High Landscape Value Research Articles

Landscape valuation for planning ecotourism trails – case study

Abstract Landscape valuation for planning ecotourism trails - case study. Ecotourism is a type of tourism strictly connected with natural and cultural landscape values. This kind of idea of “green travel” is perfect option for people who want to relax and sightseeing rural municipalities. It is really important to design eco-tourism trails, which are very usefulness for tourists in this area. The paper is presented natural and cultural values of Piaseczno municipality. It was done landscape valorization, which are included natural and cultural elements of this area. The purpose was to distinguished the areas with the high natural and cultural landscape values for eco-tourism trail design. It was used bonitation points to assessment in scale from 1 point to 5 points. The results were presented on maps, including areas with high, medium, low and very low landscape values. It was distinguished areas with minimum 50% of the maximum number of points were considered attractive for design eco-tourism trails.

Assessing urban recreation ecosystem services through the use of geocache visitation and preference data: a case-study from an urbanised island environment

Recreation is an important cultural ecosystem service and is one way in which communities experience the direct and indirect benefits arising from the experiential use of their environment. The recent rise in popularity of Global Positioning System (GPS) game applications, which combine information technology with an activity that increases mobility and encourages outdoor enjoyment, provides ecosystem service practitioners with an opportunity to make use of this georeferenced data to assess recreational ecosystem services. Geocaching is one such worldwide outdoor game. It has fixed points of incursion where people can hide and look for caches. This study explores the possibility of using geocaching data as a proxy for recreational ecosystems services in the Maltese Islands. A quantitative analysis of the georeferenced caches was used together with their visit rates and number of favourite points. This was supplemented by two questionnaires that investigated the preferences and experiences of both geocache placers (n=39) and hunters (n=21). Results show that the highest number of caches were placed and searched for in urban areas and that geocaching is strongly associated with the presence and accessibility of urban green infrastructure. The number of geocachers who stated preference for experiences in nature did not translate into high visit rates to sites of high conservation value (protected areas) but landscape value was significantly associated with recreational ecosystem services flow. The results presented here provide evidence that geocaching spatial data can act as an indicator for assessing and mapping recreational ecosystem services in urban environments and in cultural landscapes.

Landscape transformations and risks for ecosystems of protected landscape areas in the Metropolitan Area of Gdańsk-Gdynia-Sopot

The article is devoted to the issues of ecological and landscape changes taking place in large spatial protected areas (landscape parks and protected landscape areas), located inside and in close proximity to the so-called functional zone of the Gdansk-Gdynia-Sopot Metropolitan Area. The area is a metropolis with a population of 1.56 million inhabitants. In its central part, in the immediate vicinity (up to 25 km) from the borders of Tri-City, there are 4 landscape parks and 17 areas of protected landscape. High natural and landscape values determine the great interest in these areas, not only as a recreational space, but also as an area of realization of housing and service as well as production functions. The author draws attention to the lack of results of ecological and landscape research on a regional scale (especially in the immediate vicinity of a large, developing metropolis), evaluating the conservation status of protected areas, lack of reliable recognition of threats and the degree of changes in the environment of these areas as well as difficulties with their protection against investment pressure. Preservation of natural and landscape values of these areas is not a concern of local authorities focused on the economic development and the economic effects of how the communities function. As a result of investment pressures and irreversible impairment, many parts of them are eligible for exclusion from the borders of these areas. The degree of degradation and intensity of changes is a function of the distance from the most densely populated core of the metropolis, investment pressure and directions of urban development as well as natural characteristics of protected areas, predisposing them to fulfilling various functions. The article focuses, in particular, on selected areas of the protected landscape. They are covered by the weakest protective regime and are subject to the strongest changes.

