Public perception and value of Pennsylvania s old-growth forests

Collin Shephard, Penn State

March 18, 2010 @ 01:20 pm to 02:10 pm

10 Tyson Building

The human dimensions of natural resources refers to an area of investigation that attempts to describe, predict, understand, and affect human thought and action toward natural environments._ Visual preference research has revealed much about public preference for forest conditions and the silvicultural treatments that produce them._ However, most studies conducted have utilized scenes of western forests leaving perceptions of eastern forests, particularly those in the rare old-growth condition, relatively unknown._ To understand how Pennsylvania s residents perceive and value old-growth forests, six focus groups were conducted throughout the Commonwealth from July to December of 2009._ I will discuss the results of these focus groups as well as the survey instrument that was constructed using their findings

Contact

Kristen Granger
klg297@psu.edu