This article presents results from a number of studies of public perceptions of natural character in New Zealand to show that there are two fundamental positions - 'pure nature' and 'cultured nature'. It measures the proportions of these viewpoints in the Gisborne/East Coast population and finds that there is 67 per cent support for the cultured nature viewpoint. Assuming that this is an indication of how the wider New Zealand population would respond to the same stimuli, the article discusses the results in terms of implications for extensive land uses such as forestry, and in terms of how forestry could best respond to a preference for land uses to be natural.