Visual perception of habitats adopted for post-mining landscape rehabilitation

The study presented here focuses on visual preferences expressed by respondents for five relatively natural habitat types used in land reclamation projects in the North-West Bohemian brown coal basins (Czech Republic). Respondents evaluated the perceived beauty of the habitat types using a photograph questionnaire, on the basis of the positively skewed 6-point Likert scale. The order of the habitat types, from most beautiful to least beautiful, was: managed coniferous forest, wild deciduous forest, managed deciduous forest, managed mixed forest, and managed grassland. Higher visual preferences were indicated for older forest habitats (30-40 years old) than for younger habitats (10-20 years old). In addition, respondents preferred wild deciduous forest to managed deciduous forest. Managed grasslands and non-native managed coniferous forests were preferred by older people with a lower level of education and low income living in the post-mining area. On the other hand, native, wild deciduous forest was awarded the highest perceived beauty score by younger, more educated respondents with higher income, living outside the post-mining landscapes. The study confirms differences in the perception of various forms of land reclamation by residents vs. non-residents, and its findings also confirm the need for sociological research in post-mining landscapes within the process of designing rehabilitated landscapes. From the visual standpoint, the results of our study also support the current trend toward using natural succession in the reclamation of post-mining landscapes.