Forests as visual landscape shields and the effect of management in spatial forest planning

In Finland, the boom in the wind energy sector has led to a rapid increase in the number of wind turbines in the forested landscape, which has raised concerns regarding visual disturbance, especially near residential areas. Forests can function as a natural visual barrier, a landscape shield, between the turbines and inhabited areas, depending on the forest structure and spatial allocation. We investigated forest management options that could provide landscape value trade (LVT) opportunities to mitigate the visual impact of wind turbines while minimising economic trade-offs. Using forest resource data, GIS-based visibility modelling and numerical optimisation, we evaluated scenarios that prioritised net present value (NPV), turbine visibility reduction or both simultaneously. The results showed that targeting visibility reduction across the entire landscape reduced NPV by approximately 10.3 %, whereas only applying the visibility reduction objective within designated landscape shield zones near inhabited areas resulted in significantly lower economic losses (0.5–4.4 %). In these zones, the effectiveness of blocking the turbine view improved by up to 27 % in combination with reduced clearcutting and increased forest thinning. This approach demonstrated that forests can be strategically managed to provide visual mitigation services at a relatively low economic cost. The method supports the implementation of a Payment for Ecosystem Services (PES) mechanism, such as LVT, to compensate landowners for managing forests to mitigate the visual impacts of wind turbines. This landscape-sensitive approach offers a practical and scalable solution for integrating renewable energy development with the protection of landscape and cultural ecosystem service values in forested regions.