Forest Planning Research Articles

Historical ecology identifies long-term rewilding strategy for conserving Mediterranean mountain forests in south Italy.

In the context of global decline in old-growth forest, historical ecology is a valuable tool to derive insights into vegetation legacies and dynamics and develop new conservation and restoration strategies. In this cross-disciplinary study, we integrate palynology (Lago del Pesce record), history, dendrochronology, and historical and contemporary land cover maps to assess drivers of vegetation change over the last millennium in a Mediterranean mountain forest (Pollino National Park, southern Italy) and discuss implications in conservation ecology. The study site hosts a remnant beech-fir (Fagus sylvatica-Abies alba) mixed forest, a priority habitat for biodiversity conservation in Europe. In the 10th century, the pollen record showed an open environment that was quickly colonized by silver fir when sociopolitical instabilities reduced anthropogenic pressures in mountain forests. The highest forest cover and biomass was reached between the 14th and the 17th centuries following land abandonment due to recurring plague pandemics. This rewilding process is also reflected in the recruitment history of Bosnian pine (Pinus heldreichii) in the subalpine elevation belt. Our results show that human impacts have been one of the main drivers of silver fir population contraction in the last centuries in the Mediterranean, and that the removal of direct human pressure led to ecosystem renovation. Since 1910, the Rubbio State Forest has locally protected and restored the mixed beech-fir forest. The institutions in 1972 for the Rubbio Natural Reserve and in 1993 for Pollino National Park have guaranteed the survival of the silver fir population, demonstrating the effectiveness of targeted conservation and restoration policies despite a warming climate. Monitoring silver fir populations can measure the effectiveness of conservation measures. In the last decades, the abandonment of rural environments (rewilding) along the mountains of southern Italy has reduced the pressure on ecosystems, thus boosting forest expansion. However, after four decades of natural regeneration and increasing biomass, pollen influx and forest composition are still far from the natural attributes of the medieval forest ecosystem. We conclude that long-term forest planning encouraging limited direct human disturbance will lead toward rewilding and renovation of carbon-rich and highly biodiverse Mediterranean old-growth forests, which will be more resistant and resilient to future climate change.

Genç Kızılçam Biyokütle Denklemleri; Kozağacı Orman İşletme Şefliği Örneği

Ormanların karbon depolama kapasitelerine ilişkin hesaplamalar tüm dünyada giderek daha önemli hale gelmiştir. Karbon bildirimlerinde uluslararası kurumlar, orman ekosistemlerinde depolanan karbon miktarlarının envantere dayalı olarak, tam ve kesin olarak belirlenmesini arzu etmektedir. Tüm ülkenin ormanlık alanlarındaki karbon stokunun belirlenmesi için, her ağaç türünün farklı habitatlarda biriktirdiği biyokütle miktarının ve bağladıkları karbon miktarının yöresel olarak belirlenmesi gerekmektedir. Bu çalışmada genç kızılçamlar yöresel olarak dikkate alınarak, Mersin Kozağacı Orman İşletme Şefliği içerisindeki saf kızılçam meşcerelerine ait toprak üstü ve toprak altı biyokütle denklemleri geliştirilmiştir. Çalışmada ayrıca kızılçam için odun yoğunluk oranı ve ibre kuru ağırlık oranı belirlenmiştir.

Creating the landscape, one stand at a time: The dual roles of timber buyers in the nested domains of Swedish forestry

