Assessment of Changes in a Viewshed in the Western Carpathians Landscape as a Result of Reforestation

Abstract

A viewshed analysis is of great importance in mountainous areas characterized by high landscape values. The aim of this research was to determine the impact of reforestation occurring on former pasturelands on changes in the viewshed, and to quantify changes in the surface of glades. We combine a horizontal and a vertical approach to landscape analysis. The changes in non-forest areas and the viewshed from viewpoints located in glades were calculated using historical cartographic materials and a more recent Digital Elevation Model and Digital Surface Model. An analysis was conducted using a Visibility tool in ArcGIS. The non-forest areas decreased in the period 1848–2015. The viewshed in the majority of viewpoints also decreased in the period 1848–2015. In the majority of cases, the maximal viewsheds were calculated in 1879/1885 and 1933 (43.8% of the analyzed cases), whereas the minimal ones were calculated in 2015 (almost 57.5% of analyzed cases). Changes in the viewshed range from 0.2 to 23.5 km2 with half the cases analyzed being no more than 1.4 km2. The results indicate that forest succession on abandoned glades does not always cause a decline in the viewshed. Deforestation in neighboring areas may be another factor that has an influence on the decline.

Traditional Free-Ranging Livestock Farming as a Management Strategy for Biological and Cultural Landscape Diversity: A Case from the Southern Apennines

“…In the general climate of abandonment that rural and mountainous areas have been undergoing in the past decades, not limited to the Apennines, but well-documented especially in Eastern Europe [88][89][90], it is thus imperative to look to these traditions and to involve the people who are custodians of ecological knowledge in order to safeguard both biological and cultural diversity. Well-preserved landscapes would also have a positive effect on tourism in these areas, as it has been shown that managed grasslands are more attractive and have better visibility than abandoned landscapes [61,91]. This type of pastoralism is kept alive by the cultural traditions tied to it, more so than by some type of economic benefit, even though areas with more widespread agrienvironmental schemes are less likely to be abandoned [90].…”

Multi-Item Assessment of Physiognomic Diversity of Geocomplexes as a Comprehensive Method of Visual-Aesthetic Landscape Assessment

“…In a relatively diverse landscape, this detail seems to be sufficient, although it is still difficult to find works with such accuracy, especially for Poland [52]. Moreover, since the computation (1996), much effort has been put in by later works to develop faster and more efficient GIS tools related to view line tracking and zooming, reference plane analysis, and view partitioning into blocks [53][54][55][56]. For example, Miller and Law [57] performed an interesting analysis of view structure by building a 3D terrain model and calculating visibility shares of specific land cover types according to Corine Land Cover.…”

The Assessment of Hydrogeosites in the Fann Mountains, Tajikistan as a Basis for Sustainable Tourism

“…Hence, its internal value should be assessed regularly. The direction and dynamics of landscape changes could be different in particular parts of the mountains [59].…”