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The importance of place in landscape management and outdoor recreation has been prominent in the literature since the 1970s. As such, calls to incorporate place into the management of parks, forests, and other protected areas exist. However, little work explores how place attachment may complement existing management frameworks. Hence, the purpose of this investigation was to explore levels of visitors’ place attachment intensity across the six classes of the Recreation Opportunity Spectrum (ROS). Survey data collected in North America and Europe indicated there was more similarity in place attachment intensities among areas classified toward the less developed end of the ROS, while greater variation existed among the more developed sites. Observing place attachment across all six ROS classes allowed for a deeper understanding of the correlation between place and the management framework.

Semi-natural, extensively managed, grasslands are among the most species-rich agroecosystems in Europe. However, they are threatened by abandonment. We investigated the response of semi-natural grasslands to cessation of mowing at ten sites in three UNESCO Biosphere Reserves in Switzerland and Austria. We assessed vegetation characteristics, topsoil properties and microbially mediated soil processes by comparing once-a-year mowed with adjacent long-term abandoned grasslands on semi-dry, nutrient-poor, base-rich soils. Plant litter decomposition was determined using standardized substrates (Tea Bag Index). Soil microbial community composition was assessed by phospholipid fatty acid analysis. Abandonment altered floristic composition by replacing shade-intolerant or low-growing grassland species, in particular character species of the alliance Bromion erecti, with medium- to tall-sized grasses (e.g. Brachypodium pinnatum) and tall herbs (e.g. Laserpitium latifolium). Time since abandonment had an influence on the magnitude of successional changes after abandonment. Cessation of mowing increased above-ground phytomass but decreased plant species richness and evenness. Abandonment increased soil microbial biomass, promoted litter decomposition and led to an increased soil organic carbon, C:N ratio, and inorganic N supply. Our findings also showed that abandoned grasslands dominated by grasses remained shrub- and treeless for several decades.

Traditionally managed mountain grasslands are biodiversity hotspots in central Europe. However, socio-economic trends in agriculture during the last decades have changed farming practices, leaving steep and remote sites abandoned. Especially the abandonment of meadows is well known to directly affect plant and insect diversity. However, not much is known about the effects on soil processes and soil biota. To assess this, we studied four extensively managed (mown once a year, no fertilization) and four abandoned (no mowing, no fertilization) semi-dry meadows in a mountain region in Austria. Plant species richness, plant cover, plant traits, plant biomass, litter decomposition (tea bag index), and earthworm species richness and density were assessed. Additionally, soil temperature, moisture and electrical conductivity were measured. Results showed that managed meadows contained more plant species than abandoned meadows (118 vs. 93 species, respectively). We also observed different plant species assemblages between the two management types. In managed meadows, hemirosette and ruderal plant species were more abundant, while more plant species without rosettes and a higher plant necromass were found in abandoned meadows. Additionally, decomposition rate was higher in abandoned meadows. There was a trend towards higher earthworm densities in managed meadows, but there was no difference in earthworm species richness. We conclude that meadow management has effects on both aboveground vegetation and belowground biota and processes. Both abandoned and extensively managed meadows were important to sustain overall biodiversity and ecosystem functioning in the study region.

Bark beetle outbreak impacts are occurring at reportedly unprecedented levels. Despite previous research on the aesthetic and economic impacts of terrestrial pest infestations, minimal visitor behavioral response research exists. As beetle infestation progresses, both tree appearance and landscape change can negatively impact visitation and visitor revenue. Given the multiple-use mandate of most forests, this lack of research is surprising. To meet this gap, this study simulated impacts of varied beetle outbreak levels, management approaches, and visitor characteristics on interference with forest visitors’ experience and intended displacement. Visitors at two forested US state park study sites, one with significant bark beetle impact and the other with much less, responded to onsite questionnaires with digitally calibrated photos depicting a variety of beetle-impacted forest scenarios. Up to 80 percent of visitors indicated forest scenarios with significant bark beetle impact would interfere with their experience, and 70 percent reported they would not visit or be displaced. Analyses revealed forest fore- and midground conditions with varying levels of impact significantly predicted both experience interference and displacement. The relative importance of social, biophysical, and managerial conditions differed between models. Results inform management and planning efforts as well as advance understanding of the biophysical and social factors influencing interference and intended displacement.

