Although aesthetics and ecological sustainability are two highly regarded values of forest landscapes, practices developed to manage forests for these values can sometimes conflict with one another. In this paper I argue that such conflicts are rooted in our conception offorest aesthetics as scenery, and propose that a normative, "ecological aesthetic" based on the writings of Aldo Leopold and others could help resolve conflicts between aesthetic and sustainability values. I then offer suggestions on how we might advance an ecological aesthetic in policy and planning programs, on-the-ground management, and research and theory development in landscape aesthetics.
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Paul H. Gobster (1999) studied this question.