Study Gets to the Root of Forest Appreciation Researchers Believe Beauty Is More Than Bark Deep

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Build beautiful forests and they will come.

It sounds simple, but forest officials often wonder what features make public wooded areas appealing to visitors.

Two researchers from Southern Illinois University at Carbondale believe they have found some answers - through special studies on scenic attractiveness.

"People think beauty is an intangible quality found in the eye of the beholder, but there's a way to measure it," said SIUC psychologist John Hetherington, a researcher on the project. "And the general public has a good grasp of what's attractive and what they want to see in their forests."

For 10 years, Hetherington has researched scenic …