Impacts of heat periods and stressful life increasingly impact urban population. Green infrastructure such as urban forests can reduce heat-related stress and provide a restorative experience. The study explored preferences of 160 urban woodland visitors in Vienna for, and their trade-offs between, structural components of forest stands using a discrete choice experiment with digitally calibrated images. Three different visitor intentions for choosing a forest stand were explored: preference, heat relief and restorative experience. Results showed that respondents preferred forest stands with a closed canopy and ground vegetation, but without high amounts of dead wood. The structural components were weighed differently by respondents with ground vegetation being the most important component relative to the other forest stand components investigated. While components providing shade became more important for heat relief, results for visitor preferences and restoration were very similar. Results indicate that different recreational intentions lead to different visual preferences for forest stands. Respondents would tolerate a less aesthetically appealing forest stand for a visit to a forest during hot days. Urban foresters may develop a specific type of forest stands to encounter the increasing impacts of urban heat.

The study explored whether national-park affinity segments of tourists differ regarding their level of specialization in, attitudes towards, and satisfaction with, national parks between 2013 and 2014. The research categorized 429 overnight tourists to the Bavarian Forest National Park, Germany, into three affinity segments based on the role the national park played in their travel decision. More than the half of the respondents had a high or rather high national-park affinity. Differences in specialization, attitudes and satisfaction between the segments were found. However, differences were only observed between the more national park-interested segments compared to visitors who are not aware of visiting a national park or whose decision to visit the area was not influenced by the national park label, except for satisfaction. Tourists with higher national-park affinity had more positive attitudes towards, and were more specialized in, national parks and were more satisfied with nature conservation management. For satisfaction, most differences were observed between the segment with the lowest and the one with the highest affinity. Study findings may support sustainable park management and park affinity research.

Invasive alien species (IAS) can cause ecological and economic damages. To reduce or prevent these damages different management and prevention strategies aim to impede new establishments or a further spreading of IAS. However, for these measures to be successful, public knowledge of risks and threats of IAS as well as public support for eradication measures are important prerequisites. We conducted a survey to examine (i) public and experts' awareness and knowledge of IAS, (ii) their preferences for six invasive plant species and (iii) their preferences for and trade-offs among management alternatives in Switzerland. In addition, a choice experiment was applied to analyse preferences concerning the intensity, priority and costs of interventions. Both, the Swiss public and the experts have a preference for intervening against invasive alien species. However, the public and the experts differ in their priorities of combatting particular species, resulting in a different ranking of intervention necessities. Further, differences were found in the willingness to pay for interventions between the German-, French- and Italian-speaking parts of Switzerland. The results suggest that a higher problem awareness increases the willingness to pay for countermeasures. We conclude that education programs or information campaigns are promising instruments to raise public awareness and to avoid conflicts concerning the management of invasive alien species.

Pine barrens are open‐canopy ecological communities once prevalent on sandy soils across the northern Great Lakes Region of the United States and Canada, though fire suppression and plantation forestry have now reduced them to a few isolated areas. Efforts to restore pine barrens are underway on some public lands, but lack of knowledge on the social and ecological issues and challenges that affect these projects impedes fuller progress. As a precursor to designing a public preference survey for pine barrens restoration, we sought input from those with expert knowledge about pine barrens. Using a three‐round modified Delphi survey, forest land managers and researchers identified the key characteristics of pine barrens and important current and future management challenges. Key characteristics were related to fire, landscape structure, plant and animal species, soils, and social themes. Current and future challenges were related to landscape, invasive species, social, economic, climate change, and science themes. Four social issues (education, fire acceptance, fire risk, aesthetics) were rated among the top current challenges but none of them maintained prominence as future challenges. Potential explanations for this shift are that the experts felt these social concerns would be resolved in time or that other issues, such as development pressures and budgets for carrying out restoration, would become greater future challenges. Our approach can be used by managers and researchers to better understand the ecosystems they seek to restore and to communicate with public stakeholders about restoration efforts.

