As already noted, the county's visual character has, for many years, served as an attraction for tourism, and in recent years, for new residents. And, because most people's understanding of the landscape is through what they see, the visual landscape of Monroe County is an issue of great concern.
As part of our study, several areas were identified as 'Scenic Landscape Elements.' These are places that should be protected in order to maintain the views of the existing and highly valued aesthetic character of the County. These scenic landscape elements include sensitive areas such as lakes, streams, wetlands, steep slopes, and open landscapes, including farmland and grassland.
Vistas from roads and major public viewpoints are especially important because they are the primary sources of peoples' visual impressions of Monroe County. The most important viewing areas are the major roads in the County, accessible view points from high elevations, roads along ridge tops, and view points on steep slopes and their corresponding view sheds.
A shaded road provides one example of Monroe County's scenic
drives.
'View Quality from Public Roads' shows the view quality from these major roads and viewpoints. Note how many of the roads in Monroe County are not of high visual quality (shown in red). Yet some of these remain on lists of "scenic roads" in tourist publications. And yet the roads that are still of high scenic quality are not protected from degradation by billboards or development. On the 'Visual Landscape Summary Evaluation' the dark green zones show the areas most susceptible to harmful impact.