Acta Forestalia Fennica vol. 54 | 1946

The Private Forest Act came into force in 1928 in Finland. According to the act, felling of a mature stand should not endanger natural regeneration of the site, and an intermediate felling should not conflict with justifiable thinnings. 18 District Forestry Boards were appointed to enforce the compliance of the act. The aim of this investigation was to study what kinds of violations against the Private Forest Act were found in the fellings, what were the consequences, and how the fellings were overseen.

The investigation is based on 2,477 felling inspections made by the District Forestry Boards in cases where forest devastation was suspected. The report divides the different kinds of violations by the different District Forestry Boards, years, the size of forest holdings, ownership of the forest holdings and by executor of the felling. Over half of the inspections were held on fellings done by the forest owner, 14% by the forest industry, and 11% by a broker of timber. Neglecting the obligation to give a notification of felling had increased in the period of 1929-1938. Also, the cases of forest devastation increased slightly. The report suggests some improvements in the act that would, for instance, increase activity of the forest owners to give the required notification of fellings before the felling takes place.

The PDF includes a summary in German.

• Ennevaara, E-mail: pe@mm.unknown

The purpose of the analysis presented in the article was to form an estimate as to future Finnish-American trade in forest products. The Finnish-American trade, that had its beginning in 1919, has been steadily growing and at the outbreak of the Second World War occupied third place in Finland’s total foreign trade. Over 90% of the Finnish exports consisted of forest industry products, pulp and newsprint being the most important items. The sales associations of the pulp and paper industries made it possible for the industries to gain a footing in the American market.

The production of pulp and most kinds of paper has increased in the USA up to 1942, but production of newsprint has tended to decrease. The timber resources of the country are large, but there is a considerable timber deficit in the northeastern states, therefore, these regions must be the principal aim for a campaign to build up the future market. According to the survey of future need of imports to the USA, more than two million tons of pulp and 2-3 million tons of paper products are needed in the immediate post-war period. The Canadian and Swedish competition will remain at about the same level, but one Finnish advantage, the quality, has disappeared on account of the progress made by research in the USA during the war.

The PDF includes a summary in Finnish.

• Runeberg, E-mail: lr@mm.unknown