Extensively managed grasslands, particularly in mountain regions, are considered to be one of the most diverse agroecosystems worldwide. Their decline due to land use abandonment affects the diversity of both plants and associated pollinators. Extensive grasslands constitute an important habitat type and food resource for hoverflies (syrphids); however, not much is known about the effects of abandonment on this important pollinator group. In the present study, we investigated how abandonment affects species richness and the composition of syrphids in mountainous meadows. We recorded the richness of vascular plants, vegetation cover, flower cover and the surrounding landscape to examine whether and how syrphids are affected by plant and landscape parameters. We investigated the species richness, abundance and species composition of syrphids by sweep netting and by using observation plots in 18 semidry meadows across two Austrian regions and one Swiss region. For each region, we selected three meadows abandoned for more than 20 years and three annually mown non-fertilized meadows. Abandonment or mowing had no significant effect on the total number of syrphid species or individuals or on the number of aphidophagous and non-aphidophagous species and individuals. However, the total number of species and the number of non-aphidophagous species significantly increased with the increasing number of plant species. The surrounding landscape and other plant parameters showed no association with the assessed syrphid parameters. Although syrphids were unaffected by abandonment, higher syrphid species numbers in response to a higher plant richness in annual mown meadows suggest that the management of mountain meadows is beneficial in preserving syrphid richness.

Public urban green spaces are crucial for citizens’ wellbeing and are an important part of daily life in cities. To maximize their benefits to quality of life a thorough knowledge of citizens’ preferences and preference heterogeneity is crucial in the planning and design of urban green spaces. This study investigated visitors’ perception of typical green spaces, with a focus on vegetation structure and the presence of typical historic city walls, as well as preferences within the context of perceived stress and safety. We conducted this study in the historic city of Padua in north-eastern Italy. In 2017, face-to-face interviews of citizens were held and choice sets, based on modified images of different green space scenarios, were used to test users’ preferences connected to both stress relief and safety perception. The study highlighted that general, stress relief and safety perception related preferences of the respondents depend on different site characteristics. Respondents preferred a complex but not too wild scenario with sparse trees and aesthetically appealing features such as colourful flowers. Historic walls had a negative effect on general preferences. While general preferences were very similar to stress relief preferences, preferences within the context of safety differed for some attributes. It seems that the vegetation structure and the presence of features linked to human recreational uses are important factors in planning and designing urban green spaces. Management and planning should take into consideration what users demand from green spaces as this will influence their suitable design.

Research on place attachment suggests that place identity and place dependence differ between recreationists with varying levels of specialization, recreating in different settings and with different resource proximities to their home. To further explore this relationship, we compared place attachment and recreation specialization of whitewater boaters in four different river settings. Data were collected on three rivers in the US and one in Austria. Place attachment was measured using four place identity and four place dependence items. Recreation specialization was treated as a multivariate construct consisting of the three dimensions; behavior, skill, and enduring involvement. The results of a cluster analysis revealed three specialization clusters. Two ANOVAs were performed by using place dependence and place identity as dependent variables and specialization clusters and the sampling rivers as independent variables. Place identity was not expressed differently between rivers but differed in specialization clusters. Place dependence was different between rivers but not between specialization clusters. Findings suggest that place attachment dimensions vary in river setting and specialization levels. Management should take into account that boaters exhibit different place attachment based on the specialization level and resource proximity to their home.

Previous research has found higher levels of heatwave mortality and morbidity among urban residents with a migration background because of their social, health and environmental conditions. The purpose of the study was to investigate and compare heat induced changes in the outdoor recreation behaviours of Turkish migrants with those of non-migrants on hot days in Vienna. Specifically, the study compared coping behaviours due to heat such as inter-area, intra-area, temporal and activity displacement between migrants and non-migrants. The study interviewed 400 migrants and non-migrants in four public green spaces of different area sizes and asked about their outdoor recreation motives and activities, as well as behavioural changes, due to summer heat. Results show that migrants have different motives for visiting urban green spaces on hot days, and that they visit these less frequently on hot days compared to non-migrants. While both groups shift their outdoor uses more to shady areas and the cooler times of the day, more migrants visit green spaces in the afternoon, perform more energetic recreational activities, and use sunnier sites more frequently than non-migrants on hot days. Few migrants and non-migrants stated that they would visit alternative green spaces when it is hot. The results indicate that migrants’ behaviours result in higher heat exposure, while making less use of the opportunities larger green spaces such as forests can provide for heat relief. Recommendations on how green and city planners could reduce heat related health risks for both study groups are presented.

