This article determines which landforms attract people the most and whether one can speak of collective patterns in the aesthetic evaluation of a landscape. It therefore concerns enjoying the beauty offered by a more or less reshaped natural environment. This study is based on the Triglav Lakes Valley (Dolina Triglavskih jezer) in Slovenia which, due to the few man-made changes introduced there, includes hardly any anthropogenic “unnecessary noise.” The online survey included more than six hundred people and used photos of various landforms. Lakes were found to be the most attractive to the respondents, and fractured rock areas were the least attractive.

Ljubljansko polje is a gravel plain lying along the Sava River north of Ljubljana. Although built-up areas are steadily expanding, the water protection area has helped preserve the character of relatively intensely cultivated agricultural land at least in its central part. However, illegal dumping sites pose a threat to the groundwater in the gravel aquifer. In the narrowest and narrow water protection areas of Ljubljansko polje, we have found, registered, and studied 1,445 illegal dumping sites with a total surface area amounting to 120,816 m2 and a total volume of 209,422 m3. A good seventh (13.5%) of the total waste is hazardous. In the area surveyed, we also registered 86 gravel pits, 47 information and warning signs, and 57 road barriers on access roads. In time, it will be necessary to rehabilitate all the illegal dumping sites; however, due to the large quantity of waste it is unrealistic to expect this to happen in one go, and we have therefore established a priority schedule for the rehabilitation.

Using a sample of 900 persons from the urban area of Ljubljansko polje and the suburban area of Iški vršaj, we tried to determine how much local residents knew about the protection zones for drinking water resources. We employed a survey questionnaire and the drawing of cognitive maps. A little fewer than half of the people are aware they live in water protection zones. The proportions of those who are aware of the protection zones in Ljubljansko polje (two fifths) and in Iški vršaj (two thirds) differ considerably. Only 280 persons, just under one third of those surveyed, drew the boundaries of the protection zones on the attached map. In Ljubljansko polje, the greatest concentration of drawn protection zones was a little north of the oldest and largest pumping station at Kleče. The second largest condensation occurred in Iški vršaj in the immediate vicinity of the Brest pumping station.

Our research focuses on implementing multilevel governance of wetlands to achieve an effective participatory process and its overall positive effects on wetland ecosystems and their protection as well as on local sustainable development. The aim of the research is to develop a methodology for establishing the Wetland Contract, a voluntary agreement to foster sustainable management and development of wetlands, to ensure greater coordination and consensus building between various stakeholders involved in management and to limit conflicts between preservation issues and economic activities in wetlands. The Wetland Contract and the integration process for establishing it in Ljubljansko barje Nature Park proved itself able to overcome conflicts between institutional and legal jurisdiction and is showing itself to be a dynamic path capable of activating a desirable relationship between various interests and supporting new forms of multi-sectoral stakeholder participation in wetland management. It has also contributed to a dialogue and shared responsibility among stakeholders.

Landscape interpretation is one of the best-suited and established forms of informing and raising the awareness of visitors and local residents. The literature contains only rare examples of useful methodology that could help managers with the initial steps of interpretation. A methodological basis for landscape interpretation is presented, using the case of the Ljubljana Marsh. The form consisting of eight thematic categories is a useful tool for identifying suitable topics and selecting the right interpretation tools. Using this form, managers will reach their final interpretation goal more easily: to make people recognize the landscape and protect it against inappropriate changes.