Evaluation of the suitability of Kurşunlu Waterfall Nature Park for forest therapy

In recent years, the increase in urban population and technological developments have weakened people's connecting with nature significantly, causing individuals to be more stressed, nervous, anxious and angry in their daily lives. This situation brings different health problems in humans. Stressful lifestyle, rapid increase in health-threatening factors and high health costs lead people to natural life, natural therapies and more economical ways. It is known that recreational activities provide physical and mental benefits to people, and it is stated that recreational activities in natural environments enrich people's life quality and satisfaction apart from these benefits. Forest therapy, which has come to the fore in recent years, especially among outdoor recreation activities, is gaining popularity among health-promoting activities. This non-drug supportive therapy activity has increasingly become an important tool to address sub-health, lifestyle diseases and somatic complaints. Forest therapy refers to visiting a forest or engaging in various therapeutic activities in the forest environment to improve person's health and well- being. It is recognized as a healing technique that restores physical and psychological health through the "five senses experience" of the human body when exposed to a forest environment. It is stated that the recreational value of a forest for visitors depends on a wide variety of features of the forest, but the degree of accessibility, infrastructure and the degree of hearing natural sounds are important. In addition, the recreational value is evaluated according to the naturalness, biodiversity, density and appearance of the forest. In this context, especially protected areas are an important service provider in outdoor recreation activities due to their natural environments and high biodiversity. In this research, it was aimed to investigate the recreational potential of Kurşunlu Waterfall Nature Park, where biodiversity is the most intense, by using the "Scale of Determination for In-Forest Recreation Potential", the reliability and validity of which has been accepted in many studies, to support the finding with SWOT analysis by making face-to face interviews with the authorities within the scope of this research, and to present evaluations and recommendations for forest therapy, which can be done in the nature park. Keywords: Therapeutic Recreation, Nature Based Recreational Activities, Protected Forests, Forest Therapy, Kurşunlu Waterfall Nature Park