A pine barrens is an open, fire-dependent ecological community once prevalent in sandy areas of northern Wisconsin (USA). Efforts to restore pine barrens on public lands have been hampered in part because their character does not conform to many people’s ideals of Northwoods forest scenery, challenging land managers on how to balance social and ecological goals. We studied the manager-relevant attributes of a pine barrens restoration site to predict nearby landowners’ landscape preferences and to ascertain whether their preferences differed. We designed a discrete choice experiment where different levels of six attributes of pine barrens were systematically manipulated in visual choice scenarios and presented to landowners (N = 542) of small, family forest parcels in an online survey. Half of the respondents read an informational statement about barrens ecology and management prior to judging the scenarios for visual preference, while everyone answered questions about their knowledge and experience with barrens. Results showed dominant preferences for scenarios indicating a Northwoods “scenic aesthetic,” with smaller openings, higher tree density, and lower fire intervals and understory shrub density. Latent class and a priori segmentations revealed smaller subgroups of landowners had higher preferences for more open treatment designs tending toward an “ecological aesthetic,” and while previous experiences at pine barrens helped to distinguish subgroups, prior knowledge and information did not. Implications are discussed for restoring pine barrens in a social context.

Extensive outbreaks of the emerald ash borer ( Agrilus planipennis ; EAB), an invasive forest insect, are having serious impacts on the cultural ecosystem services of urban forests in the United States and other countries. Limited experience with how such outbreaks might affect recreational opportunities prompted this investigation of visitors to a state park in St. Paul/Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA, where EAB damage is occurring. A photo-questionnaire solicited visitors’ visual preferences for trail environments in a discrete choice experiment. Systematically manipulated digital images simulated different levels of EAB impact in combination with other physical and social attributes including trail-proximate EAB-related forest management responses, land use context of the viewscape beyond the trail environment, visitor types, and visitor densities. Results indicated that EAB impacts were significant but of lesser importance than surrounding viewscape development and visitor numbers. Specifically, respondents preferred dense trailside shrub vegetation and low trail user numbers and disliked viewscapes showing city buildings and removal of most ash trees. Results suggest that trail planning should not only consider near-view landscape impacts but also the visual quality of more distant viewscapes, and that urban forest managers need to be aware of how forest insect impacts and subsequent management responses affect recreation setting preferences.

Heat affects cities because of the urban heat island effect and will increasingly affect these areas due to ongoing urbanization and climate change. Among those most vulnerable towards urban heat are the elderly. This study analysed coping behaviours to avoid heat stress among 193 elderly residents living independently in urban heat islands of Vienna. A visual discrete choice experiment employed digitally calibrated images to simulate urban green spaces and analysed green-space preferences of the elderly on hot days. This study found three coping behaviours among the elderly: outdoor, home and second-home coping. Heat-coping segments differ in their health status, adaptive capacity and green-space use. Green spaces which provide shadow and a pond and which are easily accessible and cooler than the home would encourage most of the elderly for a visit. Segments differ in their preferences for green spaces. Study findings underline the importance of a heat-adjusted green-space design for the elderly.

This study explored visitors’ preferences for social conditions of trail use in urban forests. It is important to understand the heterogeneous nature of visitor preferences because the recreational use of urban forests is characterized by multipurpose uses with different visiting motivations. To understand preference heterogeneity, this study used a discrete choice experiment using a latent class model that incorporated motivational and sociodemographic factors as membership likelihood function. In 2006, 256 visitors to the Nopporo Forest Park, Hokkaido, in northern Japan, completed questionnaires with a series of discrete choice tasks using computer-manipulated images presenting various social conditions of trail use, such as visitor numbers and harvesting behavior on wild food plants. The study identified two visitor groups. One group consisted of more elders whose motivation was to enjoy the natural environment. Although they tended to tolerate crowded conditions, they particularly disliked plant pickers, who harvest wild vegetables alongside the trail. The other group was less tolerant of crowds, and enjoying the natural environment was not their primary purpose for visiting the park. These visitors especially disliked excessive numbers of visitors, but they did not dislike plant pickers. These results suggest that traditional park management assumptions about typical visitors poorly serve the heterogeneous nature of the visitor population.

Recent research has indicated that the younger generations may be disconnected from nature and even show some dislike for natural conditions. This study addressed adolescents’ preferences for riverscapes with varying fluvial dynamics as recreational settings. A stated choice survey with digitally calibrated river scenarios asked Austrian pupils (N = 281) about their preferences for several physical and social characteristics of a floodplain landscape. Pupils perceived riverscapes with a high water dynamic as best for recreation, while water bodies with low water levels and algae, dry river sites, floods and littered trails were disliked. Heterogeneity among the pupils was found with one smaller segment preferring settings with high water dynamic and low human impact, while the larger one preferred settings with more human impact and low water dynamic. This segment that shows some dislike for natural conditions had less experience with rivers and scored lower on natural river-related attitudes and ...

