Forest management or greed of gain?-An information experiment on peri-urban forest visitors' attitudes regarding harvesting operations

•We investigated the perceptions of recreational forest visitors concerning forestry operations.•In an experimental study public information boards on forestry activities were installed in the Vienna Woods next to a recently removed beech stand.•Forest visitors passing the harvesting site (N = 51) were asked for their attitudes using the laddering technique.•Our results show that the appearance of the harvesting site is an important issue in the respondents' perceptions and that the information boards induce an attitude shift towards certain topics.•By using targeted information, we show how to reduce the strength of appearance- and ecology-related factors and how to redirect attention towards the more commercial aspects of the wood economy, i.e. those aspects considered useful for visitor management in urban forests.