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Abstract
The consultants were asked by the Power Plant Siting Staff of the Minnesota Environmental Quality Council to develop a methodology for evaluating the sensitivity of river-related recreational activities to visual intrusion by large coal-fired power plants. The methodology, which is applicable to any major stream in the state, was developed and tested on a case study river. The methodology involves two basic tracks: landscape character and recreational potential. The landscape character track defines and measures power plant visual characteristics and river-related landscape categories. These are correlated and the potential for visual absorption of a power plant is determined for each landscape type. These visual absorption values are then mapped along the case study river. The recreational potential track assesses the suitability of each segment of the river for various recreational activities. Each potential activity is assigned to one of three classes of importance and sensitivity to visual intrusion and the resulting recreation values are mapped. A mapped correlation of the visual absorption values and the recreation values reveals power plant siting constraints and opportunities and can be used by the MEQC in regulating and guiding the location of proposed power plants.
Parent Publication
Citation
Blau, David H.; Bowie, Michael C. 1979. Visual sensitivity of river recreation to power plants. In: Elsner, Gary H., and Richard C. Smardon, technical coordinators. 1979. Proceedings of our national landscape: a conference on applied techniques for analysis and management of the visual resource [Incline Village, Nev., April 23-25, 1979]. Gen. Tech. Rep. PSW-GTR-35. Berkeley, CA. Pacific Southwest Forest and Range Exp. Stn., Forest Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture: p. 499-506