Urban forest managers regularly deal with recreational trail impacts and dissatisfied trail users. This exploratory study examined the extent to which various objectively measured recreational impacts on urban forest trails are perceived by trail users, and how perceptions affect the quality of their experience. The influence of age and education was also examined. An integrated approach combining biophysical and social science aspects was used with a convenience sample of university students and retirees ( N = 82). A 1700 m long study trail through a natural forest within an urban landscape park was pre-assessed before the walk for visual impacts such as erosion, litter, exposed roots, vandalism, muddy trail sections, divergent and parallel trails, excessive trail width, domestic animal waste and sporting activity impacts. After the participants had walked the trail individually, they completed a questionnaire which asked which trail impacts they had noticed, to what extent they had noticed them, and whether and to what degree that had influenced their recreation experience. The results indicated that some impacts such as muddy trail sections and informal trails were perceived to a much greater extent than assessors had objectively measured them.

Many urban societies are faced with a growing incidence of poor health because of mental stress and sedentary lifestyles. Urban green spaces are increasingly seen as a counter to hectic city living and as restorative settings. This study investigates the preferences for site characteristics green-space visitors have when they are seeking stress relief compared to their general green-space preferences. This study developed a conceptual framework integrating physical and social characteristics of different green-space types in Vienna, Austria and investigated the preferences of 692 on-site visitors. A stated choice model with digitally calibrated images found that visitors’ general preferences are similar to their site preferences when seeking stress relief. However, for stress relief, visitor numbers played a more important role in their green-space choices, while litter and trail environment played a larger role in general preferences. The stress-relief preferences of respondents did not differ remarkably subject to their own reported stress level. Recommendations for green-space planning are derived.

Extensive outbreaks of tree-killing insects are increasing across forests in Europe and North America due to climate change and other factors. Yet, little recent research examines visitor response to visual changes in conifer forest recreation settings resulting from forest insect infestations, how visitors weigh trade-offs between physical and social forest environment factors, or how visitor preferences might differ by nationality. This study explored forest visitor preferences with a discrete choice experiment that photographically simulated conifer forest stands with varying levels of bark beetle outbreaks, forest and visitor management practices, and visitor use levels and compositions. On-site surveys were conducted with visitors to State Forest State Park in Colorado (n = 200), Lake Bemidji State Park in Minnesota (n = 228), and Harz National Park in Germany (n = 208). Results revealed that the condition of the immediate forest surrounding was the most important variable influencing visitors' landscape preferences. Visitors preferred healthy mature forest stands and disliked forests with substantial dead wood. The number of visitors was the most important social factor influencing visitor landscape preferences. Differences in the influence of physical and social factors on visual preferences existed between study sites. Findings suggest that both visual forest conditions and visitor use management are important concerns in addressing landscape preferences for beetle-impacted forest recreation areas.

Context Abandonment of extensively managed meadows is an ongoing global challenge in recent decades, particularly in mountain regions, and directly affects plant diversity. However, the extent to which plant diversity further affects associated insect pollinators or herbivores is little investigated. Objectives We focused on the effects of abandonment of mountain meadows on species richness and assemblages of bumblebees, bugs and grasshoppers. Specifically, we investigated the influence of vegetation cover, flower cover, plant richness and surrounding landscape on the three insect groups. Methods Species richness, abundance and species assemblages of bumblebees, bugs and grasshoppers were surveyed in one Swiss and two Austrian regions: three meadows which had been abandoned for 1560 years, and three extensively managed meadows (mown once a year, no use of fertilizers). We surveyed bumblebees and bugs by sweep net, and grasshoppers using the time-effective soundscape approach. Results Bumblebee species richness and abundance were significantly higher in managed meadows, whereas bug and grasshopper richness and abundance showed no differences between both management types. Managed and abandoned meadows harboured significantly different species assemblages of bugs and grasshoppers, but not of bumblebees. Increasing flower cover and plant richness increased bumblebee richness, but correlated negatively with richness of bugs. Surrounding open landscape positively affected bugs. Caelifera positively correlated with surrounding forest cover and negatively with vegetation cover. Vegetation cover positively affected Ensifera. Conclusions Abandoned and extensively managed meadows are important habitat types for the conservation of the three insect groups, thus suggesting the maintenance of both habitat types within mountain landscapes. (VLID)2786607

