Forest Owners' and Forestry Stakeholders' Perceptions

Abstract

In Finland, the new Forest Act in 2014 made continuous cover forestry (CCF) a possible forest management option. This triggered research on how forest owners and forestry professionals perceive CCF. In Sweden and Norway, the CCF method has been legal but not encouraged. Research on stakeholder views on CCF has only recently emerged, so only a few studies have been published on the topic. In Finland, according to surveys, less than 10% of forest owners have converted to CCF in all their forests and around 20–25% in part of their forests. About a fifth of forest owners expressed an interest in testing it. In the Finnish studies, CCF has been of particular interest to forest owners whose holdings are smaller than average and where they have recreational objectives. The interest of forest owners clearly increased if they were compensated for converting to CCF. Forestry companies, as well as their associations in Sweden and Finland, promote CCF as an alternative forest management method, according to statements on their official websites. How well this supportive attitude will materialise in their actions remains an open question. The current forestry culture, the power of industrial networks, uncertainties concerning economic profitability and ecological outcomes, as well as current forestry education and technical knowledge, are the main barriers for CCF.