Tourists' perception of deadwood in mountain forests

In traditional forest management practices, the non-living woody biomass in forests was perceived negatively. Generally, deadwood was removed during the silvicultural treatments to protect forests against fire, pests and insects' attacks. In the last decades, the perception of forest managers regarding forest deadwood is changing. However, people's opinions about the presence of deadwood in forests have been little investigated. In light of this gap, the aim of the paper is to understand tourists' perception and opinions towards deadwood in mountain forests. The survey was carried out in two study areas: the first one in Italy and the second one in Bosnia-Herzegovina. A structured questionnaire was administered to a random sample of visitors (n = 156 in Italy, n = 115 in Bosnia-Herzegovina). Tourists' preferences were evaluated through a set of images characterized by a different amount of standing dead trees and lying deadwood. The collected data were statistically analyzed to highlight the preferred type of forests related to different forms of deadwood management (unmanaged forests, close-to-nature forests, extensively managed forests and intensively managed forests). The results show that both components of deadwood are perceived positively by tourists. More than 60% of respondents prefer unmanaged forests and close-to-nature managed forests, 40% of respondents prefer intensively managed forests in which deadwood is removed during the silvicultural treatments. Concerning the differences between the two study areas, a positive opinion on intensively managed forests was expressed by 40% of respondents in Italy and 22% in Bosnia-Herzegovina. Conversely, in both study areas a similar percentage of respondents preferred unmanaged forests and close-to-nature managed forests (about 40% Genova valley and 44% in Sarajevo Canton).