Survey of recreational use of The Las Kabacki forest nature reserve in Warsaw (Poland)

This paper discusses recreational use of protected land with the example of Las Kabacki, a forest located in the southern part of Warsaw, in the vicinity of the district of Ursynów. The area has been excluded from traditional forest cultivation since 1938. From 1980 onwards it has enjoyed the status of a reserve due to its natural resources and scenic attributes. Highly developed and densely populated residential areas (Natolin-Wyżyny and Kabaty) lie adjacent to the northern border of the forest. For their inhabitants, Las Kabacki is a key recreational area. This results in a functional and spatial conflict of interests between nature protection objectives on the one hand and the recreational needs of inhabitants on the other hand. To find the answer to the question of how to match the interests of a natural reserve with leisure requirements, users of Las Kabacki were asked for their opinions regarding the following issues: the natural values of the reserve and their perception, forms of preferred recreational behaviour in the reserve, awareness of threats to the natural environment in the reserve arising from anthropogenic pressure, readiness to resign from preferred forms of leisure in favour of protecting nature, and possibilities for eliminating the conflict of interests between the recreational use of the reserve and protection of its natural values. Also, two SWOT analyses were carried out aimed at determining a nature conservation strategy in the reserve as well as its leisure use.