Landscape, facilities and visitors: An integrated model of recreational ecosystem services

Recreation is a complex and important ecosystem service. Therefore, there is a need for approaches that can account for this complexity, and integrate both environmental and socio-economical perspectives. The Recreational Ecosystem Services (RES) model proposed in this paper responds to this need. RES are understood as the delivery of services, conditioned by recreational use. Demand is, however, shaped by supply, in the form of natural potential, and recreational infrastructure. New mapping methods are proposed and tested using the example of water-based recreation in the Great Masurian Lakes, Poland. A combination of three levels of landscape potential, recreational infrastructure and use made it possible to identify and map 27 types of RES and calculate their monetary value. Although the study was carried out in a relatively natural area, the findings showed that it was not landscape potential, but recreational facilities that was correlated with recreational use. This suggests that the responsible management of an area can significantly influence recreational use and develop various RES patterns.