Residents' perceptions of these benefits may be useful in supplementing the expert knowledge of forest ecosystem services to capture the variety of benefits and values related to these environments.
Residents use urban forests frequently for many purposes, and benefits these forests provide to citizens and to society are manifold. Residents' perceptions of these benefits may be useful in supplementing the expert knowledge of forest ecosystem services to capture the variety of benefits and values related to these environments. We conducted a postal survey in a residential area in Lahti, ... [Show full abstract] Finland, to explore which benefits residents perceive their nearby forests provide to them and to society. We also studied, to what purposes residents use these forests and what types of forest features they prefer in general. The study showed that forests that were located near peoples' homes were especially important because they offered experience-based benefits: psychological restoration, recreation and aesthetic benefits. Nearby forests were mostly used for physical exercising, enjoying natural beauty and observing nature. The most preferred forest features included paths and routes, berries and mushrooms, naturalness and recreation opportunities. Pairwise associations between the perceived benefits, nearby forest uses and preferred forest features were also studied but only one moderately strong association was found: respondents who used nearby forests for berry and mushroom picking felt obtaining provision benefits from these forests. Other associations were weak indicating that forest use or preferences for certain forest features do not necessarily reflect the variety of benefits and values residents relate to their nearby environments. Thus, besides examining the direct use values of forests – e.g. willingness-to-pay for the use – or measuring forest features only, one needs to study the experience-based benefits more thoroughly.