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.