Urban Woodland Management Research Articles

The Impact of Resident Participation on Urban Woodland Quality—A Case Study of Sletten, Denmark

Despite the potential of urban woodlands for recreational use and participatory management, citizens’ perception of urban woodland quality, as well as the impact of citizens’ co-management on urban woodland quality, have not been thoroughly studied to date. The present study investigated how residents in Holstebro, Denmark define urban woodland quality in their neighborhood named Sletten and how they perceive the quality impact of their participation in the management and maintenance of a transition from private gardens to public urban woodland—the so-called co-management zone. Field survey of participation for all housing units with a co-management zone (n = 201) informed strategic selection of residents for individual interviews (n = 16). It was found that social, experiential, functional, and ecological dimensions are all part of residents’ perception of urban woodland quality, whereby maintenance, accessibility, and nature are dominating aspects of these dimensions. While these aspects are already integrated in quality assessment schemes for other types of urban green space, our study revealed the importance of structural and species diversity between and within woodland stands as central for the perceived woodland quality—a quality aspect that distinguishes woodland from other types of urban green space. Participation in the management and maintenance positively influenced the perceived woodland quality. Residents found that their participation in the co-management zone created functional and ecological, physical qualities in the woodland. Moreover, the active participation provided the residents with a range of social and experiential benefits, many of which they themselves argue that they would have missed out on if they were only allowed to use the woodland “passively”. These findings suggest a large—but also largely untapped—potential of participatory urban woodland management to contribute physical qualities to urban woodlands and benefits to its users.

Management urbaner Wälder zwischen Ansprüchen der Gesellschaft und Besitzerzielen

Management of urban woodlands between demands of society and owner objectives Urban woodlands provide numerous ecosystem services for the society. However, they depend on the management goals, motivations and interests of the forest owners. In the Munich Metropolitan Region, it was examined how the population perceive the woodlands and which services of the woodlands are most important for them. On the other hand management goals, interests and motivation of forest owners were assessed by interviewing representatives of state, communal and private forest owners in urban area. It turned out that both population and forest owners had quite similar ideas about the services urban woodlands should deliver. For many forest owners, timber production was of little importance. The main objective was creating and maintaining stable and ecologically valuable mixed stands. In the everyday perception of the population, there is a deep fear of losing woodlands for urban development. Forest management actions are often associated with a general loss of forest. To avoid conflicts, communication and information should be improved. To provide attractive forest consultancy for urban woodland owners, forest authorities and forest associations should include topics such as forest aesthetics, nature conservation, pest control, legal duty to maintain safety, recreation and visitor management.

Assessment of visual landscape quality using IKONOS imagery

The assessment of visual landscape quality is of importance to the management of urban woodlands. Satellite remote sensing may be used for this purpose as a substitute for traditional survey techniques that are both labour-intensive and time-consuming. This study examines the association between the quality of the perceived visual landscape in urban woodlands and texture measures extracted from IKONOS satellite data, which features 4-m spatial resolution and four spectral bands. The study was conducted in the woodlands of Istanbul (the most important element of urban mosaic) lying along both shores of the Bosporus Strait. The visual quality assessment applied in this study is based on the perceptual approach and was performed via a survey of expressed preferences. For this purpose, representative photographs of real scenery were used to elicit observers' preferences. A slide show comprising 33 images was presented to a group of 153 volunteers (all undergraduate students), and they were asked to rate the visual quality of each on a 10-point scale (1 for very low visual quality, 10 for very high). Average visual quality scores were calculated for landscape. Texture measures were acquired using the two methods: pixel-based and object-based. Pixel-based texture measures were extracted from the first principle component (PC1) image. Object-based texture measures were extracted by using the original four bands. The association between image texture measures and perceived visual landscape quality was tested via Pearson's correlation coefficient. The analysis found a strong linear association between image texture measures and visual quality. The highest correlation coefficient was calculated between standard deviation of gray levels (SDGL) (one of the pixel-based texture measures) and visual quality (r = 0.82, P < 0.05). The results showed that perceived visual quality of urban woodland landscapes can be estimated by using texture measures extracted from satellite data in combination with appropriate modelling techniques.

