photographed and analyzed for factors contributing to scenic content. We describe algorithms that we developed to automatically assess the scenic quality of images. The goal of the project was to develop objective techniques to determine the scenic beauty rating of the image and correlate the rating to the subjective ratings available from human experimentation. The evaluation database that was developed for this task is also described.