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Abstract |
Forest monitoring normally either focuses on physical aspects such as tree species, stand structure, vegetation cover, etc. or on social aspects, namely forest recreation and the relationship of people with the forest. However, especially regarding forest recreation, both the physical characteristics of the forest in which recreation takes place as well as the social aspects such as visitor preferences and behaviour play an important role. A clearer understanding of the interactions of society and forest and in particular better knowledge of the interrelation of physical forest characteristics and forest recreation would allow better managing of the forest with regard to societal needs. Physical forest characteristics are often assessed by forest inventories, for which data is normally collected from sample plots on a systematic grid across the country (Tomppo et al., 2010). In order to assess the social dimension of forest recreation, nationwide surveys are conducted in several countries on a regular basis to provide valuable information about the relationship of the population with the forest, usage patterns, motivations for forest recreation, etc. (Sievanen et al., 2008). However, there is no spatially explicit link to the physical forest, or forest characteristics are dealt with in a minor way, e.g. by using photographs without underlying physical forest data. The question arises whether National Forest Inventories (NFIs) and socio-cultural forest monitoring (usually nationwide questionnaire surveys) could be combined to explain and possibly even predict forest recreation patterns from forest-related and visitor-related data. |
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