In Sweden forest owners have a high degree of freedom in management decisions, but that does not necessarily imply decisions in isolation. Landowners are often influenced by forestry advisors, shaping forest management practices and the resulting condition of forests. As the State is withdrawing resources from the Swedish Forest Agency, advisory services are widely provided by private actors, particularly timber buyers. This study applies Hägerstrand's framework of nested domains to explore the role of timber buyers, with emphasis on their spatial competence. We expand Hägerstrand's theory by integrating private domains, which play an important role in landscape governance. Semi-structured interviews reveal the dynamics of timber buyers' dual role. Despite access to extensive data when giving advice, timber buyers rely largely on personal experience and information at the stand and property level, and environmental data are largely overshadowed by data related to timber production. Despite the buyers' greater spatial competence in comparison to landowners, they lack incentives to actively apply a landscape perspective in forest planning and management. There is underutilised potential for effectively balancing timber production, climate change mitigation, and biodiversity conservation at the landscape level through the advisory services by private actors. Our operationalized framework is helpful in analyzing FOKIS in Sweden, where compatibility of different types of advice providers needs further attention.

Who Is Restoring Forest Landscapes? Analysis of Citizen Participation within the De-Eucalyptising Brigades in Galicia, Spain

The expansion of eucalypt plantations constitutes a growing source of landscape transformation in the northwest of the Iberian Peninsula. In this context, forest planning has failed to design forestry policies that consider the demands of the population as a whole. Among other consequences, in 2018 a group of activists founded a volunteer programme aiming at collective action against the expansion of degraded forests. By 2022, over 100 actions had been performed, mostly involving eradications of eucalypt sprouts, and 1000 activists took part in such programmes. Through participatory action research, this work explores the nature and functioning of this programme and discusses in particular the socialisation of landscape management. The results reveal a slight prevalence of an urban public participating in rural areas, so that activism against eucalyptus expansion conforms a centripetal force in the creation of new networks of actors that transcend the rural–urban dichotomy. It is concluded that the studied case can be taken as a model for public institutions aiming to reinforce citizen participation in forest landscape plans.

Ecosystem services in recreational forests of Turkey: analysis of national forest policies and scientific studies

This study assesses to what extent ecosystem services are considered when managing three different types of recreational forests in Turkey. Although the number of scientific studies on ecosystem services provided by forests has increased in recent years, the number of cases defining ecosystem services and elaborating them in the forestry legislation or plans in Turkey is limited. This concept is underused in Turkey due to a lack of attention paid to the global agenda and scientific studies at international and national levels. It was found that protection forests in Turkey included services from all ecosystem services except habitat or supporting services. Nature parks also have services from three categories but none from provisioning services. Finally, urban forests include services from only two categories: regulating and cultural services. Ecosystem services must be considered both in city and forest planning. Even though the management of forests is under the sole responsibility of the General Directorate of Forestry, the municipalities should consider it as one of the main stakeholders in city planning. Finally, scientific studies on forest ecosystem services for healthy cities and citizens should be increased, and results should be implemented.

Area Threshold Interval of Urban Forest Patches Required to Maintain the Synergy between Biodiversity Conservation and Recreational Services: Case Study in Beijing, China

Promoting sustainable urban development is crucial in light of upcoming environmental change and population expansion. Urban forests play a key role in transporting ecosystem services to urban areas. They not only offer a crucial biological setting for preserving urban biodiversity, but they also give recreation dwellers access to a variety of urban opportunities and ensure their spiritual and cultural needs are met. Maintaining urban biodiversity and offering recreation services have trade-offs and synergies, and both were highly connected with the size of an urban forest patch. Six districts in Beijing’s central urban area were chosen for this study to serve as the research objective. First, the MSPA model was employed to conduct a thorough scientific analysis of the pattern and distribution characteristics of urban forests in Beijing’s central urban area. Second, the recreation services were quantified by merging many sources of big data, the urban forest biodiversity preservation services were assessed using the InVEST model, and the spatial heterogeneity of the two services was examined. In conclusion, the coupling coordination degree model was utilized to calculate the crucial threshold interval between urban biodiversity service and recreation service for urban forest patch area. The findings indicated that the ideal urban forest patch scale for achieving the synergy of the two types of services was an area between 0.5 and 1 hectare. The outcomes can serve as a scientific foundation for urban forest planning and management in the future, assist in realizing the synergistic growth of the two services, as well as support the improvement of ecosystem services and the ecological welfare of people.

