A new Swedish political approach to forestry was initiated 1993, that put goals of production and environmental issues into equal importance to Swedish Forestry Law. Earlier nature conservation very often declaimed Preservation the best way to conserve nature, but recently it is clear that many highly biological values are due to former land use or disturbance. Many old pastures or cultivations dominated by deciduous trees are today characterized by a dense overgrowth of Norway spruce. By actively paying attention to nature in forestry (nature restoration), it is possible to partly reconstruct habitats or disturbances that are necessary to favour the biological values. The aim with this master thesis is to study the nature restoration, (NS, Swedish abbreviation), performed in 11 forest sites in the middle of Sweden 8-14 years ago. Since NS recently have become applied, it has never yet been evaluated.

In the middle of the 19th century came an opposite reaction against the hospitals? treatment of their patients and a more human way was requested. A link between crowded housing, bad hygien and other bad conditions had been noticed and nature was considered to be healthy. Hospitals and sanatiories moved closer to nature due to influences from England, USA and Germany, and cities began building public parks. Employment was seen as calming and healthy for the patients.