Genesis and morphological evolution of coastal talus-platforms (fajãs) with lagoons: The case study of the newly-formed Fajã dos Milagres (Corvo Island, Azores)

Supratidal talus-platforms are low-relief subaerial accumulations of debris produced by mass wasting along high coastal cliffs, being particularly abundant at reefless volcanic islands subjected to high wave energy. Known as “fajãs” across the Portuguese-speaking Atlantic archipelagos, these coastal features, on rare occasions, may exhibit lagoons, constituting sites of high geological, biological, landscape, and social value. Whilst the origin of fajãs is firmly established as being the product of coastal landslides, little is known about the processes that shape fajãs with lagoons. In particular, doubts still remain concerning whether fajãs featuring lagoons are a fortuitous product of mass wasting, or result from marine reworking (by waves and currents) after emplacement. On October 30, 2012, a coastal landslide (~0.001 km3) occurred on Corvo Island, Azores Archipelago, forming a nearshore gravel islet that later migrated to the island's coast, resulting in a fajã with an ephemeral lagoon (Fajã dos Milagres). This event provided a unique opportunity to study the generation and development of fajãs with lagoons, and therefore a 3-year survey was carried out to record its evolution. This GIS-based study used aerial oblique photography and satellite optical imagery, complemented with a land survey for a more precise topographic reconstruction. Analysis of data concerning bathymetry, precipitation, and wave regime was also employed to investigate the driving forces behind the morphodynamic evolution of the deposit. “Fajã dos Milagres” evolved very rapidly, through an evolutionary pattern with five main stages: 1) “islet stage”; 2) “gravel spit stage”; 3) “early lagoon stage”; 4) “mature lagoon stage”; and 5) “fajã (without lagoon) stage”. Our reconstructions show that, for fajãs with lagoons to be formed, several factors should converge: a) presence of high coastal cliffs, made up of composite volcanic sequences, capable of producing large landslides that supply sufficient mobile sediment to the shelf; b) presence of a shallow, wide insular shelf where the sediments can be transported without significant loss to the submarine slopes; and c) a wave-dominated, high-energy regime, capable of significant cross-shore and longshore sediment drift. These observations allowed us to propose a preliminary conceptual evolutionary model for the generation of fajãs with lagoons, where marine reworking plays a fundamental role. Finally, this study documents the generation and very rapid subsequent evolution of a clastic coastal morphology solely driven by the action of waves and currents, and without interference from relative sea level and/or external sediment replenishment, with possible implications to other settings.

The complete chloroplast genome of Siebold’s magnolia: Magnolia sieboldii (Magnoliaceae), a highly ornamental species with attractive aromatic flowers

Magnolia sieboldii K. Koch (Magnoliaceae) is a tree species with high landscaping value, whose resource has been declining due to unreasonable exploitation. In this study, we sequenced, assembled and annotated the complete chloroplast (cp) genome of M. sieboldii. The length of M. sieboldii complete cp genome was 160,274 bp, with a typical quadripartite structure comprising a pair of inverted repeat regions (IRs; 26,588 bp), a large single copy region (LSC; 88,267 bp) and a small single copy region (SSC; 18,831 bp). The whole cp genome contained 111 unique genes, including 78 protein-coding genes (PCGs), 29 transfer RNA (tRNA) genes and four ribosomal RNA (rRNA) genes. In addition, 17 genes in IRs were duplicated. The overall CG content was 39.2%. The maximum likelihood (ML) phylogenetic analysis indicated that M. sieboldii was relatively closed to the M. officinalis and M. tripetala. Our research would provide a valuable genetic resource for M. sieboldii.

Total and Active Core Microbiomes of Melojo Oak Are Composed by a Minority of Bacterial Taxa Highly Abundant