Modelling forest volume with small area estimation of forest inventory using GEDI footprints as auxiliary information

• A suitable GEDI RH metric was selected to represent NFI dominant height at plot level. • A method that pairs up NFI plots with nearby GEDI footprints up to a critical distance suggested by the semi-variance examination. • Small area estimation of forest volume was improved with the help of GEDI auxiliary data. The French National Forest Inventory provides detailed forest information up to large national and regional scales. Forest inventory for small areas of interest within a large population is equally important for decision making, such as for local forest planning and management purposes. However, sampling these small areas with sufficient ground plots is often not cost efficient. In response, small area estimation has gained increasing popularity in forest inventory. It consists of a set of techniques that enables predictions of forest attributes of subpopulation with the help of auxiliary information that compensates for the small field samples. Common sources of auxiliary information usually come from remote sensing technology, such as airborne laser scanning and satellite imagery. The newly launched NASA’s Global Ecosystem Dynamics Investigation (GEDI), a full waveform Lidar instrument, provides an unprecedented opportunity of collecting large-scale and dense forest sample plots given its sampling frequency and spatial coverage. However, the geolocation uncertainty associated with GEDI footprints create important challenges for their use for small area estimations. In this study, we designed a process that provides NFI measurements at plot level with GEDI auxiliary information from nearby footprints. We demonstrated that GEDI RH 98 is equivalent to NFI dominant height at plot level. We stressed the importance of pairing NFI plots with nearby GEDI footprints, based on not only the distance in between but also their similarities, i.e., forest heights and forest types. Subsequently, these NFI-GEDI pairs were used for small area estimations following a two-phase sampling scheme. We showcased that, with an adequate sample size, small area estimation with GEDI auxiliary data can improve the accuracy of forest volume estimates.

Effects of Structural and Diversity Attributes on Biomass in Different Types of Urban Forests in Changchun, Northeast China, and Suggestions for Urban Forest Planning

Understanding of the relationship between structural and diversity attributes and biomass is important for plant biodiversity conservation, ecosystem service function enhancement and sustainable development of urban forest ecosystems. In this study, road forest (RF), attached forest (AF) and landscape and relaxation forest (LF) were selected as research objects. We systematically evaluated the diversity attributes and above ground biomass (AGB) at two dimensions of different diameter at breast height (DBH) grades and different tree height grades of urban forests in Changchun, Northeast China. Structural equation modeling (SEM) analyses of the correlation between structure attributes, diversity attributes and biomass among different types of urban forests were carried out. The results showed that species richness (SR) and Shannon–Wiener index (H′) of shrubs were lower than those of trees. Under the DBH grades, H′ in each forest type was highest in the 0–10 m grades and SR was highest in the 10–20 m grades. Under tree height grades, both H′ and SR of each type were at the top of the list. AGB was highest in each forest type under 5–10 m height grades. The relationship between AGB and H′ was better in LF, but with no significant relationships in the other forest types. SEM highlighted that in the overall aspect, the effect of forest type on biomass was mediated by structure and diversity attributes. Particularly in LF, there were direct and indirect effects between structure attributes and biomass mediated by diversity attributes. The improvement of the H′, evenness index (J′) and SR could enhance urban forest services, especially for the biomass and diversity of LF.

A Comparative Study of Forest Fire Mapping Using GIS-Based Data Mining Approaches in Western Iran

Mapping fire risk accurately is essential for the planning and protection of forests. This study aims to map fire risk (probability of ignition) in Marivan County of Kurdistan province, Iran, using the data mining approaches of the evidential belief function (EBF) and weight of evidence (WOE) models, with an emphasis placed on climatic variables. Firstly, 284 fire incidents in the region were randomly divided into two groups, including the training group (70%, 199 points) and the validation group (30%, 85 points). Given the previous studies and conditions of the region, the variables of slope percentage, slope direction, altitude, distance from rivers, distance from roads, distance from settlements, land use, slope curvature, rainfall, and maximum annual temperature were considered for zoning fire risk. Then, forest fire risk maps were prepared using the EBF and WOE models. The performance of each model was examined using the Relative Operating Characteristic (ROC) curve. The results showed that WOE and EBF are effective tools for mapping forest fire risks in the study area. However, the WOE model shows a slightly higher Area Under the Curve value (0.896) compared to that of the EBF model (0.886), indicating a slightly better performance. The results of this study can provide valuable information for preventing forest fires in the study area.

