Attitudes of Landscape Architects in the USDA Forest Service Toward the Visual Management System

Abstract

A survey of USDA Forest Service Landscape Architects reveals that there is strong support for the Visual Management System (VMS), agreement that VMS accurately measures scenic quality, and that it has given the visual resource added weight in decision making—although it still is not equal in importance to the primary forest resources. Other managers are reported to have accepted the system, but don't always give evidence of such acceptance in practice. Most landscape architects feel the system has no major flaws, but that the part called “Sensitivity Level” needs additional work. In order to receive full credibility and the protection called for by law, hard targets need to be assigned for the visual resource.