Haptic teleoperation is a means of dexterously manipulating environments wherein a human operator can be situated several hundreds of kilometers away from the site of manipulation. Time delays between the local and remote sites pose problems for the user experience. Model-mediated teleoperation addresses these problems, but assumes a sufficiently representative model of the operator and of the environment. When applied to complex environments, this model becomes difficult to work with. A solution to this difficulty lies in the fact that human perceptual capabilities are limited. So too, possibly, is the amount of feedback needed in order to accomplish tasks effectively. In this work, we review information on human perception of the environmental properties involved in environmental perception (inertia, friction, roughness, compliance, and geometry). Moreover, we detail how these properties can be modeled. Finally, we propose some open questions that are relevant in understanding the link between the environment presented to the operator and their effectiveness at accomplishing tasks.