Создание тепличных комплексов для выращивания посадочного материала сосны

The provision of the necessary amounts of planting material of proper quality and standards becomes one of the defining issues in reforestation. The research aims at substantiating the technological possibilities and commercial attractiveness of creating a greenhouse complex oriented towards the renters of forest sites of small and medium business. We accepted the hypothesis that the location of reforestation infrastructure near the places of seed and planting material origin provides forestry and economic effects such as increased rooting ability of forest crops and greater growth of young plantations. The results of studies of selective seed breeding of conifers (pine, spruce), seed productivity and seed origin for 1967–2017 in the territories of the Komi Republic, the Republic of Karelia, the Murmansk region, the Arkhangelsk region and the Vologda region became the basis for this approach. The article defines the role and forms of partnership between the state and the forest business in the creation of infrastructure facilities for reforestation. The methodological basis of the study consisted of system analysis, economic and mathematical methods. We studied the state of the market of planting material in the region, the specifics of public-private partnerships in the construction and further maintenance of forest infrastructure facilities; calculated the effectiveness of the investment project and substantiated the cost of planting material. The results of the research and development work are the structure of the cost of growing pine seedlings in a single rotation, the calculation of the transfer (intercompany) price of the final product. There are examples of state participation in the financing of the forest industry within the framework of public-private partnership. The effectiveness of the creation and operation of the greenhouse complex is calculated by the net cash flow, return on investment and payback period (under the options of co-financing by the state and the business). The results are intended for the renters of forest sites, government institutions responsible for the organization and management of the industry. The calculations can be used in forest planning and in the design of strategic documents on the forest complex development.

Automatic detection of forest trees from digital surface models derived by aerial images

For the sustainable management of forests, obtaining the spatial information of the tree existence (location, number, height, and crown diameter of trees, etc.) with high accuracy and quickly is very important. In this context, the study aims to detect forest trees automatically through flow analysis applied to a 5 m resolution digital surface model by geospatial analysis. The study was carried out in five sample areas with different physical and topographic characteristics in the Antalya province of Turkey. The method consists of two steps which are identifying tree populations and determining tree peaks by applying flow analysis on the surface model. First, the canopy height model was extracted by applying a morphological filter to the image-based digital surface model. Then, the tree peak points are considered sink points, and these sink points were determined on the inverted surface model by the flow analysis approach which is frequently used in hydrological studies. The results showed that the applied method gives approximately 70% accuracy depending on the terrain conditions. Tree crown diameter, distance between trees, slope of the land, and digital surface model resolution significantly affect the accuracy of the results. It is predicted that this study will be an important guide for decision-makers in the preparation of forest plans.

