The scenic beauty of shelterbelts on the Great Plains

Abstract

Shelterbelts on the Great Plains have changed the landscape of the region. A common belief exists that this change has added aesthetic value to the landscape; however, this has not been scientifically documented. This study assessed the scenic beauty of shelterbelts. The objectives of this study were to: (1) determine the relationship among shelterbelts, other landscape characteristics, and scenic beauty, (2) determine differences in scenic beauty judgments based on background characteristics of the observers, and (3) determine if scenic beauty judgments remained the same over two separate viewings of the same scenes by the same observers. One hundred and eighty students viewed 60 slides of plains landscapes with and without shelterbelts. Twenty-four viewers saw the slides twice. Viewers were asked to rate the slides for scenic beauty on a scale of 0 (low) to 9 (high). They also answered demographic and background characteristic questions. The scenic beauty scores were scaled to form Scenic Beauty Estimates. Simple correlation and multiple regression were used to analyze the data. Findings show that shelterbelts contribute to scenic beauty in the plains landscape, viewers' background characteristics do not affect scenic beauty ratings, and scenic beauty evaluations remain consistent over a repeat viewing.