Paper short abstract:

In Finland, forests are mainly privately owned. Thus, private owners are central to forests. For long, owners have been instructed in management and use of forests. However, society and forest ownership are changing. This paper studies transitions in Finnish forest owner's forest relationships.

Paper long abstract:

As a property, the forest is special in many ways. In Finland, forests are partly perceived as a common resource, a source of national wealth. Many parties other than legal owners want to influence the use of forests by imposing different, sometimes even conflicting demands on the use of forests. There are disputes in Finnish society regarding attitudes towards forest, its management and ownership.

Ownership is a complex phenomenon. In addition to legal ownership, there is also a psychological side to it, the feeling that a place or a thing "belongs to us" or "is ours". Owning a forest is multidimensional and in many ways cultural. Both forest and forest ownership can mean many different things depending on the determinant and the defining situation.

Forest ownership is changing in Finland. Originally rural generations are passing forests to their urbanized descendants. In the long run, the importance of forest income in private citizens' economy has diminished. Additionally, other transformations are diversifying forest owner's relationships with the forest and changing their practices.

In this paper, I explore how cultural and social transitions and tensions are reflected in private forest owner's thinking. What kinds of official and unofficial rules, power relations and visible and invisible borders are there in private forest ownership and how these are contested or reimagined? Paper is based on thematic and biographical interviews of 49 Finnish private forest owners conducted in 2020.