On the Development of Forest Planning: Legal Aspects

The article notes that the value of forests in the modern world is due to their environmental, economic, social and other significance. In this regard, the preservation of forests and their rational use is one of the priority tasks of the state. Therefore, the planned framework for the implementation of state policies in the forest sector and forest management is important. Despite the fact that planning in the forest sphere was provided by Soviet law, in the current forest legislation, a virtually new institute is being formed. The first edition of the current Forest Code of the Russian Federation introduced the institution of forest planning, the only document of which was the forest plan of the constituent entity of the Russian Federation, approved by the regions in the exercise of certain state powers of the Russian Federation. Until recently, the forest plan had nothing to do with planning and strategic documents in other spheres. Some changes occurred in connection with the formation of legislation on strategic planning, but it mainly expressed in the adoption of new documents such as strategies and action plans for their implementation. In 2021, significant changes were made to the Forest Code of the Russian Federation. They are aimed at regulating the conservation, use of forests, as well as reforming the forest management system. These changes also affected the forest plan of the constituent entity of the Russian Federation. The fundamental innovation is the plan for forest management approved at the federal level. This document defines the objects and volumes of forest management, the prioritization of forest management activities, and developed for a period of up to 10 years. Meanwhile, the forest management plan is not considered by the legislator as the forest planning documents. In this regard, the author considers t necessary to carry out work aimed at improving the planning mechanism in the forest sector, as well as to ensure the mutual agreement of the documents of the relevant industry.

Mitigating the risk of wind damage at the forest landscape level by using stand neighbourhood and terrain elevation information in forest planning

Abstract Wind damage and the bark beetle outbreaks associated with it are major threats to non-declining, long-term wood production in boreal forests. We studied whether the risk of wind damage in a forested landscape could be decreased by using stand neighbourhood information in conjunction with terrain elevation information. A reference management plan minimized the differences in canopy height at stand boundaries and did not utilize information on the topography of the terrain, overlooking the possibility that the risk of windthrow may depend on the elevation of the terrain. Alternative management plans were developed by using four different weighting schemes when minimizing differences in canopy height at stand boundaries: (1) no weight (reference); (2) mean terrain elevation at the stand boundary; (3) deviation of the mean elevation of the boundary from the mean elevation of the terrain within a 100-m radius and (4) multipliers that described the effect of topography on wind speed at the stand boundary. For each management plan, we calculated the total number of at-risk trees and the total area of vulnerable stand edge. These statistics were based on the calculated critical wind speeds needed to uproot trees in stand edge zones. Minimization of the weighted mean of canopy height differences between adjacent stands resulted in homogeneous landscapes in terms of canopy height. Continuous cover management was often preferred instead of rotation management due to smaller canopy height differences between adjacent stands and its economical superiority. The best weighting scheme for calculating the mean canopy height difference between adjacent stands was the deviation between the mean elevation of the boundary and the mean elevation of the terrain within 100 m of the boundary. However, the differences between the weighting schemes were small. It was found that reasonably simple methods, based on a digital terrain model, a stand map, and the canopy heights of stands, could be used in forest planning to minimize the risk of wind damage. Validation against actual wind damages is required to assess the reliability of the results and to further develop the methodology presented.

Mapping the presence and distribution of tree species in Canada's forested ecosystems

Knowledge of tree species is required to inform management, planning, and monitoring of forests as well as to characterize habitat and ecosystem function. Remotely sensed data and spatial modeling enable mapping of tree species presence and distribution. Following an assessment of tree species identified in the sample-based National Forest Inventory (NFI), we mapped 37 tree species over the 650-Mha, forest-dominated ecosystems of Canada representing 2019 conditions. Landsat imagery and related spectral indices, geographic and climate data, elevation derivatives, and remote sensing-derived phenology are used as predictor variables trained with calibration samples from Canada's NFI using the Random Forests machine learning algorithm. Based upon prior knowledge of tree species distributions, classification models were implemented on a regional basis, meaning only the tree species that are expected in a given mapping region were modeled using local calibration samples. Modeling resulted in class membership probabilities values for each regionally eligible tree species for all treed pixels as well as an indicator of attribution confidence derived from the distance in feature space between the two leading classes. Accuracy assessment was conducted using independent validation data also drawn from the NFI following the same selection rules and indicated an overall accuracy of 93.1% ± 0.1% (95%-confidence interval). Predictor variables informing on geographic, climatic and topographic conditions had the largest importance on the classification models. Nationally, the most common leading tree species were black spruce (Picea mariana; 203 Mha or 57.3% of the treed area), trembling aspen (Populus tremuloides; 34.7 Mha, 9.8%), and lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta; 21.1 Mha, 5.9%). Regionally, there was ecozone-level dominance of other tree species, including subalpine fir (Abies lasiocarpa; Montane Cordillera), western hemlock (Tsuga heterophylla; Pacific Maritime), and balsam fir (Abies balsamea; Atlantic Maritime). Based upon the per-pixel class membership probabilities, species assemblages akin to those in forest inventories can also be produced. Further, given the calibrated reflectance of Landsat imagery, the methods presented herein can be implemented over a time series of images. The approach uses open data as predictor variables, making the method portable to other areas given availability of tree species training data.

