Landscape Amenities

Abstract

Aims & Scope:The Landscape Series publishes manuscripts approaching landscape from a broad perspective. Landscapes are home and livelihood for people, house historic artefacts, and comprise systems of physical, chemical and biological processes. Landscapes are shaped and governed by human societies, who base their existence on the use of the natural resources. People enjoy the aesthetic qualities of landscapes and their recreational facilities, and design new landscapes. The Landscape Series aims to add new and innovative insights into landscapes. It encourages contributions on theory development as well as applied studies, which may act as best practice. Problem-solving approaches and contributions to planning and management of landscape are most welcome. The Landscape Series wishes to attract outstanding studies from the natural sciences, social sciences, humanities as well as the arts and does especially provide a forum for publications resulting from interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary acting teams. Ideally, the contributions help the application of findings from landscape research to practice, and to feed back again from practice into research. VOLUME 2 ISABEL VANSLEMBROUCK and GUIDO VAN HUYLENBROECK

Agricultural Landscape Preferences

“…Agricultural landscapes have been recognized as multifunctional because they not only serve to produce food and fiber but also provide public amenities such as biodiversity conservation, preservation of historic resources, and contribution to the socioeconomic viability of rural areas (Jordan and Warner 2010; Jongeneel, Polman, and Slangen 2008; Marsden and Sonnino 2008; Renting et al 2009). The many nonconsumable services emerging from the practice of agriculture, especially in terms of landscape beautification and conservation, increase the farmland capacity to provide recreational services for farm families, their neighbors, and visitors (Renting et al 2009; Vanslembrouck and Van Huylenbroeck 2005).…”

“…The diversity of agricultural landscapes in terms of their crops and livestock, production mode (e.g., low input, highly specialized), and topography shapes the recreational use of the land in multiple ways (Vanslembrouck and Van Huylenbroeck 2005). For example, planting trees in the farmland along with crops diversifies the visual appearance and improves the aesthetics of agricultural landscapes, thus facilitating nature appreciation and supporting various types of recreational activities, such as hiking, skiing, and bird watching (Grala, Tyndall, and Mize 2010; Lovell et al 2010; Schultz et al 2009).…”

Ecosystem Services in Working Lands of the Southeastern USA

“…Expanding our understanding of the "ecosystem services matrix" of natural habitats combined with working lands allows us to recognize the roles of working lands, such as habitat, for large area-requiring species like top predators. Low intensity working lands are not as biodiverse as the lands they replace, but higher "countryside" ecosystem service values might improve our understanding of how to balance production with agroecosystem conservation (Vanslembrouck and Van Huylenbroeck, 2005). We also gain a better appreciation for the extensive landscapes over which large scale ecosystem processes such as prescribed fires and floods may occur.…”

“…National conservation assessments such as the GAP/LANDFIRE National Terrestrial Ecosystems address detailed vegetation and land cover patterns for the conterminous United States (CONUS) but often minimize analyses of the conservation values of agricultural land uses, both the less intensive uses, such as grazing lands, or the more intensive croplands (e.g., Pearlstine et al, 2002). In contrast, in the European Union, multifunctional agriculture and human modified working lands have long been viewed as contributing to the protection of the environment and the sustained vitality of rural areas (e.g., Burrell, 2001), and the provision of "landscape amenities" produced by agriculture is important to value (Vanslembrouck and Van Huylenbroeck, 2005).…”

Understanding Landscape Stewardship – Lessons to be Learned from Public Service Economics

“…Landscape stewardship is conceptualised as a positive externality (e.g. Vanslembrouck and Van Huylenbroeck, 2005;Fleischer and Tsur, 2009) or a joint production outcome (e.g. Hodge, 2000;Romstad et al, 2000;Buysse et al, 2007).…”