How High Is the Recreation Value of Successional Forests Growing Spontaneously on Coal Mine Spoil Heaps?

Abstract

Research highlights: Recreation value increases with the age of replanted as well as successional forests. Successional forests are not systematically less valuable for recreation than replanted forests. Succession may be used as a viable and low-cost reclamation practice of spoil heaps. Background and objectives: Afforestation has been a popular practice in post-mining land reclamation in the Czech Republic. To expand the current evidence on the recreation values of reclaimed forests, we conducted a valuation study for most typical reclaimed forests, as well as for successional forests spontaneously growing on surface coal mine deposit heaps. Using two distinct measurement methods, we also explore whether the estimated recreation value of forests is robust. Materials and Methods: An online survey was conducted in 2016 on a sample of residents living in the vicinity of coal mine deposit heaps, residents of the adjacent region of Karlovy Vary, and a control population from the central Bohemian region. Participants evaluated visual representations of forest stands typical for reclamation and succession, along with commercial spruce forest as a reference type. In the direct measurement, we measured the attractiveness of a respective forest for a walk using a 5-point scale. In the indirect measurement, a hypothetical choice between two forests for a walk was elicited in a discrete choice experiment. Results: Both direct and indirect measurements provide similar results. All reclaimed forests have a lower recreation value than the reference spruce forest. Successional forests are not systematically less valuable for recreation than replanted forests and the recreation value of both types increases with their age. The age, gender, and education of the participants did not affect the recreation value of a forest. Conclusions: We demonstrate that succession may be used as a viable and low-cost reclamation practice of spoil heaps emerging as a by-product of open-cast coal mining. With recreation as only one of many forest uses, our findings need to be interpreted vis-à-vis the objectives and expected results for individual sites and their habitat conditions.

How Do Observable Characteristics of Post-Mining Forests Affect Their Attractiveness for Recreation?

“…This finding also corresponded to the results of previous studies [5,34]. Their results [5,29] pinpoint the fact that people living in locations damaged by mining tend to perceive the attractiveness of some types of native post-mining forests more critically than people not living in mining-influenced areas [8]. This is especially true for forests whose attractiveness is similar to conventional recreational forests, e.g., pine reclamations [8].…”

“…Following previous findings [5,8], the results corroborated that restored forests in the Sokolov post-mining areas with terminated open-cast coal-mining activity were less attractive for recreation than conventional commercial spruce timber forests. Different observed characteristics of restored forests, partly regardless of the chosen restoration procedure, accounted for the lower attractiveness of post-mining forests for recreation.…”

“…Their results [5,29] pinpoint the fact that people living in locations damaged by mining tend to perceive the attractiveness of some types of native post-mining forests more critically than people not living in mining-influenced areas [8]. This is especially true for forests whose attractiveness is similar to conventional recreational forests, e.g., pine reclamations [8]. Local people living in the vicinity of spoil heaps in the Sokolov District are less familiar with restored forests (Post-mining) than with conventional forests, and this makes them less attractive.…”

“…People often spend their leisure time in forested areas close to cities and towns and engage in recreational activities ranging from simply walking alone, with a family or dogs, outdoor exercising to hunting. However, not all forest areas are liked [8,9] and numerous observable characteristics have been identified to influence forest attractiveness [10]. Ode et al [10] employed existing theoretical concepts of a landscape's visual character to create a nomenclature of characteristics and their measurable indicators.…”

“…Afterward, in Part 2, participants evaluated the attractiveness of the forests for recreation; again the forests were displayed in the same order as in Part 1. Part 3 consisted of a discrete choice experiment, in which additional forests were evaluated (not reported in the present study; for details see [8]). In the last part, participants were debriefed and asked about their socio-demographics.…”