• Journal of Forest and Environmental Science
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.28-39
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• 2004

This study was carried out to find new perspective of forest recreation program in Gangwon-do. Gangwon-do has now 19 forest recreation sites (national forest 11, public forest 4, private forest 4) where forest interpretation, mountain bike, mountain marathon, mountain ski, forest music concert, various forest class are held. In order to develop the new programs for forest recreation program in Gangwon-do, this study considered culture program, welfare program and education program. For culture program, the experience program in traditional house, the experience in the back region and the experience in special product of mountain village were suggested. For welfare programs, the welfare programs for the old and the handicapped were shown. For education program, forest global village program and personality program were devised. According to introduction of 5 day-work per week, the population for recreation are expected to strongly increase, so Gangwon-do representing the image of tour province should improve continuous concern and various developing programs for forest recreation.

• Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science
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• v.109 no.3
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• pp.341-349
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• 2020

This study analyzed the effectiveness of the forest education program for teacher training. The training program was conducted at the National Center for Forest Activities, in Hoengseong, Korea in August 2017. Presurveys and postsurveys were administered to 46, K-12 teachers who participated in the forest education program. The results showed a statistically significant increase in the teachers' environmental sensitivity, eco-friendly teaching attitude, and teacher efficacy after the program. Survey participants expressed a slightly lower confidence in terms of teacher efficacy after participating in the program. This confirms the need for a training program with a focus on practical teaching skills, which would help teachers become more confident in providing forest education. This study verifies the effectiveness of the forest education program for teachers, who play an important role in developing students' environmental sensitivity and eco-friendly attitude. Furthermore, it suggests the need to develop more effective forest education programs for teacher training.

• Journal of Digital Convergence
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• v.13 no.6
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• pp.297-305
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• 2015

Forest area was applied as health promotion place for resident. Korea Forest Service set the term of "forest healing" based on the application of forest area as health promotion, which multidisciplinary approach in forest policy, and construct the "healing forest" for the healing space. Handicapped was excluded from the forest healing service as healing forest was located in the point away from urban area. The standard of healing forest size was difficult to set as urban forest area was fragmented. This study conducted on adequate standard of healing forest size in urban region. This study surveyed the laws related to the outdoor recreation place, and the walking range of the handicapped (elders, disabilities). The results were deduced with interrelationship between two factors(forest policy, human walking range). Healing forest size was not departmentalized for urban area compared with the standard of similar outdoor space (tourism complex, urban parks). Healing forest size was changed from 50ha to 25ha in national forest, from 30ha to 15ha in private forest considered with walking range of handicapped. This study contributes the evidence as the standard of healing forest size for health promotion in urban resident.

• Journal of People, Plants, and Environment
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• v.22 no.6
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• pp.699-709
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• 2019

Various health and social issues related to the elderly are emerging in line with the rapid aging of the population. In particular, dementia currently has a prevalence of about 10 percent of the elderly population in South Korea, which increases financial and social burdens to not only individual patients but also their caring family. To assess the effects of participating in the forest therapy programs for dementia prevention, this study recruited participants aged 50 and above and tested their depression (Korean form of Geriatric Depression Scale; KGDS) and stress response (Modified form of Stress Response Inventory; SRI-MF), which are emotional aspects of dementia. As a result, KGDS showed a significant decrease of 3.2 points from 8.4 to 5.2 points, and SRI-MF showed a significant decrease of 7.2 points from 40 to 32.8 points, indicating a statistically significant improvement in both. In addition, participants with minor depression and high level of stress in the pretest showed statistically significant improvements in the SRI-MF for men, and the KGDS and SRI-MF for women. Furthermore, there were statistically significant improvements in KGDS for participants in their 60s and in SRI-MF for those in their 70s in terms of age, and in both KGDS and SRI-MF for participants with chronic diseases and in KGDS for participants without chronic diseases. This study confirmed the effects of forest therapy on the prevention of the emotional aspects of dementia and laid the groundwork for increasing the applicability of forest therapy by obtaining a place for dementia prevention as a field of forest therapy.

• Journal of Korean Society of Rural Planning
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.11-19
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• 2016

The purpose of this study was to develop the strategy on activation of village by forest healing. Researcher conducted the questionnaire survey for forest healing village development to classify the mountain's characteristics by the three factors(linkage resource, program, facilities). In result, village characteristics were divided into two types: single element outstanding type(resource), complex element outstanding type(resource+program, resource+facilities). The development of forest healing village have to focused on the forest healing service recipient and mountain village characteristics. In conclusion, relationship between forest healing recipient and mountain characteristics was as follows: single type (resource) - public; complex type (resource+program) - chronic disease, social vulnerable people; complex type (resource+facilities) - severe disease. The detailed guideline for forest healing village needs to be established according to the mountain characteristics.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.44 no.4
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• pp.330-339
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• 2018

Objectives: The occurrence characteristics of BTEXS and phytoncides were investigated by type of urban forest. Methods: Four types of urban green space (Hongneung Forest, Mt. Chunjang, residential park, and traffic island) and Gwangneung Forest were selected. Monitoring of phytoncides and BTEXS was conducted considering the activity times of urban residents (five times per day) using a Tenax TA tube and suction pump in June 2017 (one day). Results: Phytoncide concentrations were ranked as Gwangneung Forest>Hongneung Forest>Mt. Cheonjang>traffic island>residential park. Relatively high concentrations of phytoncides were also identified in the urban forest. There was no significant difference between Gwangneung Forest and the urban forest. BTEXS concentrations were ranked as traffic island>residential park>Hongneung Forest>Gwangneung Forest>Mt. Cheonjang. Traffic island and residential park showed high levels of BTEXS depending on the inflow of vehicles. The difference in concentration by time was significant for the traffic island in particular. Pollutant levels in Hongneung Forest were as low as in Gwangneung Forest. Conclusion: The concentrations of phytoncides and BTEXS were different by types of urban green space, and the potential for health and hygiene of urban forests were able to be investigated. This study is expected to provide as basic data for the creation of urban forest spaces in the future.

• Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science
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• v.104 no.2
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• pp.300-308
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• 2015

Landscape planning system established in 2007. It is necessary that forest landscape management will be established based on the long-term and wide scope plan for forest management. This study suggested the considering factor while the establishing forest landscape plan for forest characteristics. Forest landscape type was consisted of 4 medium classification(geographical resources, waterscape, forest resources, cultural resources) and 12 small classification(geographical resources: panorama of ridge, ridge of curious rock peaks, waterscape: waterfall, valley, lake, forest resources: crown layer scenery, royal azaleas of main ridge, autumnal tints of ridge slope, flowers in herbaceous plants, inside of forest, forest trail scenery, cultural resources: facilities). This study suggested that consideration on 6 functions of forest in landscape zone planning and forest landscape management plan each classification (main ridge, sense of season, waterscape, rock resources).

• Journal of People, Plants, and Environment
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• v.22 no.6
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• pp.677-690
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• 2019

Recently, the importance and effectiveness of neighborhood forests have been increasing in relation to the quality of life of urban residents. However, there are very few domestic studies that analyzed the correlation between visit characteristics and life satisfaction. Therefore, the study aims to understand how people use the forest for recreation and determine how visit characteristics in neighborhood forests affect individual life satisfaction(ILS). A nationwide survey (N=2,624) was conducted on visit frequency, proximity to forest, means of transportation, forest activities, and life satisfaction. To measure ILS, we used the three factors (personal, relative, collective) of COMOSWB (Concise Measure of Subjective Well-being) developed by Seo et al.(2011). The analysis shows that people usually visit the forest located within the distance of 10-30 minutes from their homes 1-2 times a month on foot for hiking/walking (forest bathing). In particular, the older visitors(over 60s) tend to visit the forest more often than the younger ones (20s). Furthermore, more frequent visitors are more likely to live near the forest. As a result of analyzing the correlation between visit characteristics and ILS by controlling demographic variables, it was found that 'visit frequency' had a positive effect on ILS, and 'proximity to the forest' did not have a statistically significant effect on ILS. In other words, residents who live near the forests are more likely to be satisfied with their lives by visiting frequently. The significance of the study is that it statistically determined that visit frequency is a key factor for ILS. Future studies should take into account the various qualitative factors of forest visit such as vegetation, quantity and types of forest, which will contribute to setting the direction for urban forest development and management.

• Journal of People, Plants, and Environment
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.309-319
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• 2019

This study was conducted to investigate the effects of watching a virtual reality (VR) forest video on stress reduction in adults. Experiments were performed in an artificial climate chamber where temperature, humidity and illumination were controlled. To cause stress in subjects, the subjects were asked to multiply two digit numbers by one digit numbers for two minutes. The subjects then watched a VR forest video for five minutes. During the experiment, the heart rate variability (HRV) and heart rate (HR) of subjects were continuously measured for evaluating their physiological state. After measuring the baseline and watching a VR forest video, their psychological state was evaluated using the profile of mood state (POMS), semantic differential (SD) method, and positive affect and negative affect schedule (PANAS). The results of physiological evaluation after watching a VR forest video showed a decrease in the stress index and HR, an increase in the activity of the parasympathetic nervous system, and the standard deviation of normal to normal RR intervals (SDNN). The results of psychological assessment confirmed that watching a VR forest video induced "comfort", "natural", and "soothed" feelings in subjects. In addition, watching a VR forest video decreased "tension-anxiety (T-A)", "depression-dejection (D)", "anger-hostility (A-H)", "fatigue (F)", "total mood disturbance (TMD)", and increased "vigor (V)" compared to the base line, and decreased "negative affect" and increased "positive affect." These results indicate that watching a VR forest video decreases adults' stress index, stabilizes physiological state, and has a positive impact on psychological state. The findings of this study can serve as a basis for providing forest welfare services to people in the blind spots of forest welfare, and can lay a foundation for the adoption of VR, one of the technologies of the fourth industrial revolution in forestry.

• Journal of Korean Society of Rural Planning
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.1-12
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• 2020

This study aimed to define characteristics of mountain village landscapes perceived by locals to sustainably preserve and manage mountain village landscapes. We selected landscape resources of mountain villages by reviewing previous studies and conducting field surveys and surveyed mountain villages' locals to investigate the characteristics of their perceptions of the mountain village landscapes. The surveys were conducted from March to October 2019, in the form of 1:1 questionnaire survey. In consequence, highly reliable 150 responses were analyzed. IPA method(Revised Importance-Performance Analysis) was used in the analysis. It is found that, in landscapes, the first quadrant is 'Cultivated land, Forest', the second quadrant is 'Coastal, Forestry and Agriculture Facility', the third quadrant is 'Forest Service·Profitable Facility, Settlement, History and Culture', and the fourth quadrant is 'Riparian, Street'. In conclusion, locals of mountain villages are perceiving the mountain village landscapes based on their livelihoods and daily lives, and the mountain village landscapes are closely related to their lives. The results of this study are expected to be utilized as fundamental resources in establishing policies regarding sustainable conservation and management of mountain village landscapes which led by locals.