ENVIRONMENTAL CONSEQUENCES in rocky mountain coniferous ...

The various statistical data on SBE, arithmetic means, and tests of significance
are on file at the Forestry Sciences Laboratory. These analyses were performed in
cooperation with the Arizona researchers and the University of ~ontana.~
RESULTS
The results summarized here are based on study areas in Wyoming, Montana, and
Idaho. Evaluations were made by 15 viewer panels that included timber industry
representatives, pub1 ic school teachers, and university psychology students. The
findings that could have a direct bearing on management activities are included in the
following summary.
Undisturbed Forests - The Baseline
Often when construction or a timber harvest is planned, the visual impact is
compared to the undisturbed natural condition. We found that typical scenes in four
mature, undisturbed forest types, (lodgepole pine, grand fir, western larch, and
Douglas-fir) were rated by viewers at the 1 i ke end of the scale, usually between 6 and
8 (fig. 1). However, when we looked in detail at the lodgepole pine ratings, we found
that at the edge of a typical stand, such as along a meadow, the rating was highest;
within a dark and enclosed mature stand, ratings were lower; and in a decadent stand
with dead and fallen material, the ratings were actually on the dislike side of the
scale. This suggests that a preference for the "undisturbed natural condition" actu-
ally meant a 1 iking for green, neat conditions and a dislike for the clutter and
debris that occurs even in nature.
LARCH
GRAND FIR
DOUGLAS- F I R
LODGEPOLE P INE
Meadwedge
M-ture
Decadent
dislike l1
MEAN RATING
Figure I.-- Mean rating of rnahre forest
types from 0 (d