Civil society's perception of forest ecosystem services. A case study in the Western Alps.

Forest Ecosystem Services (FES) are widely recognised by the society nowadays. However, no study in the literature has analysed a ranking of FES after the pandemic. This paper investigated civil society’s perception and knowledge toward these services; in addition, the presence of attitudinal or behavioural patterns regarding individual’s preference, was assessed. A choice experiment was conducted using the Best-Worst Scaling (BWS) method on a sample of 479 individuals intercepted in the Argentera Valley, in the Western Italian Alps. Results, showed a strong interest in biodiversity, aesthetic landscape quality and psychophysical health and a lower interest in provisioning services. Based on the individual preferences, civil society was clustered into five groups for FES, named “Hedonistic,” “Individualist with cultural and health interests,” “Sensitive to regulatory and utilitarian functions,” “Climate change sensitive” and “Livelihood and hedonistic wellbeing.” In general, there was a growing appreciation by civil society for the intangible services offered by the forest, driven by modern lifestyles and an interest in learning more about the provided services. Based on these elements, we believe that similar research should be extended to other mountain contexts to validate the results or to find new insights, and that it is now necessary to study how to involve civil society in decision-making processes of forest planning and management at a local level.

TreeMap 2016 Dataset Generates CONUS-Wide Maps of Forest Characteristics Including Live Basal Area, Aboveground Carbon, and Number of Trees per Acre

Abstract The TreeMap 2016 dataset provides detailed spatial information on forest characteristics including number of live and dead trees, biomass, and carbon across the entire forested extent of the continental United States at 30 × 30m resolution, enabling analyses at finer scales where forest inventory is inadequate. We used a random forests machine learning algorithm to assign the most similar Forest Inventory Analysis (FIA) plot to each pixel of gridded LANDFIRE input data. The TreeMap 2016 methodology includes disturbance as a response variable, resulting in increased accuracy in mapping disturbed areas. Within-class accuracy was over 90% for forest cover, height, vegetation group, and disturbance code when compared to LANDFIRE maps. At least one pixel within the radius of validation plots matched the class of predicted values in 57.5% of cases for forest cover, 80.0% for height, 80.0% for tree species with highest basal area, and 87.4% for disturbance. A new feature of the dataset is that it includes linkages to select FIA data in an attribute table included with the TreeMap raster, allowing users to map summaries of 21 variables in a GIS. TreeMap estimates compared favorably with those from FIA at the state level for number of live and dead trees and carbon stored in live and dead trees. Study Implications: TreeMap 2016 provides a 30 × 30 m resolution gridded map of the forests of the continental United States. Attributes of each grid cell include a suite of forest characteristics including biomass, carbon, forest type, and number of live and dead trees. Users can readily produce maps and summaries of these characteristics in a GIS. The TreeMap also includes a database containing, for each pixel, a list of trees with the species, diameter, and height of each tree. TreeMap is being used in the private sector for carbon estimation and by land managers in the National Forest system to investigate questions pertaining to fuel treatments and forest productivity as well as Forest Plan revisions.

