INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF TOURISM RESEARCH
Int. J. Tourism Res. 2, 203208 (2000)
Conference Reports:
Editor: Dimitrios Buhalis
Environmental Management of Forest
Tourism and Recreation
Xavier Font*
Department of Leisure and Tourism, Buckinghamshire Chilterns University College, Kingshill Road, High
Wycombe, Bucks HP13 5BB, UK
The tourism industry is gradually awakening
to the fact that environmental management
systems are the tool to operationalise environ-
mental aims into corporate structures. Within
the European Union (EU) `Life' programme of
DG XI, Buckinghamshire Chilterns University
College is planning a European award, Tour-
for, for environmental management of tourism
and recreation in forest sites. As part of the
consultation process, this team organised the
rst European Conference in environmental
management of tourism and recreation in
forest settings, on 21 November 1998 at High
Wycombe (UK). The aim of this conference
was to bring together a selection of good-
practice case studies of how to use an
environmental management system (EMS) to
run recreation and tourism in forests.
Thirteen papers were presented at this
conference, covering the broad industry frame-
work, writing environmental management
plans, examples on management techniques,
UK cases from the public, private sectors and
NGOs, and international cases.
* Correspondence to: Mr. X. Font, Department of Leisure
and Tourism, Buckinghamshire Chilterns, University
College, Kingshill Road, High Wycombe, Bucks HP13
5DB.
KEYNOTE PRESENTATIONS
Two keynote presentations provided the
framework for the conference. Firstly,
Richard Broadhurst, a Senior Adviser on Rec-
reation, Access and Community for the UK
Forestry Commission, covered the topic of re-
search and policy in tourism and recreation in
the UK. He explained the UK policy back-
ground to tourism in forests, including access
reviews, the Lisbon Resolution L1 and the UK
Forestry Standard and Guidelines. An area of
extreme interest was a review of past and
present research commissioned in forest re-
creation, after which the speaker revealed the
future research plans of the Forestry Commis-
sion.
Secondly, Nigel Tansley-Thomas, Director
of the Foundation for Environmental Educa-
tion in Europe (FEEE), spoke about pro-
grammes for environmental management of
resources. His presentation discussed four
programmes run by FEEE in this respect:
European Blue Flag Campaign for beaches
and marinas and Eco-Schools and Young
Reporters for the Environment. Environment
management systems linked to awards are at
the heart of these programmes.
WRITING AN ENVIRONMENTAL PLAN
Two presentations expanded on how to write a
Copyright # 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
204
plan, the rst one focusing on involving the
community, the second one on large, multisite
management plans.
The Forest of Mercia Plan showed an
innovative and visionary environmental plan
developed with widespread community sup-
port and closely integrated with local social
and economic agendas. Graham Hunt, Direc-
tor of the Forest of Mercia Community Forest,
is part of the largest environmental initiative in
England at the moment: enhancing the land-
scapes on the edge of our major towns and
cities through creating new forest environ-
ments. The plans themselves have no statutory
basis and therefore will be heavily dependent
on linkages to existing plans and policies.
Thus, all of these plans must be based upon
widespread public support and the presump-
tion of voluntary participation by landowners.
The Head of Forestry at the National Trust,
David Russell, spoke about multipurpose use
of woodlands, with the strong belief that these
are compatible, and the environmental man-
agement systems used within his organisation.
The National Trust plans included statements
of signicance, a working process, a vision of
what is expected, recording of actions and an
audit. Staff training outlined was particularly
impressive, including managing volunteer
programmes, community participation, dogs,
horses and cyclists writing statements of
signicance, planning and objective setting,
interpretation skills, tree inspection and risk
assessment.
ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT
TECHNIQUES
Derek Stickler and Steve Searle, from the
Crown Estate Windsor, reviewed the policy
for public recreation in Swinley Forest, part of
the Windsor Estate. This is a multipurpose site
combining commercial (timber), environmen-
tal (SSSI, SPA and heathland) and recreational
perspectives. Issues such as car parking, will-
ingness to pay, activities that take place and
problems and controls relating to mountain
biking were discussed. They identied their
preferred management options, including time
and space zoning and permit schemes.
The Forestry Commission (FC) is the single
largest provider of woodland for recreation in
Copyright # 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Conference Reports
Great Britain, with over one million hectares,
50 million visitors and 700 visitor sites. The
presentation by Paddy Harrop (Environment
and Communications, FC) identied how
policies are put into practice in FC woods
and forests. Their management focuses on
recreation, conservation, timber production
and visual amenity. Case studies from Scot-
land were covered, and specically in Glen
Affric. Zoning techniques used were explained
in detail and linked to the overall access
policies of the site, providing a good example
of how to manage recreational land while
conserving its natural values.