Urban green infrastructure provides a number of cultural ecosystem services that are greatly appreciated by the public. In order to benefit from these services, actual contact with the respective ecosystem is often required. Furthermore, the type of services offered depend on the physical characteristics of the ecosystem. We conducted a review of publications dealing with demand or social factors such as user needs, preferences and values as well as spatially explicit supply or physical factors such as amount of green space, (bio)diversity, recreational infrastructure, etc. and linking demand and supply factors together. The aim was to provide an overview of this highly interdisciplinary research, to describe how these linkages are being made and to identify which factors significantly influence dependent variables such as levels of use, activities or health and well-being benefits. Commonly used methods were the combination of questionnaires with either on-site visual recording of elements or GIS data. Links between social and physical data were usually established either by using statistical tools or by overlaying different thematic maps. Compared to the large number of variables assessed in most studies, the significant effects in the end were relatively few, not consistent across the studies and largely dependent on the context they were seen in. Studies focused on aesthetic and recreational services, while spiritual, educational and inspirational services were not considered when creating links to spatially explicit ecological structures. We conclude that an improvement and harmonization of methodologies, cross-country studies and an expansion of this line of research to a wider range of services and more user groups could help clarify relationships and thereby increase applicability for urban management and planning. Urban green infrastructure provides a number of cultural ecosystem services that are greatly appreciated by the public. In order to benefit from these services, actual contact with the respective ecosystem is often required. Furthermore, the type of services offered depend on the physical characteristics of the ecosystem. We conducted a review of publications dealing with demand or social factors such as user needs, preferences and values as well as spatially explicit supply or physical factors such as amount of green space, (bio)diversity, recreational infrastructure, etc. and linking demand and supply factors together. The aim was to provide an overview of this highly interdisciplinary research, to describe how these linkages are being made and to identify which factors significantly influence dependent variables such as levels of use, activities or health and well-being benefits. Commonly used methods were the combination of questionnaires with either on-site visual recording of elements or GIS data. Links between social and physical data were usually established either by using statistical tools or by overlaying different thematic maps. Compared to the large number of variables assessed in most studies, the significant effects in the end were relatively few, not consistent across the studies and largely dependent on the context they were seen in. Studies focused on aesthetic and recreational services, while spiritual, educational and inspirational services were not considered when creating links to spatially explicit ecological structures. We conclude that an improvement and harmonization of methodologies, cross-country studies and an expansion of this line of research to a wider range of services and more user groups could help clarify relationships and thereby increase applicability for urban management and planning

Research on recreational place attachment suggests that place identity, or the emotional/symbolic ties people have to places, and place dependence, which describes a functional attachment to a specific place, influence the perception of social and environmental site conditions. Recent research, however, has found that place attachment is not always a predictor of such perceptions. This study investigated the influence of place attachment and experience use history on the perception of depreciative visitor behavior, recreation impacts and crowding in an urban national park. In 2006, 605 on-site visitors to the heavily-used Viennese part of the Danube Floodplains National Park were asked about past experience, place attachment, perceptions of depreciative visitor behavior, crowding, changes in visitor numbers during the past ten years, and recreation impacts on wildlife. Confirmatory factor analysis confirmed the two dimensions of place attachment. Linear regression analyses found that place identity and place dependence were related to some perceived depreciative visitor behaviors and visitor number changes but not to crowding, while experience use history additionally related to perceived crowding. Visitors with higher place attachment and past experience were more sensitive to social and environmental site conditions. Management implications of the findings are discussed.

Attitudes towards protected areas are seen as a key factor in influencing their success. While the majority of park–people relation research has addressed local residents’ attitudes towards protected areas in their own country, analyses on their attitudes towards a neighbouring national park on the other side of the border have rarely been carried out. This study investigated the attitudes of local residents in Upper Austria towards the Czech Sumava National Park. In 2008, residents (N = 468) of four rural communities bordering the Sumava National Park answered a mailed questionnaire. Compared to national parks in general, the Sumava National Park was perceived as not providing as many ecological, social, and economic benefits as others. Psychological reactance, past visits to the Sumava National Park, and attitudes towards landscape change and national parks in general predicted attitudes towards the Sumava National Park, while group membership, except for that of being a farmer, was not significant. Variables that have been previously identified as influencing the attitudes of local residents towards protected areas also seem to be relevant for protected areas on the other side of the border, while items addressing local trans-border issues and group membership appear to be less important. Management implications are discussed.

