Forest condition and management in Swedish forest commons

Forest commons are regarded as a means to support local development and sustainable forest conditions. To evaluate the development impact of Swedish forest commons, comparative surveys have been undertaken in three regions, and the differences in forest condition and management between categories of commons as well as their relation to other forest ownerships have been assessed. Regional differences between the by-laws, historical development and geographical conditions are apparent. It is concluded that two of three regions have an overly restrictive harvesting policy given the purpose of the forest commons and the official forest policy. The study results underline the importance of evaluation of the performance of forest management in relation to management objectives, to ownership alternatives and to the impact of local variations in preconditions.