Visitor preferences of thinning practice in young even-aged stands of pedunculate oak (Quercus robur L.): comparing the opinion of forestry professionals in six European countries

ABSTRACT

This study compared visitor preferences of forestry professionals across six European countries (Sweden, Denmark, Great Britain, Austria, Romania and Portugal) using a questionnaire survey. The 598 interviewees were asked to rank photographs depicting recently thinned experimental plots in a 13-year old stand of pedunculate oak (Quercus robur L.) according to the criterion: “Which forest environment do you prefer as a visitor?” The plots represented five different residual stem densities: 7000 (no thinning, very high stem density), 5300 (heavy thinning, high stem density), 1000 (very heavy thinning, medium stem density), 300 (extremely heavy thinning, low stem density/open stand) and 100 (solitary trees, very low stem density/very open stand) stems ha⁻¹. The results indicated geographical variation in the preferences for different thinning practices in young stands of oak. Portuguese, Austrian and Romanian respondents generally favoured thinned, but dense stands, whereas Danish and British respondents preferred very heavily thinned stands. Swedish respondents preferred open stands resulting from extremely heavy thinning. Photographs taken along rows were favoured to photographs across rows, indicating a preference for scenes offering perspective and accessibility. The results indicate a variation of visitor preferences among forestry professionals for different silvicultural regimes. We interpret this in the context of national traditions and forestry paradigms that influence the shaping of preferences.

KEYWORDS:

• Discrete choice analysis
• forest accessibility
• forest aesthetics
• forest recreation
• precommercial thinning
• scenic beauty
• silviculture
• slash
• stem density

Acknowledgements

We gratefully acknowledge the 598 respondents who willingly contributed to this research. The responses were collected during field tours and meetings as well as through mail correspondence and at university lectures. We extend our sincere thanks to colleagues in Sweden (Göran Hallsby and Clas Fries), Great Britain (Arne Pommerening, Gabriel Hemery and Bill Mason), Austria (Georg Frank, Ulrike Pröbstl-Haider, Hubert Hasenauer and Roland Berger), Romania (Valeriu-Norocel Nicolescu) and Portugal (Margarida Tomé and Paula Soares) who persistently helped improve and balance the number of responses during the final phase of the investigation.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

The experiment and the questionnaire surveys leading to this research were supported during 2002–2007 by two grants from the Danish Forest and Nature Agency’s fund for experimental silviculture, and 2004–2007 by a grant from the Nordic Council of Ministers under the AFFORNORD project on effects of afforestation on ecosystems and local communities in the Nordic region. During 2009–2012 our work was supported by grants within the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences and University of Copenhagen. The preparation of this publication was supported during 2012 by the Swedish research program on Broadleaved forest for the future and its seven external funding agencies. During the final stages of preparation of this publication the Laboratoire d’Economie Forestière UMR 356 was supported by a grant overseen by the French National Research Agency (ANR) as part of the "Investissements d'Avenir" program (ANR-11-LABX-0002-01, Lab of Excellence ARBRE).