This study explored the relationships between the perception of restorative natural environments, specialization in mountain hiking and flow experience. On-site interviews were conducted at mountain huts in the Salzkammergut, Austria, in 2009. The analysis of 369 hikers suggests that a relationship exists among recreation specialization, the perception of restorative environments and flow. With increasing specialization, people are more likely to experience flow. The restorative quality dimensions of “being away,” “fascination” and “compatibility” with the mountainous landscape were positive predictors of flow experience.

Although community attachment and urban green space provide many benefits to local residents, the relationship between them seems to be unknown. The aim of the study was to analyse this relationship. The objective was to investigate the influence of public green space and recreation behaviour on community attachment and explore differences in community attachment between urban and suburban residents of the Vienna region. To a large degree, both study areas border on, and share, the same recreation areas along the Danube River and are subject to urban sprawl. A mail survey was carried out in 2006 to ask local residents ( N = 602) about community green space, recreation behaviour, community qualities, ownership of private green space and community attachment. Urban residents showed higher community attachment, valued the community green space higher and perceived a better quality of life in their community than the suburban sample. Regression analysis identified perceived green space supply and qualities, recreation behaviour, and residential variables predicting community attachment. Different predictors were found for the community attachment of the samples, while several public green space-related items were consistent and strong predictors. The study findings suggest that the perceived supply and quality of green space can foster community attachment.

This study explored the impact of speed on shared trail preferences of students ( N = 168) in relation to social, managerial and physical trail features, using a latent-class choice experiment with 3D computer animated trail scenarios. The trail scenarios were depicted as digitally calibrated films that systematically displayed six social, managerial and physical attributes. On-trail walkers and bicyclists were animated, using 3D character modelling and animation, moving at different speed levels. Respondents preferred litter-free, well designed and managed settings with gravel trails and low user numbers organized in larger groups, and shorter sight distances. Lower speed levels were preferred but speed perception depended on the trail environment. Heterogeneity in trail preferences was found, resulting in two classes with different preferences for social, managerial and physical trail features. Results also indicate that high-quality trail design can absorb more visitors than a less maintained trail environment. 3D computer animation seems to be a useful tool for investigating motion-related factors in environmental perception research.

Differences in trail preferences for social conditions of visitors to forests in Vienna and Sapporo were investigated in 2006 using a standardised image-based stated choice approach. On-site visitors to two comparable peri-urban forests – the Lobau Forest in Vienna, Austria (n=373), and the Nopporo Forest in Sapporo, Japan (n=256) – evaluated the same sets of computer manipulated images depicting 128 trail scenarios with different levels of social stimulation. Latent class segmentations, in three sub-segments of similar sizes, differentiated by partly opposite preferences for social conditions, were derived for both samples. A positive contribution of social stimulation to preferences was found for about 17% of Nopporo and 9% of Lobau respondents, while for close to 50% of Lobau respondents and 38% of Nopporo respondents very low levels of social stimulation were preferred. The results indicate that urban forests should be managed for users with a desire for low social densities as well as a denser social setting providing some levels of social stimulation.

Summary The Donau-Auen National Park in Austria is situated partially within the area of the city of Vienna, and is exposed to high-use pressure including off-trail use and off-leash dog walking. Management measures are based on, among other things, the knowledge of the user groups’ perceptions of the impacts of their own behaviour on park wildlife, in particular, problematic behaviour. On-site visitors were interviewed using a standardised questionnaire during the winter of 2002 ( N =271) in order to assess their awareness of the disturbance of wildlife due to different anthropogenic uses, including recreational ones. Only 40% of the respondents were aware that wildlife is disturbed, and merely 12% believed that they could have potentially disturbed wildlife on the day of the interview. In contrast, the wildlife experts interviewed assigned greater negative impacts on wildlife to some recreational uses. No differences were found between visitors with unproblematic behaviour and regular off-trail walkers and dog walkers – even those whose dogs were unleashed – in regard to their own potentially impacting behaviour. Some management implications are discussed, taking the specific situation of a small national park on the urban–rural fringe into consideration.