Melojo oak (Quercus pyrenaica Willd.) is a key tree species of Mediterranean forests with high landscape value in the Iberian Peninsula. However, these forests exhibit an advanced stage of deterioration and their distribution area has been seriously reduced over the last decades. Plant-associated microorganisms play an essential role improving their host’s fitness, hence, a better understanding of oak rhizospheric microbiome, especially of those active members, could be the first step towards microbiome-based approaches for the improvement of the survival and growth of oak trees. Here we reported, for the first time, the diversity of total (DNA-based) and potentially active (RNA-based) bacterial communities of three types of Quercus pyrenaica Willd. forest formations through 454 pyrosequencing of 16S rDNA amplicons, and defined the rhizospheric core microbiome of Q. pyrenaica at Sierra Nevada National and Natural Park during spring season. In addition rRNA:rDNA ratio was calculated as a proxy of the contribution of each core taxon to the rhizosphere environment. We found that potentially active bacterial communities were as rich and diverse as DNA-based populations, but different in terms of relative abundance patterns in some of the studied areas. Both microbiomes were dominated by a relatively small percentage of OTUs, most of which showed positive correlation between both libraries. However, the uncoupling between abundance (rDNA) and potential activity (rRNA) for some taxa suggests that the most abundant taxa are not always the most active, and that low-abundance OTUs may have a strong influence on oak’s rhizospheric ecology. Thus, measurement of rRNA:rDNA ratio could be helpful in characterizing rhizospheric bacterial communities, their potential involvement in the functioning of the soil ecosystem and, therefore, in identifying major bacterial players for the development of microbiome-based strategies for future afforestation tasks.

The Small-Scale Hydropower Plants in Sites of Environmental Value: An Italian Case Study

Since ancient times water has been accompanying technological change in the energy sector. Used as a source of hydraulic energy, it currently generates one-fifth of the global electricity production. However, according to collective imagination, hydroelectric plants are constructions of high environmental, acoustic, and visual impact, which may harm the preservation of the territory. This paper intends to address the topic of mini-hydropower that, in addition to providing the production of renewable energy, ensures a limited environmental impact even in delicate contexts with high landscape values, by elaborating a research methodology that makes these interventions compatible with them. The process of “global compatibility” checks developed to assess the feasibility of the intervention will be explained in the paper. We intend to describe here the research process undertaken to make the planning of this type of system sustainable, in contexts that need to be rehabilitated in relation both to the accessibility of citizens and to the environmental enhancement. The intervention planned will be characterized by the combined use of other renewable energy sources, in addition to water. The proposed methodology has been tested on a case study in the village of Roccacasale, in the province of L’Aquila.

Analysis and exploitation of the stack ventilation in the historic context of high architectural, environmental and landscape value

The study of passive ventilation aims at studying the processes of heat dissipation that occur naturally with or without the minimal use of mechanical instruments. The recovery of natural cooling techniques can be, in most cases, sufficient to restore the conditions of comfort inside buildings in our latitudes. For this reason we have pursued the goal of optimizing natural ventilation by installing a duct, which exploits the principle of the stack effect, inside a historic building in Poggio Picenze (Aq) dating from the fifteenth century. The goal is to obtain the best performance balancing environmental comfort and minimal energy consumption through the acquisition of an in-depth knowledge of the system operation.

The re-territorialisation of Biosphere Reserves: The case of Wester Ross, Northwest Scotland

Biosphere reserves, designated under UNESCO’s Man and the Biosphere (MAB) Programme, are now regarded as key mechanisms to achieve global imperatives such as the Sustainable Development Goals. The concept of biosphere reserves has evolved significantly from the 1970s to include a larger number of functions and zones, as well as the inclusion of stakeholders in governance, as codified in the 1996 Statutory Framework for the World Network of Biosphere Reserves. Its implementation has led to the re-territorialisation of 66 biosphere reserves, as they have been extended beyond the protected areas that form their ‘core areas’. One example is Wester Ross in northwest Scotland. This region has been nationally recognised for its high biodiversity and landscape values since the late 1940s, and a small biosphere reserve was established in 1976. In the current decade, as required by the MAB Programme, this biosphere reserve was extended to over 100 times its original area through a participatory process which is described in detail. Following re-territorialisation, this biosphere reserve, like others, both represents opportunities and faces challenges. These are discussed with regard to four requirements: effective communication, stakeholder engagement, participatory governance, and funding.

