The shared forests of the villages were generally parceled out to farms in the general parceling out of land (isojako) in Finland, that begun in 1775. The state established also jointly owned forests, mostly in the beginning of 2000th century when land was donated for landless population. Some have been established voluntarily. Act on Jointly Owned Forests was enacted in 1925 to ensure proper management of the forests. It contains instructions of administration of the forests.
A survey was conducted to study the conditions of the jointly owned forests. The forests, a total of 37,843 ha, are distributed evenly over the country. Average size of settlement jointly owned forests in Southern Finland are 314 ha, initial jointly owned forests in Southern Finland 1,726 ha, settlement joined forests in the county of Oulu in Northern Finland 592 ha, and initial joined forests in Northern Finland 1,268 ha. The forest lands are poorer than in other private forests. The most common age class is 41-80 years in Southern Finland and 61-120 years in the north. The forests resources were larger in the initial joined forests than in the settlement joined forests when the joined forests were established. In settlement joined forests fellings were smaller than the increment, while in initial joined forests fellings were slightly larger than the increment. Joined forests have given the owners rather good and regular income, which has probably been larger than if the forests had been managed as farm forests. Joined forests have, therefore, met their objectives.
The PDF includes a summary in German.The article is a detailed review on the problems in the general parceling out of land (isojako) in Kuusamo, Kemijärvi and Kuolanjärvi counties from the context of forest policy. The disputes about division of the land originate from military tenure contracts (knihtikohtrahti) made with the local tenants in 1700s. Later some counties got alleviations in the contracts concerning taxation and partition of land. These alleviations delayed the parceling out of land in the area. According to the article, from the forest policy point of view, the inhabitants in Kuusamo, Kemijärvi and Kuolanjärvi were conveyed disproportionately large forest properties from the state due to the military tenure contracts. This gave them undue benefits from the state compared to the neighbouring counties.
The PDF includes a summary in German.