Exploring visitors' perceptions of silvicultural treatments to increase the destination attractiveness of peri-urban forests: A case study in Tuscany Region (Italy)

- The main benefits provided by peri-urban forests are recreation opportunities and air quality.
- Peri-urban forests are considered an important source for carbon stocking by visitors.
- The most appreciated peri-urban forests are those with a high level of naturalness.
- The unmanaged peri-urban forests are perceived negatively by visitors.

Peri-urban forests are characterized by multiple-use and various kinds of recreation activities. Public forest services have to take into account ecological, economic and social issues to provide a sustainable management of peri-urban forests, able to improve their attractiveness. Understanding visitors' demands and perceptions on peri-urban forests is a key element to support decision-makers and ensure proper management of these forests. This study is aimed at investigating visitors' perceptions and preferences regarding the characteristics of the peri-urban forests and the role of silvicultural treatments. The investigation was implemented in the Monte Morello peri-urban forest located near the metropolitan area of Florence (Italy). The forest is a dominant black pine and Calabrian pine plantation, established in the sixties for protection purpose but largely abandoned. Recently, silvicultural treatments have been applied to restore the ecological stability and enhance the resistance and resilience of forest. An innovative selective thinning was applied to compare its effects (economical, ecological and social) with the traditional thinning and with unmanaged areas. Visitors' perceptions and preferences were collected through the administration of a face-to-face interview to 201 respondents. The survey investigated three aspects: recreational use of peri-urban forests; benefits of peri-urban forest vegetation; preferences towards the characteristics of the peri-urban forest. The visitors assessed from the aesthetic point of view three images of the Monte Morello forest after different silvicultural treatments (traditional thinning, selective thinning and unmanaged forest). The results show that the preferred type of peri-urban forest is a mixed forest of coniferous and deciduous with a random arrangement of trees in space. The tourist facilities (i.e. waste baskets, picnicking and sport areas) are perceived in a positive way by visitors. With regard to the forest management alternatives, the results show that the visitors prefer the managed forest through a selective thinning.