Andrew Barnard, from the Corporation of
London, examined how a sensible balance can
be achieved to ensure that obligations are met
in terms of conserving a site and addressing
the expectations of visitors. His case study was
Burnham Beeches, a woodland with up to
750 000 visitors per year, situated west of
London and owned by the Corporation of
London since 1880. Recreation has been, until
quite recently, the highest priority in terms of
this site's management, but in the last decade
conservation has played a more crucial role in
managing compatibility between walkers and
cyclists, for example. The management `tools'
used by the team at Burnham Beeches were
critically examined, with emphasis on com-
municating with visitors.
PRIVATE WOODLAND MANAGEMENT
Three case studies focused on private wood-
land management. Willingness to pay for
outdoor recreation is quite low, and therefore
few landowners can justify the investment on
recreational facilities. It was therefore crucial
to give examples from private ventures heavily
involved in merging recreation and forest
management.
Chris and Anne Yarrow gave an excellent
example of how to maximise the benets of a
small private woodland, namely Wilderness
Wood, in East Sussex, England. This is an
intensively managed 20 ha ancient woodland
that generates income from coppice products,
garden furniture manufactured on site, Christ-
mas trees and visitors, including several
thousand schoolchildren each year. These
different enterprises harmonise with and
Int. J. Tourism Res. 2, 203208 (2000)
Conference Reports
benet each other, and are compatible with the
other management objectives of resource con-
servation and enhancement. The wood is the
recipient of both the Centre Award and the
Duke or Cornwall's Award for Conservation
and Forestry.
The second case study from the private
sector discussed the issue of private land and
public pleasure in the case of the Buccleuch
Estates, covering 400 square miles of country-
side in the south of Scotland. Richard William-
son, Director of the Buccleuch Countryside
Service, discussed a partnership and multi-
agency approach to rural issues and how this
often plays a key role in pump-priming
projects. The Buccleuch land management
system was discussed, based around four
themes of value, stewardship, education and
professionalism.
One of the most signicant presentations
was that of Center Parcs. This was for two
reasons: rstly, because it is seen as a market
leader in the provision of forest-based tourism,
secondly, because the presentation revolved
around implementing ISO 14000 in forest
tourism. Barry Collins, Ecology Manager at
Center Parcs, explained the key demands for
certication, compliance to documented man-
agement plandoreview systems, and contin-
uous environmental improvement. From this
introduction he expanded on how Center
Parcs is implementing the ISO standard across
all 13 of its villages, in all ve European
operating countries. The presentation outlined
Center Parcs' corporate philosophy and de-
tailed the tangible achievements made with
regard to wildlife conservation as a result of
implementing a complete management sys-
tem.
INTERNATIONAL CASE STUDIES
Three presentations focused on international
examples. The Portuguese perspective to forest
tourism was presented by Professor Castro-
Rego, Director of the Estacao Florestal Nacio-
nal. Forest tourism, and specically hunting,
Copyright # 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
205
was closely linked with biodiversity issues.
Raimo Hulmi, from North Karelia Polytechnic,
highlighted the different relationship the Fin-
nish have with their highly forested landscape
in comparison with overseas visitors. The
Finnish are traditional forest users, both for
recreation and forestry exploitation, and are
not used to paying for forest recreation. The
most popular recreation forms have been
cross-country skiing, hiking in the forest and
so called `productive outdoor activities': pick-
ing berries and mushrooms, and hunting. New
forms of activities, such as snow-mobile riding
and canoeing, have become more and more
popular in the recent years.
Moving from management to tourist usage,
John Wyatt, Managing Director of Waxwing
Tours presented the nature tour operating
view behind using forests for recreation. He
compared Bialowieka Forest in eastern Poland,
almost undisturbed for the last 10 000 years,
with managed forests in Finland, Great Britain,
Costa Rica and Africa to see what lessons can
be learned. As an experienced ornithologist,
his presentation focused on the forest re-
sources for wildlife holidays.
CONCLUSIONS
This conference appealed to a wide audience
interested in environmental management, and
the conference was well attended. Delegates
represented national corporations, private es-
tates, local authorities, universities and stu-
dents, from a wide variety of sectors and 10
different countries. Many of the delegates
attended with the intention to apply an
environmental management system to their
site, strengthening the practicality of work-
shops. The day provided a forum for tourism,
outdoor recreation and forestry professionals
to nd out about how environmental manage-
ment systems are being applied elsewhere and
what that can mean to them. For those unable
to attend on the day, you can get information
on the conference proceedings and the Tourfor
award on 44 1494 605163.
Int. J. Tourism Res. 2, 203208 (2000)