Forest Recreation Opportunity Spectrum in the Suburban Mountainous Region of Beijing

Abstract

Urban forests, and especially suburban and rural forests near major metropolitan areas, provide important ecosystem services. Rich forest resources are an asset of Beijing, and the number of forest recreationists has increased rapidly since the 1980s. To control the environmental impact of recreational activities and satisfy people’s diverse demands, a forest recreation opportunity spectrum (FROS) was designed for the suburban mountainous region of Beijing. FROS integrates social and environmental factors on the basis of on-site questionnaires and a 20-site field survey conducted in 2008 and 2009. Using the traditional recreation opportunity spectrum and water recreation opportunity spectrum as references, indicators for the three main criteria—biophysical, social, and management attributes—were chosen. These indicators classify forest recreational resources into five FROS classes, which range from suburban developed to suburban natural, rural developed, rural natural, and semiprimitive. The setting attributes, study findings, and management recommendations for each FROS class were analyzed, and the recreational opportunity classes were inventoried and mapped by GIS. According to the FROS, the distribution of different opportunities supplied in the suburban region of Beijing is not well matched with residents’ demands. These findings are based on a survey of network questionnaires. This study shows that visitors pay attention to the convenience of transport in choosing a recreational destination. Directing use away from suburban areas and to rural areas requires improvements in the transportation system, especially public transport. The FROS framework encourages managers to search beyond their own agency for information and provides an interagency, collaborative perspective to gather and analyze existing resources. This framework might be extensible to other regions except for the suburban mountainous areas of Beijing.