The present study deals with the estimation of the evolution tendency of the environmental stage of a protected habitat with predominant forest vegetation, during a short period of time, using techniques specific to remote sensing. Therefore, two important spectral indexes were tested while assessing the health of the forest ecosystems: i.e. the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) and the Structure Insensitive Pigment Index (SIPI) . The period of time taken into consideration for the study was, 2013 - 2019, having used medium resolution satellite photos, Landsat 8 OLI, having initially undergone standard pre-processing operations (resize data, radiometric calibration, atmospheric correction). The satellite images modified according to the Top of Atmosphere Reflectance and corrected topographically resulted into getting values for the two before mentioned indexes. The quantity-spatial results obtained, correlated to the monthly values of the precipitations processed in order to obtain the SPI (Standardized Precipitation Index), mostly reveal, in what SIPI and also NDVI are concerned, a slight decrease in the quality of the forest on the analysed area in the sense that the vegetation stress is increased under meteorological factors, expressed differently depending on the morphometric and pedological parameters of the habitat.

The paper focuses on investigation of the importance of nature and development of tourism in protected areas. Therefore, in this context a new challenge is emerging: the need to conserve and protect bio and geo diversity, as well as the economic valorisation of these areas based mainly on tourism and leisure. At EU level, Natura 2000 protected areas have developed, implemented and cultivated the need to practice sport and recreational activities in these areas both for spending leisure time and also as stress antidote. The recreational and sporting practices that can be undertaken within the ecological network Natura 2000 sites adapted to the specificity of each protected area, in close connection with the environmental conditions. For the preservation of the natural environment should develop and maintain a close collaboration with tourism and sports associations that organize such activities in those areas.

This paper aims to analyze and rank the 18 officially certified tourist resorts in Bihor County, Romania, evaluating the discrepancies between the “tourism myth” (legal status) and the “territorial reality” (field performance). The implementation of this approach involved the use of data from the National Institute of Statistics of Romania for the year 2025. The indicators regarding tourist circulation (TC) and accommodation infrastructure (AI) were normalized (Min–Max) and aggregated in the form of three synthetic indices: the Representativeness Tourist Index (RTI), the Relationship Index (RI) and the Disparity Index (DI). The results reveal pronounced territorial asymmetry and a strong concentration of tourism activity around Băile Felix and Oradea. Together, these two resorts account for 82.0% of tourist arrivals and 82.9% of overnight stays recorded within the sample of 18 analyzed resorts. They also record the highest RTI values (0.746 and 0.426, respectively), whereas the remaining 16 resorts display substantially lower tourism–functional representativeness (RTI ≤ 0.065). The findings therefore indicate substantial heterogeneity in observable tourism–functional performance among localities sharing the same administrative designation as tourist resorts. The proposed indices should be interpreted as comparative diagnostic and monitoring tools rather than as direct measures of destination quality or the legal validity of resort certification.