The security provided by forests is approached through various authors’ descriptions and through psychotherapeutic experience. The lap of the forest can recreate early security, protection and unity, for example the lap of mother or father. The forest is also a safe place to externalize inner feelings, desires, fears and erotic images. Intensive forest management and air pollution are nowadays threatening the protective role of forests.

The paper is based on a lecture given in the seminar ‘The forest as a Finnish cultural entity’, held in Helsinki in 1986. The PDF includes a summary in English.

Siltala, E-mail: ps@mm.unknown

Category : Research article

article id 467, category Research article

Annika Kangas, Ruut Haapakoski, Liisa Tyrväinen. (2008). Integrating place-specific social values into forest planning – Case of UPM-Kymmene forests in Hyrynsalmi, Finland. Silva Fennica vol. 42 no. 5 article id 467. https://doi.org/10.14214/sf.467

Keywords: collaborative planning; experienced values of forests; social value mapping; survey

Abstract | View details | Full text in PDF | Author Info

In participatory forest management planning, the perceived values of local inhabitants concerning the area under planning are collected. The results may, however, depend on the methods used. In this study, values of residents of Hyrynsalmi municipality concerning the nearby forests owned by UPM-Kymmene Ltd. were evaluated with a questionnaire consisting of general value questions and mapping of social values of forests. The data was collected from a public meeting and from a mailed survey from randomly sampled people and from members of municipal council. The aims of the study were to 1) test the social value mapping method in commercial forests in a rural-urban interface as well as to examine the benefits and drawbacks 2) in place-specific and non-specific data collection, and 3) in different data collection methods, from the viewpoint of forest management planning. We noted that while all respondents can claim to represent local values, different data collection methods produced statistically significantly different local values. This needs to be accounted for when planning a participatory process. In operational forest planning, place-specific information is more useful than questions concerning the general values, while the latter may help in defining forest policy goals. The social values mapping method is also relatively easy for the participants. However, in the studied case about one fifth of the area was delineated by the participants per each positive value. The answers were quite scattered, suggesting that most of the area had some social values for local people. This indicates that utilising a social values mapping method in planning needs further development in rural areas, where distinctive patches can not be easily detected.

Kangas, University of Helsinki, Department of Forest Management, P.O. Box 27, FI-00014 University of Helsinki E-mail: annika.kangas@helsinki.fi
Haapakoski, University of Helsinki, Department of Forest Management, P.O. Box 27, FI-00014 University of Helsinki E-mail: rh@nn.fi
Tyrväinen, Finnish Forest Research Institute, P.O. Box 16, FI-96301 Rovaniemi, Finland. E-mail: lt@nn.fi

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