Walory krajobrazu leśnego Magurskiego Parku Narodowego a wykorzystanie potencjału rekreacyjnego

An analysis of data from the Central Statistical Office suggests that the low number of people visiting the Magurski National Park (40,000–50,000 a year) has remained the same for several years now. This paper is an attempt at answering a question whether a small number of tourists in the Magurski National Park, where afforestation rate is 95%, is a consequence of rather average landscape assets of the local forests. The research has covered 605 tree stands of a total area of 8,792 ha, which is 47% of the park’s forest surface area. The performed valorisation of the forest landscape from the perspective of tourism and recreation allows to claim that the low utilisation of the recreational potential of the Magurski National Park (8% – determined in previous studies) is not a result of modest landscape values of forests. The majority of tree stands boasts high landscape values (74%). In the author’s opinion, the reason for the small interest in this area lies in the underdeveloped tourist infrastructure, especially the low density of trails (4.8 m/ha).

Rural transitions in the Nambucca Valley: Socio-demographic change in a disadvantaged rural locale

Within current rural research, an ongoing challenge has been to conceptualise the overarching dynamics driving rural transitions in affluent societies, while also recognising diversity and complexity in driving forces and trajectories over time and place. While amenity migration may continue to be influential, more recent research has revealed that there are multiple driving forces leading towards diverse multifunctional rural occupance modes and trajectories. With its oversupply of desirable rural destinations, transitions along the subtropical New South Wales coast have been marked by increasingly divergent socioeconomic trajectories, tied to perceived gradients in amenity and sequential gradients in affordability related to inherent and constructed place imagery. We explore early- and late-phase transitions in the Nambucca Valley, one region within this zone. Initially available at exceptionally low entry costs, a plentiful supply of former dairyfarms attracted undercapitalised migrants seeking a rural lifestyle and possibly a livelihood from on-farm or non-farm sources. With limited finances, near-zero borrowing capacity and an ill-informed, opportunistic approach towards initiating their prospective cropping and/or livestock ventures, newcomers were destined to fail. Notwithstanding its high natural landscape and liveability values, the Nambucca Valley has been bypassed during the later-phase, locationally selective commodification of rural hinterlands. With its now-entrenched image of disadvantage, Nambucca lacks the market-oriented positional values accruing to prime destinations elsewhere along the subtropical coast. Given the continuing inability of Nambucca’s rural landholdings to support cropping and livestock livelihoods, and the compatibility between consumption and protection outcomes, there is a high probability of entrenching a complex multifunctional mode of rural occupance for the foreseeable future. In this mode, ’consumption of the countryside’ by residents with modest incomes will be most influential in shaping rural socioeconomic futures, but with desultory production and protection activity together with reduced inputs into property management shaping rural landscapes.

Off-grid Approach to Support the Small Scale Food Producers in Rural Areas

This paper concerns a study of compact system designed to ensure energy independence of buildings located in rural areas: the Off-Grid Box - OGB. This system is an integrated device, self-contained in a container, which provides and producers essential service and resources namely, electricity, hot water, clean water for washing and irrigation and a water purification process that pasteurized/distilled wastewater. The goal of study is to experiment the adoption in agriculture of technology solutions able to satisfy the energy needs (in terms of electricity) of small scale food producers in rural areas with high environmental and landscape value and to identify a compact modular system dedicated to family farming to reduce external inputs and waste. The specific objective is to find a winning solution for self-sufficiency (in off-grid vision) and reducing emissions of the small scale family farms, useful for the sedentary, semi-sedentary and mobile production and processing units. This study is focused on the potential of OGB to guarantee the energy needs of small slaughterhouses in a rural area of Umbria Region. These scenarios are interesting for small family farms that adopt sustainable models and methods of production with low environmental impact and low energy demand to define the indications for their winning energy planning.

Estimating the Potential Biomasses Energy Source of Forest and Agricultural Residues in the Cinque Terre Italian National Park

This paper aims to evaluate the feasibility of biomasses exploitation as an alternative Energy source, in areas characterized by high environmental, cultural and landscaping value. In particular, a methodology for assessing the energy potential from biomass was applied in protected areas, using Geographic Information System (GIS) software and data from European Program Corine Land Cover, jointly with other local data useful for analyzing the topography and the biomass availability of the chosen territory, as well as for an assessment of the necessary logistics for biomasses transportation. This methodology was applied to the Cinque Terre national park, obtaining as a result an estimation of the potential biomasses energy source coming from forest and agricultural residues.

