Visual preferences of a forest trail environment

Recreation resource managers are becoming increasingly aware of the importance of the visual resource to recreationists. Hiking forest trails is an extremely popular recreational activity; however, little information exists concerning how visitors visually perceive forest trails and how resource managers might manage these environments to enhance the benefits derived from a hiking experience. The major objective of the study was to determine the visual preferences of visitors to a forest trail in Great Smoky Mountains National Park in Tennessee. Of particular interest was the relationship of preference and familiarity for various scenes along the trail.

An environmental preference and visual information processing approach underlie the study. A total of 750 visitors were interviewed on-site during the summer of 1982. Although some of the visitors were asked to view photographs of the forest trail environment just prior to their hike, most were shown the photos only upon completing their hike. Visitors were asked to indicate their preference (depending on the treatment) or familiarity (on a 5-point Likert scale) for each photographed scene. Information was also obtained about visitors' past and present hiking experience in addition to other background variables. Photographs for the study questionnaire included some taken by the researcher and some taken by visitors.

Results indicate that although visitors rate most of the forest trail scenes fairly high, they do prefer certain scenes over others. Highly preferred are scenes containing water, the trail or ravines. In addition, scenes are preferred that contain an element of hidden, but promised information which entices one to enter the scene deeper and to explore it more fully. When the photos were grouped according to patterns of commonalities through factor analytic procedures, the factor that contained scenes of water was the most preferred, while the factor dominated by felled trees, tangled underbrush, or exposed roots in the foreground was least preferred. Four factors or forest trail scene dimensions, in total, were identified by the factor analysis. The "information processing" model used, in addition to the physical descriptions for interpreting the forest trail scene dimensions, showed "complexity" and "mystery" (the promise of more information) to be very important predictors of preference.

Familiarity was shown to be an important component of preference. Scenes visitors rated most familiar were likely to be scenes that rated high on preference. Considerable visual information appears to enter memory as a result of on-site experiences. In addition, interpretive signs, located at certain scenes along the trail, significantly increased preference and familiarity ratings.

Application of the research is directed toward trail planners and interpreters of the forest. Knowledge of which forest scenes and features visitors prefer permits the resource manager to locate trails on a basis other than intuition and geological site characteristics to better meet the needs of recreationists. It also provides a basis for managing the visual resources of forest environments.