PRISM: A decision support system for forest planning

PRISM, a new forest management decision support system, was developed for United States national forest planning at the same time existing tools were deprecated. PRISM has a friendly graphical user interface to facilitate model development, database management, sensitivity analysis, and data visualization. It integrates SQLITE engine for database storage and exploration. It supports both classic forest planning Model I and II to schedule management activities and achieve multiple management objectives through the lifecycle of a forest plan. Multiple models may be created through the PRISM interface and solved in batch mode for convenient sensitivity analysis. Various options to visualize model outputs are available through the embedded JFREECHART library. The open-source nature of PRISM makes it free to use and allows for long-term software development and collaboration. This paper presents the architecture, core functionality, and selected applications of PRISM in the United States national forest planning.

Insectivorous Bats in Eastern Mediterranean Planted Pine Forests—Effects of Forest Structure on Foraging Activity, Diversity, and Implications for Management Practices

Bats are primarily forest mammals and forest structure may affect their communities through the level of vegetation clutter. Pine plantations are typically even-aged managed forests that lack structural complexity. However, an understory layer can enhance the heterogeneity of these forests, making them suitable for several animal taxa. We hypothesized that species composition, richness, and foraging activity of insectivorous bats in pine plantations vary according to forest structure, specifically with the density of the understory. We measured pine density, Diameter at Breast Height (DBH), canopy closure, and vegetation cover of 29 pine (Pinus halepensis) plantations of the Judean Lowlands, Israel, and collected acoustic data on resident bats. We found that bat species richness and total activity increased in forests with large tree DBH and dense shrubs. Cluttered-habitat species foraged preferentially in forests with large tree DBH and high pine density, while open-habitat species preferred forests with well-developed canopies and dense shrubs. Pipistrellus pipistrellus and Eptesicus serotinus foraged in mature forests with well-developed bushes and these species are endangered in Israel. We conclude that mature planted pine forests with a well-developed under-canopy are suitable foraging grounds for insectivorous bats. Management plans for planted pine forests should consider our findings to support bat populations, including rare and endangered species.

Un percorso sfidante per la pianificazione forestale in Italia

The recent forestry law in Italy (TUFF) provides that the forest planning system managed by the Regions and the Autonomous Provinces should be, to a certain extent, standardized on a national scale. In this perspective, in order to standardize also the forest planning documents, a specific implementing decree, issued at the end of 2021, provides for common minimum standards at national level. Both the TUFF and the implementing decree are the shared result of a broad and long consultation under both a technical and political profile. However, various regional administrative and technical bodies do not seem fully aware that these decrees do not only set a univocal vision at national level of forest planning tools from a terminological point of view, but also univocally define their technical contents, according to the logic of the minimum national criteria: the Regions and the Autonomous Provinces are now called upon to adapt their regulations and procedures with respect to such terminology and minimum technical contents.

Landscape assessment of forest trail using geotagged visitor employed photography: the case of the inariyama trail in the Takao Quasi-National Park, Tokyo

ABSTRACT An evidence-based understanding of visitors’ landscape preferences is important for holistic forest planning and management. In this study, a visual landscape assessment was conducted to 1) determine the locations and recreational value of scenic hotspots (popular locations) and 2) identify the landscape types that visitors most preferred along the Inariyama Trail in the Takao Quasi-National Park in Tokyo by using geotagged visitor employed photography and asking the 60 participants to score their photographs based on five assessment measures. Nine hundred geotagged photographs were collected, and the subsequent hotspot analysis was conducted using a combination of Getis-Ord Gi* statistics in GIS. Analysis of means (ANOM) and analysis of variance (ANOVA) were performed to determine what and how visitors preferred landscapes in the site. The main findings of this study were as follows: 1) seven hotspots, comprising prominent landscape features and spatial changes, were identified, and 2) Prospect and Look-up were the most highly valued landscape types. These results reveal the importance of Look-up views, which have thus far been underrepresented in landscape assessments, and that hotspots are influenced by landscape features as well as spatial changes. Therefore, through the application of GIS technology, this study lays a foundation for future research as well as the planning and management of forested landscapes that harmonize recreation and other uses.