Supporting planning activities with the assessment and the prediction of urban sprawl using spatio-temporal analysis

The inestimable value of soil is exemplarily summarized in the definition provided by the European Union (2006), which considers it as "the upper layer of the earth's crust, formed by mineral particles, organic matter, water, air and living organisms".The importance of soil protection is now universally recognized, but despite a lot of debates and principle’s enunciation, in the last decades soil was consumed at a rate of 8 m2 per second. The aim of this study is to propose a model which, on one side, is able to measure variations occurred in land use, and, therefore, to determine soil consumption, and, on the other side, is capable to predict future changes. Specifically, a simulation model has been proposed based on two methods: Joint information uncertainty and Weights of Evidence in order to analyse and predict new built-up areas. The proposed model has been applied to Pisticci Municipality in Basilicata region (Southern Italy). This area is a significant example, because of its high landscape value and, at the same time, of a lot of developing pressure due to touristic activities along the coastal zone.

Evaluation of the commitment of the Krakow Regional Directorate of State Forests and its organizational units to the development of recreational and tourist forest functions*

Abstract Forest management affects the scope of various functions provided by forests. Considering the increasing expectations of the society about utilizing non-productive forest, it is important to investigate the commitment of the State Forest units to the development of forest functions. The study’s aim was to evaluate the activity of particular organizational units, namely forest districts of the Regional Directorate of State Forests in Kraków (RDSF Kraków), in adapting forests to serve tourism and recreation. Our analysis covered data from the years of 2005–2009, which was obtained from forest management plans, financial statements and department reports of the RDSF Kraków as well as a questionnaire survey. Both direct and indirect additional costs incurred in order to adapt forests for their recreational function, were included in the analysis. We also attempted to estimate the potentially lost profits. The zero unitarization method was used to identify units showing the greatest and lowest commitment. In the area of the RDSF Kraków, a total of 1 765 500 PLN was spent on tourism management and activities supporting recreation. Average direct costs amounted to 1.24 PLN/ha/year, while the workforce expenditure for maintenance of tourist infrastructure and historical buildings was estimated to be 60 700 PLN. Expenses incurred for cleaning up litter in forests attained 629 800 PLN in the considered time period. Profits potentially lost due to the lack of management in the protected zone ‘A’ surrounding health resorts, reduced by the costs of timber harvesting and extraction, were estimated to total 58 200 PLN. Our study indicates that during the analyzed period, forest districts differed in their commitment to the development of recreational and tourist forest functions. The synthetic measure of commitment varied between 0.114 and 0.694 in the State Forest units. The greatest additional costs were incurred by forest districts with towns and areas of high natural and landscape value. The Directorate of State Forests took the financial responsibility for adjusting forest complexes to tourist and recreational needs, but should nevertheless seek external financial and specialist support. The issue of internalization of the positive outward effects of forest management also needs to be discussed.

Charakterystyka geobotaniczna rzeki Pichna Szadkowicka na odcinku od źródła w Zimnej Wodzie do ujścia z terenu uroczyska Wojsławice

The paper presents the river valley physiography and the selected hydraulic, physics and chemical parameters of the upper section of small lowland river - Pichna Szadkowicka (the Warta river catchment, Central Poland). The strong relationship between the river and river valley habitat's characteristics and the plant species and vegetation diver­sity was noted. Around one hundred (93) of vascular plant species was noted in total, including Listera ovata strictly protected in Poland, and partially protected: Hedera helix, Viburnum opulus, Frangula alnus and Hepatica nobilis. The high natural (botanical) and landscape values of the researched section of the Pichna Szadkowicka river with adjacent parts of Wojsławice forest complex justify additionally their protection in the network of forests reference plots and of the High Conservation Value Forests (HCFV).

