Forest recreation in 1977 and 1997 in Sweden: changes in public preferences and behaviour

Abstract

This paper focuses on changes in the relationship of the Swedish public with the forest. By repeating a postal survey after 20 years, changes in the recreational use of forests, and preferences according to suitability of forest sites for outdoor recreation, are measured. The main result is that the changes are generally small. The visiting frequency remains unaltered and the typical Swede visits a forest for recreational purposes once a week in summer and once a fortnight during the winter. A few differences between the studies in 1977 and in 1997 were observed. The amount of wild berries picked for home consumption had decreased in 1997 to about one-third of the volume picked in 1977. A black and white photo of a virgin forest was considered a more suitable image for outdoor recreation in 1997. A Scots pine ( Pinus sylvestris ) shelterwood was considered less suitable for outdoor recreation. It is concluded that the relationship with the forest is still close, but that public use is changing from harvesting towards purely recreational. Further conclusions are that new recommendations for silvicultural actions will be needed due to these changing preferences and that the conflict between recreational and biodiversity goals in forestry has slightly decreased.

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