A profile of visitors to Ireland's recreational forests during COVID-19 and barriers to future expansion of the forest recreation sector

A widely urbanised Europe has changed forest management practices. The traditional forestry model no longer provides for the range of benefits demanded of forest owners, who are now expected to promote and provide these to an increasingly diverse population. Beyond timber production, forests serve as an outlet for a wide range of activities and provide an important social function. For populations becoming increasingly concentrated in urban centres, forests offer important physical and mental health benefits. This is especially true in light of the recent COVID-19 pandemic, an unprecedented event which brought wider society to a halt and fostered a greater appreciation of nature and a stronger desire to spend more time outdoors. This research study set out to investigate who is using Ireland’s recreational forests and to determine whether the use and enjoyment of forests changed during the COVID-19 pandemic. An on-site survey was conducted at eight Irish recreational forests in 2021 to obtain a socio-demographic profile of forest visitors and to obtain data related to their levels of forest use, activities, habits, and preferences. The survey also queried whether their use and enjoyment of the forest changed during the pandemic. The results show that Ireland’s forests are frequently visited for recreational purposes and that the COVID-19 pandemic has only bolstered these patterns, with increasing levels of visitation expected in the future. Forest recreationists prefer forests which contain broadleaved tree species, recreational infrastructure, and which are located in close proximity to their place of residence. This study also provides a snapshot of the current Irish forest recreation sector in order to investigate whether it is positioned to respond to an increase in demand for forest recreation. Structured interviews with sectoral stakeholders across the forest recreation innovation system were undertaken using the theory of planned behaviour and an innovation systems approach as theoretical frameworks. These interviews explored whether forest recreation was a priority for those interviewed and what barriers exist with respect to increasing recreational opportunities in forests. While those interviewed recognised the increasing importance of forest recreation, they identified that they or their organisations did not have adequate human and financial resources to address this increasing demand. Barriers to and enabling factors for expanding private forest recreation were identified, including issues related to insurance and landowner indemnification, the need for financial incentives to be provided to encourage private forest owners to make their forests available for recreation, as well as the requirement for more research and knowledge extension on the topic of forest recreation. Guided by the results of this study, a suite of recommendations to address some of the barriers to the expansion of forest recreation in Ireland is provided.