The influence of institutional design on local environmental interest representation in the national polity

This article investigates structural and informal institutional design variables to account for civil society actors’ views on the political representation of local environmental interests in the national polity. It does so by linking literature on institutional design and place-based environmental advocacy to a case of large scale infrastructure development in the national interest. The case study concerns the proposal for a national high speed rail network (“HS2”) in the United Kingdom, which is heavily opposed locally based on its expected adverse impacts. Through fieldwork research on protest against HS2 in an area of high landscape value, it has been found that local actors perceived specific institutions to structurally under-represent interests associated with environmental conservation, compounded further by an informal style of doing politics. The paper recommends that the environmental management and planning literature turns to institutional explanations to make insightful the dynamics of defending the local interest in the national sphere.

Zoning management by quantitative landscape assessment for forest pathway – the case of forest paths of the Mt. Jiri national park, South Korea

The recent popularity and spread of a walking culture in Jeju, South Korea, requires good management of road development projects, which are competitively promoted by each government and local autonomous entity. Forest pathways are a part of the forest landscape, which covers approximately 64% of South Korea, and they have a very high potential landscape value. Landscape management of these forest pathways is important because good management can mean an increase in visual scenic beauty, an improvement in local residents’ consciousness of forest pathways and the forest landscape, an improvement in the sense of place, and a revitalization of the local economy. This study aims to provide data to support spatial decision-making by developing a quantitative assessment index for forest pathways as well as respective landscape management guidelines to use after assessments are conducted. Landscape management grading was divided into four classes by using the landscape conservation intensity, landscape management requirements, and landscape sensitivity, which were used as indicators for evaluating the forest landscape. The Mt Jiri Dulle Roads in Mt Jiri National Park (which are a governmental pilot project) were evaluated by applying the quantitative assessment method. This research should be helpful in providing the basic data for supporting landscape management decision-making, assessing further landscape assessments of forest pathways and establishing a plan for landscape management.

A Social Multicriteria Evaluation of Strategic Development Options in Val di Non, Trentino Region, Italy

According to the evolution of the evaluation processes the article proposes the definition and the use of a participatory multicriteria model in order to assess different options of territorial strategic plan in the Trentino Region (Italy). The methodology proposed has been defined with the aim of considering the followings issues: a) the definition of development options consistent with the instances of conservation of high quality landscape values; b) the development of an evaluation process according to cognitive, normative and instrumental purposes; c) the participation to decision making processes as a crucial requirement for enlarging the awareness about the territorial development and its effects. Nel quadro dell’evoluzione degli strumenti di supporto a processi decisionali complessi, l’articolo presenta la costruzione e la sperimentazione di un modello multicriteriale partecipato per la valutazione di differenti ipotesi di piano strategico per la Val di Non in Trentino. La metodologia proposta suggerisce una riflessione intorno ai seguenti temi: a) la definizione di ipotesi di sviluppo coerenti con le esigenze di conservazione dell’equilibrio dei valori di un territorio connotato da una forte valenza paesaggistica; b) lo sviluppo delle potenzialita della valutazione in riferimento a finalita cognitive, normative e strumentali; c) la partecipazione ai processi decisionali, quale garanzia di una efficace condivisione delle possibili alternative d’intervento. .

Population of yew tree Taxus baccata L. in Latvia

Common yew (Taxus baccata L.) is a rare and endangered species included in Red Data Book of Latvia. The species grows on the eastern edge of its distribution area. It is mainly found in the SW parts of Kurland near the Baltic Sea coast and the Gulf of Riga (in some localities). Most yew are understory plants and grow well in the shade in a climatic zone with soft winters and cool summers. As this conifer has high landscape value and is relict since atlantic times it needs protection. In Kurland restricted area “Rucavas īvju audze” (“Yew grove of Rucava”) was established which is situated in the SW of the maritime territory in the Bārtavas lowland – 206 ha area. The biggest common yew tree (14 m) grows in park Zentene (in the district of Tukums). It is an open question whether artificial propagation of naturally growing plants in situ with consequent re-cultivation in situ could be considered a natural process of the species preservation. This paper also presents a collection of yew taxa which have been planted in the Arboretum of Rucava in the period of 15 years.