ASSESSMENT OF NATURAL CHARACTER, RIVERSCAPE AND VISUAL AMENITY OF THE TRANSBOUNDARY DOJRAN LAKE

Abstract: The key elements considered for assessment of the naturalness of the lakes and rivers relate to the degree of intactness of the natural elements, patterns, processes, and extent of any physical land use changes or presence of different constructions. The natural character is essentially a measure of the naturalness or modifications of the natural elements, patterns and processes that comprise a water body. The current contribution is based on a process to assess the level of natural character that involves an understanding of the current systems and attributes that contribute to Lake Dojran ecosystem including abiotic, biotic and other factors. This assessment considered imputes data, such as river hydrology and morphology, aquatic and terrestrial ecology, water quality and landscape architecture. This approach is based on field visit carried out in end of March 2021 and further on a desktop review of relevant available data. The second component of this study includes the visual aspect of amenity as recreational values of the Lake Dojran in its full services. The effect of dramatic water level change/decrease (based on historical data of the period 1985-2000) on visual amenity values was correlated to offered recreation values. The survey analyses on the North Macedonian side of the lake revealed that <25% of the lake margins remained at the natural level, while the pressure from different sectors of human presence is steadily increasing.