Forest ecosystems function as the basis of a recreational economic system; therefore, maintaining the ecological structure is vital for the coordinated development of forest tourism. However, the ecological function is not the outcome of tourism activities; rather, it depends largely on the environmental protection behavior of recreationists. This study investigated the impact of forest recreationists' ecological behavior in Banff National Park, Canada and Zhangjiajie National Forest Park, China via questionnaires, from the perspective of the driving mechanisms of interpretation. The purpose of this study was to test the internal associations of Western and Eastern (Chinese) forest recreationists' ecological behavior using correlation analysis and Structural Equation Modeling. The results are as follows:The logical pathway for formation of ecological behavior of forest recreationists is "ecological knowledge-ecological experience-ecological attitude-ecological behavior"; (1) For both Chinese and Western forest recreationists, ecological knowledge, ecological experience, and ecological attitude all have a positive impact on ecological behavior; (2) For both Chinese and Western forest recreationists, forest tourism interpretation has a positive impact on ecological knowledge, ecological experience, ecological attitude, and ecological behavior.