游客对於森林功能及自然环境议题之认知－以新化林场为例

Visitors' Cognitions on Forest Functions and Nature Environmental Issues-A Case Study of Hsin-Hua Forest Station

本研究旨在探讨游客对於森林功能认知及环境议题的看法，研究区域位於台湾南部之新化林场，属於国立中兴大学所辖。问卷主要包括三个部份，即森林功能认知、环境议题及游客背景资料，其中环境议题则直接引用Dunlap et al.（2000）所提出之新生态典范（New ecological paradigm, NEP）量表。由分析结果显示：游客在森林功能认知部分，前三名分别是「森林环境可提供民众参与生态旅游的好去处」、「森林具有国土保安、涵养水源以及预防土石流失等功能」以及「森林火灾是危害森林环境的重要原因，因此防范森林火灾发生是很重要的」；而较不被重视後三名分别是「森林的林下可允许种植山苏、山葵以及咖啡等农业经济作物」以及「森林可生产木材，以满足民众生活上的各种需求」、「当森林内林木遭受到病虫害时，可将受害林木先行伐除，以防止病虫害的蔓延，然後再重新造林」，显示游客对於森林功能的认知大多着重於公益性功能，反之对於经济性功能则较不重视。在环境议题部分，本研究对於新化林场游客测试环境议题认知结果和前人相关文献进行比较，所得之结果较其他文献稍低，但在是否修习过环境相关课程部分，於新生态典范量表之「反对人类中心主义」及「反对人类免责主义」两面向则呈现显着性差异。

The purpose of this study was to present the visitors' cognition on forest functions and natural environmental issues. The study site was located at Hsin-Hua Forest Station of south Taiwan, one of important Forest Stations belongs to National Chung-Hsing University. Three sections were contained in questionnaire, including cognition of forest functions, natural environmental issues and background of the visitors. We directly cited the New Ecological Paradigm (NEP) that developed by Dunlap et al. (2000) to measure natural environmental issues. The results showed that the tree top scores of cognition of the forest functions were: 'Forest provides us a good place to enjoy eco-tourism', 'The functions of forests contain ecological conservation, water protection and debris flow prevention', and 'To prevent forest fire is very important because fire is a major damage in forest areas in forests'. Whereas, the last three scores were 'Agricultural crops such as nest fern, Japanese horseradish, and coffee that can be allowed to plant in the understory of forests', 'Timbers should be cut down when forests were infected by pests in order to prevent the spread of these pests, and then followed by reforestation', and 'Timber production can meet the needs of the people'. It implicated that the visitors' cognition mostly focuses on 'public benefits', while less in 'economical values' for forest functions. For the natural environmental issues, we compared the scores of our result with the past relevant researches and found that the scores were lower in our study. I n addition, whether or not visitors learned environment-related courses had significant differences in the items of 'Anti-anthropocentrism' and 'Rejection of exemptionalism' of NEP.