Analysing recreational values and management effects in an urban forest with the visitor-employed photography method

Urban woodland management usually requires trade-offs between biodiversity conservation and promotion of recreational values. Preference studies have shown that people in general prefer semi-open forests with little undergrowth rather than unmanaged forests with dense understory and an abundance of dead wood. In this study the visitor employed photography (VEP) method was used to evaluate visitors’ perceptions of an urban forest. Volunteers were given cameras and asked to take pictures of the places that they liked and disliked the most along a trail with varied forest vegetation in a near-urban recreational area in Gothenburg, Sweden. The survey was conducted on two occasions, in April and September. Photo content in combination with the participants’ comments in their photo-logs was analysed with particular focus on features related to understory density, dead wood and visible human impact. The analyses of photo content suggested that the main differences in the participants’ preferences were between natural and human-made objects or landscapes. Pictures of natural objects were mostly classified as “liked”, while “disliked” was dominant among the pictures of human impact. Future VEP studies in urban woodlands should preferably include participants with a wider span in age and background than in the present study. The photo and analysis procedure could be changed, depending on local key-issues regarding management or conservation planning. This study has shown that the visitor employed photography method can be used as a quantitative method to evaluate perceptions about forest vegetation and management in urban woodlands, and could serve as a valuable complement to conventional methods in preference research.

A comparative perspective of urban forestry in Belgrade, Serbia and Freiburg, Germany

As in many countries after periods of political unrest and with unstable economical conditions, urban woodland and green spaces are becoming prioritized in the last decade in Serbia. This stands in stark contrast to countries like Germany, where there is a long history of integrating urban green space in urban development. Looking through the lens of urban forestry, this paper compares the status, planning and management of urban woodland in the Serbian capital of Belgrade with the German city of Freiburg. Holding up the difficult situation in Belgrade to the good-practice case of Freiburg allows the identification of status, problems and potentials for development. Both cases of urban forestry were analysed by a series of methods, including expert interviews, on-site observations, and analysis of documents, literature and maps. Results indicate that in Belgrade institutions and policies of urban woodland management have being much less developed than in Freiburg. Furthermore, Belgrade faces various problems that need to be solved, e.g. in terms of developing the policy framework for urban forestry and the need to promote political awareness about its importance. Important lessons can be learnt from the experiences of cities like Freiburg.

Management of urban recreational woodlands: The case of Norway

A questionnaire was mailed to 351 forest supervisors in Norway about the condition and management of urban woodlands important for recreation. The overall respondense rate was 56% and included 29 large urban settlements (⩾10,000 inhabitants) and 168 small urban settlements (200–9999 inhabitants), encompassing about 37% of the Norwegian population. The areas included in the survey cover 194,100 ha, i.e. 1.6% of the forested area. Urban woodlands were defined as the annually most frequently visited forest areas larger than 50 ha. The average size of urban woodlands was about 1000 ha, equal in large and small urban settlements. About 73% of the urban woodlands were closer than 500 m from settlements. The mean proportion of forest in the urban fringe was 40%. Like most forested land in Norway, urban woodlands were mainly privately owned. In large urban settlements the proportion of municipal forest was slightly higher than in small urban settlements. The distributions of forest stand age and tree species composition in urban woodlands did not deviate from the overall forest situation in the region. Silviculture and forest plans were prominent in urban woodlands around both large and small urban settlements, but special plans for recreation and conservation were equally rare. Recreational facilities and conflicts were most common in urban woodlands around large urban settlements. The effect of the recommendations on management of urban woodlands developed during the 1970s is questioned regarding the small differences between urban woodlands and the general forest situation, as well as between woodlands of large and small urban settlements. However, recreational efforts may have been more intensive in smaller neighbourhood woodlands of less than 50 ha, which were beyond the scope of this survey.

