Landscape Aesthetics (AH 701-k) - Existing Scenic Integrity Inventory (Appendix E)

"Existing scenic integrity represents the current status of a landscape. It is determined on the basis of visual changes that detract from the scenic quality of the area. An inventory of existing scenic integrity serves multiple purposes throughout forest planning, continuing on into project implementation and monitoring." [Appendix E Purpose] [AH 701 pages 147-152]

"High quality scenery, especially scenery with natural-appearing landscapes, enhances peoples lives and benefits society. The Scenery Management System [SMS] presents a vocabulary for managing scenery and a systematic approach for determining the relative value and importance of scenery in a national forest. This handbook was written for national forest resource managers, landscape architects, and others interested in landscape aesthetics and scenery. Both students and the general public, our "constituents," will benefit from the straightforward approach of [this] system to a complex art and science. Ecosystems provide the environmental context for this scenery management system. The system is to be used in the context of ecosystem management to inventory and analyze scenery in a national forest, to assist in establishment of overall resource goals and objectives, to monitor the scenic  resource, and to ensure high-quality scenery for future generations." [AH 701 Abstract]

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