Relationships Between Spatial Metrics and Forest Landscape Beauty Across Viewing Distance Zones: Implications for Forest Management in Ino Town, Japan

To develop targeted forest management strategies, management staff must understand the statistical relationships between forest aesthetic values and landscape metrics across specified distance ranges. However, as the existing studies based on distance-zone theory have failed to isolate the impacts of landscape features in different zones, their practical applicability to forest management is limited. The present study aims to clarify the different effects of landscape elements on the modeling of forest scenic beauty. To this end, the relevant features are divided into near (0–400 m), middle (400 m–2.5 km), and far (2.5–5 km) zones. A regression analysis stratified by viewing zones confirmed the dominant role of the near zone and revealed different influences of individual landscape elements across the viewing zones. The landscape patterns identified through a cluster analysis, together with pattern-specific regression models, further clarified different explanatory powers of the landscape elements under different conditions, highlighting the elements that should be prioritized to enhance aesthetic value. These findings refine the existing theories and clarify how landscape elements influence aesthetic value across different viewing zones, highlighting the importance of distance-specific landscape element management.