Visualization and landscape laboratories in planning, design and management of urban woodlands

Although participatory approaches are increasingly used in planning and management of urban woodlands, efficient tools are also needed to make the processes work. In urban forest planning impacts of proposed management regimes on aesthetic and recreational values are among the factors that interest the local residents the most. This article explores two potential methods for improving collaborative urban forest planning and design in Europe, based primarily on experience gained in the Nordic countries. The methods relate to the use of (i) computer-based visualization methods and (ii) demonstration forests and landscape laboratories. We suggest that use of both methods may lead to a major enhancement in forest planning and design.

Urban woodland management – The case of 13 major Nordic cities

A postal questionnaire survey about the forest situation and management in urban woodland was carried out around the three largest urban agglomerations in each of the five Nordic countries, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden. Twenty estate managements responded, giving a respondent rate of 54%. Our material from 13 cities includes 108,888 ha productive forests, representing approximately 13% of all urban woodland areas in the Nordic region. The tree species composition in the urban woodland areas largely reflected the typical tree species distribution in the respective vegetation zones. It is expected that the percentage of Fagus sylvatica and Quercus spp. in the nemoral zone, and boreal hardwoods will increase in the future. The proportion of young and middle-aged forests is high in all urban woodlands, despite the focus on old forests in urban woodland management policy and research since the 1970s. Current silvicultural systems belonging to even-aged forestry prevail in most cities. However, the use of clear-cutting has decreased over the last 30 years. A conservative felling policy makes it likely that the proportion of old stands will increase. Various restrictions on forest management are briefly discussed. Reasons for changes in silvicultural practices differ from city to city, but recreation and conservation are most commonly reported.

Visual aspects in urban woodland management

This paper presents a study of woodland management guidelines analysed for their inclusion of visual aspects. The aim of the study was to identify approaches towards the management of visual aspects in urban woodland. For the study, 24 management guidelines from Sweden and the UK were reviewed for scale, degree of operational detail, the visual concepts used, their emphasis and justification. The review revealed that there exists a diversity of approaches towards managing visual aspects regarding the selection and emphasis of visual concepts as well as the scale at which they are applied and degree of operationality. Some general differences between Sweden and the UK where identified. These differences in treatment of visual aspects were mainly related to the use of different scale levels, different levels of abstraction and the basis for justifying the importance of visual qualities in management. These differences are discussed in relation to the wider management context, including landowner structure, landscape history and forestry traditions. We conclude that studying urban woodland management in another context (e.g. geographical and historical) can provide new insights for visual management. We also believe that transferring management strategies across cultures will result in them being altered at the policy and operational levels by the change of context. We further suggest that the use of visual concept could provide one approach for better integration of visual qualities in urban woodland management.

Characteristics of urban woodlands affecting breeding bird diversity and abundance

Breeding bird communities were studied in 32 forest islands surrounded by urban development. These isolated woodlands in Springfield, Massachusetts, provided breeding habitats for a wider variety of birds (77 species) than previously described for other urban habitats (e.g. four times as many species as found in urban residential areas in the same city in a previous study). The size of the woodland was the primary influence on bird diversity in these woodlands, explaining 79 and 75% of the variation in total species richness and the Shannon-Weaver index of bird species diversity, respectively. Other woodland characteristics that played a significant role in determining the variety of bird species were the density of buildings in the area immediately adjacent to the woods, density of shrubs within the woods, distance to the nearest trail, distance to the nearest body of water and average canopy height. Percentage of coniferous tree cover was the most important variable in explaining the variation in the number of birds detected at a sampling point (R 2=0.26). Information on the distance to the nearest trail, distance to the nearest body of water and distance to the nearest extensive forest area were also important in determining the number of bird sightings. The size of the woodland (1–69 ha) played an important role in the distribution of individual bird species. About half of all species observed in these woodlands were more commonly found in the larger woods (43–69 ha). Eight species were more abundant in the smallest woodlands (1–5 ha), and a few others were apparently insensitive to the size of the woodland. Specific recommendations are made to improve the design and management of urban woodlands for enrichment of the avifauna within a city.