Evaluation of visual quality of ecological services of forest parks (Case study: Chaldareh Forest Park)

Forest parks are one of the most important natural ecosystems of any country, which provide various functions and services for mankind. Therefore, their preservation is considered as one of the main goals of human activities. Nowadays, due to the role of forest park ecosystems in attracting tourists, the evaluation of their visual quality has become very important. Aesthetic quality is defined as the relative beauty of the landscape, which depends on the visual features including physical, biological and man-made elements present in a place. Knowing the effective factors and criteria in the visual quality of the image of the land, as a suitable tool for evaluating and locating areas with aesthetic-cognitive value, can help managers and planners in the selection and effective management of images with visual value. Therefore, the goal of this study is assessing the visual quality of the landscape of Chaldereh forest park of Tonkaben city located in Mazandaran province. In this research, the visual quality classification method (Q-Sort) was used to evaluate the visual quality of the forest park. The research data was gathered in the form of a field survey, random sampling and the completion of the Q-Sort questionnaire by 60 visitors to the forest park. The finding of assessing the visual quality of the landscape of Chaldereh-Tenkabon forest park with the method of visual quality classification showed that the main criteria for improving the visual quality of Chaldereh-Tonekabon forest park include the existence of natural features (mountains and hills), the relaxing atmosphere, open and panoramic views of the surrounding landscapes, and criteria like the lack of integration of buildings and vegetation and the lack of balance, visual disturbance, and man-made elements are the main reasons for decreased landscape quality of this park.