Past on-site experience was linked to the crowding perceptions and use displacement of 383 on-site visitors to the peri-urban Danube Floodplains National Park, Austria. Three visitor groups were determined according to their area experience: local residents from Vienna and rural communities, having the highest level of experience; regional visitors from the city and eastern Austria; and tourists from Austria and abroad with the lowest degree of experience. Crowding perceptions were significantly different across the user groups. More than 50% of local residents perceived the national park as crowded, whereas only 27% of regional visitors and 19% of tourists reported such an evaluation. Even among local residents and regional visitors, respondents with more on-site experience expressed a greater impression of a crowded park. Differences in crowding evaluations between local rural and urban residents and between regional rural and urban visitors were not found. For 27% of local residents and 15% of regional visitors, use levels were so unacceptable that they displaced temporally and spatially, whereas use displacement was relatively irrelevant for tourists. The use displacement strategies involved differ among the three user groups. Management implications were discussed, taking the specific situation of the small national park on the urban-rural fringe into consideration.

Recreation use in two urban forests in Vienna, Austria was compared. Visitors to an inner-urban forest and to a peri-urban forest were monitored by means of video observation during 1 year, from dawn to dusk. The amount of use and the temporal use pattern of the main user types, identified by video interpreters as walkers, cyclists, dog walkers and joggers, were compared. In the inner-urban forest, surrounding settlements, schools and business areas evoked high-use pressure, commuting activities, high shares of all-day activities, more morning and evening use particularly on workdays and, overall, more workday use. The peri-urban forest was, by far, not so heavily used and the proportion of daily routine activities such as dog walking and jogging was reduced because of the lower population density in the surroundings. While the potential for user conflicts in the inner-urban forest seemed to be quite high at weekends and workday late afternoons and evenings, in the peri-urban forest this potential was only high during weekend afternoons in the warmer season, due to the temporally concentrated appearance of walkers and bicyclists.

Two visitor-monitoring methods, video monitoring and counts by human observers, were compared in order to identify and evaluate their respective advantages and disadvantages. The analysis considered user numbers, user type (walkers, dog walkers, bicyclists, and joggers) and group size of visitors. Remarkable differences were found between the two methods for user type and use levels. At low use levels, evaluations based on video monitoring resulted in fewer single bicyclists compared to counts by human observers, whereas at high use levels, human observers counted fewer walkers and bikers than video-interpreters. Based on this comparative analysis, we derive recommendations for more effective visitor-monitoring approaches. All data were collected during a visitor-monitoring project in the Danube Floodplains National Park in Austria between 1998 and 1999.

An image-based stated choice approach was used to investigate the conditions determining why visitors to an urban forest in Vienna feel crowded or not. Respondents ( N = 213 ) evaluated several sets of images depicting trail use scenarios with different levels of social crowding conditions and several types of social interferences. Forest users were segmented into three groups based on their global evaluations of use levels during weekends and work days, resulting in a crowding-averse, a crowding-tolerant, and a crowding-indifferent segment. Crowding-averse respondents reacted much more negatively to scenarios with high-use levels, heterogeneous trail use conditions, and violations of personal minimum spatial requirements caused by the presence of others. This user group felt overcrowded because social conditions experienced in the area interfered with their main visiting goals, especially to walk with their dog unleashed and to recreate. By contrast, crowding-tolerant respondents disliked very low-use and high-use situations, and preferred a certain amount of social stimulation in the form of some encounters, and more heterogeneous trail use conditions.

National parks in close proximity to large urban areas, such as the Danube Floodplains National Park near Vienna, need an intensive monitoring of recreational use due to the high number of visitors and the highly fragmented natural settings. Visitors in the National Park were monitored using an approach that integrated long-term video monitoring, counts by human observers, specific visitor interviews and route analysis by the application of GIS tools. The combination of monitoring and survey data allows a thorough analysis of public use patterns, as illustrated by a case study of dog walkers in the park. Results demonstrate the value of integrated monitoring approaches, and serve as a basis for improved sustainable management of the Danube Floodplains National Park.

Austria's Danube Floodplains National Park is a prime example for management issues in a protected area with high recreational use. This study focuses on the disturbances of grey herons (Ardea cinerea) and silver herons (Casmerodius albus) caused by canoeists, which were inventoried using standardized ecological observation techniques by measuring the distances of flight. Survey data about the canoeists' characteristics and their awareness of their disturbance on the avifauna were obtained from on-site interviews, conducted when canoeists were leaving the area. Video-monitoring was undertaken to provide long-term quantitative data about use levels and temporal distribution of the canoeists. The observation data of herons' reactions were interlinked with visitor use data to analyse the impacts of recreational use on the avifauna. The distances of flight were influenced by the use levels of canoeists, the habitat quality of the area where herons were observed, and the time of the day. Two-thirds of the interviewed canoeists were not aware of the negative anthropogenic impact on the avifauna.