Forest dear and forest fear: Dwellers’ relationships to their neighbourhood forest

▶ Forest experiences are dynamic and variable, anchored in people's lived experiences. ▶ Forest experiences change temporally between positive and negative for individuals. ▶ Planning processes should expose people's varying experiences within their local landscapes. ▶ Negative feelings as fear appeared as barrier to forest usage, especially among female informants. This article shows that a deeper understanding of human–nature relationships needs to form a key part of research related to outdoor recreation, and include both positive and negative emotions and responses. The purpose of this study is to identify and explore the characteristics of nature experiences as dynamic, variable and situational, and to examine them as existential elements within human–nature relationships. These characteristics are examined in this article, in terms of complementary theories related to evolutionary biology and more experience-based phenomenological approaches. Findings are based on a qualitative case study undertaken in the semi-urban Norwegian town of Brumunddal, and specifically amongst those living near the small neighbourhood forest of Buttekvernskogen. Based on interviews related to people's experiences in this forest, the article describes their forest experiences not as uniform or ‘stable’, but as dynamic, socially constructed and changeable, and shaped by their lived experiences. The article also examines the feeling of fear in nature areas in terms of gender, and explores how men and women experience – and respond to – feelings of fear and anxiety in nature. The findings suggest that if forest management are to succeed, they need to appreciate the nuanced and dynamic character of people's nature preferences. Experience-based knowledge such as the phenomenological approach seems to be relevant for understanding how everyday framework conditions may hinder and limit the use of neighbourhood forests. Planning processes informed by a phenomenological approach in dialogue with dwellers will expose people's experiences, feelings and activities within their local landscapes.