Large areas have been ditched in Sweden during the past 100 years to improve the forest production. Ditching and also maintenance of old ditches are operations having mainly negative effects on water quality, flora and fauna and changing characteristics of soil. The purpose of this study was to suggest a method for inventory of the need for ditching maintenance in old forest ditches that takes biodiversity, water protection and forest production into consideration. Inventory methods from five Swedish and Finnish forest companies, agencies and organisations were compared. Their employees were interviewed about their handling with ditches, forest production and nature conservation.

The purpose of this study was to investigate produced laser data from the new national height model's airborne laser scanning in Sweden, what quality it has and whether it can be used for forest management planning. From airborne laser scanning one can obtain information on forest variables such as tree species, height, diameter and basal area. Norra skogsägarna is the principal employer of this project and they wanted know to the quality of the laser data which needs to cope with their standards. If the laser data the quality required it can replace some of the operations performed by field planners. To examine the quality of the produced laser data a control tax assessment has been performed in 30 forest departments. This was done in an objective manner.

The municipal forests of Sala cover an area of 6 000 hectares, starting in the vicinity of the city and reaching north. At the same time as residents make abundant use of the areas closest to the community for outdoor activities and recreational purposes, the forest is of great economic value and also worth protecting for environmental reasons. These conditions make forestry in periurban woods more complex than conventional forestry, why a good understanding of the needs and demands on the forest and silviculture program is required. The purpose of this study is to depict the usage of the forests owned by the municipality of Sala, to set forth the common view of the silviculture program implemented by the municipality and to chart the expectations the community has on the forests and forestry of the future in the municipality of Sala. The survey part of this paper consists of the interviews of thirteen individuals representing nine interest groups. As expected the views of these individuals varied widely but some results were expressed by more or less all of them.

This master?s thesis is a remote sensing study of an area-based method used to detect forest in need of thinning by use of laser data and field samples. Only pine-dominated forest has been included in the study and height limits were set to match empirical restrictions. The study area was in the municipality of Älvsbyn (Latitude 65° 40´ N, Longitude 21° 00´ E), in northern Sweden.The Swedish authority Lantmäteriet is currently laser scanning most parts of Sweden, providing new opportunities and applications. The primary aim of the national laser scanning is to create a new elevation model, useful in consequence analysis of climate changes.

This is a study on the outcome of the Swedish Forest Agency´s mission to provide individual advice to private land owners about precommercial thinning. The study was conducted in Sala municipality and included forest owners that had received private individual advice from a Swedish Forest Agency consultant as well as forest owners that had not received individual advice. One of the central issues was to make comparisons between these two groups. The survey was carried out by telephone interviews combined with a smaller field study. The questions were designed to provide information about to what degree the forest owners had been affected by the advice and if there had been a change in the way in which precommercial thinning was performed. In terms of the amount of precommercial thinning that had been carried out, no statistically significant differences were found between the two groups.

This final thesis is performed on commission of Torsby forestry administration, Stora Enso Skog. Stora Enso Skog is one of the major forestry companies of Sweden. The main business area is located in and around the region of Bergslagen. During the last decade the practice of forest management has rapidly changed due to a new forest legislation. The new law has resulted in that the production goal is equal to the environmental goal within forestry.

This report is a joint venture with SCA Forest, Ångermanlands forest man-agement area. The purpose of the study is that SCA Forest wants to know what the landowners in Ångermanlands forest management area think about SCA Forest and who they deliver their timber to. SCA Forest is the largest private landowner in Europe, with an area of about 2.6 million hectares. Today, SCA offers lumber, wood products, tis-sue and packaging and has factories all over the world. SCA Forest has five forest management areas in the north of Sweden, with the headquarters in Sundsvall. A questionnaire was sent to 265 landowners, where they had to answer 15 questions with possibilities to give comments. The survey was sent out on 21 of February with a response requested by 3 of March 125 landowners responded to the survey, giving a response rate of 47%.

This rapport is about how often private forest owners follow the measures proposed in their forest management plan. The survey is made in cooperation with the forest-owners association Norrskog. The private forest owners are relatively satisfied with the forest management plans and with the measures proposed. There are some differences between those who live on or near their property and those who live many miles away. The forest owners who live on their property are those who follow the proposed measure of precommercial thinning to the largest extent. That group also values precommercially thinned stands higher than thinned stands. The complete opposite is the case for the group that lives far away from their property. Almost all of the respondents thought that the forest management plan would be or had been a good help in the decision making about the forest..

It has been even more important in the forest sector in recent years to look at the whole chain from suppliers to end users, to improve operations and improve performance and the profits of the company. The research and development have been concentrated on the buyer?s market and product development, probably because this research has capability to give an increased cash flow. But to obtain stability and continuity in the production and selling units, the suppliers should also be investigated. The aim of this thesis is to study a one company's existing suppliers of roundwood and investigate the differences and attitudes they have about the company offerings.

The purpose of this report is to find out what different preferences forest owners have in the region where Norrskog have their operation area, what they prefer and think about Norrskog. The purpose is also to compare some of the questions to a similar study that was made in 2008. The study is made in cooperation with Norrskog which is a forest owner cooperative. Norrskog has about 13 000 members which is about half of all forest owners in the region. To get the answers from the forest owners, questionnaires were sent out by mail. 371 were sent out and 102 came back. There were more members of Norrskog that responded than it was nonmembers. The results indicate that the forest owners have long term perspectives, their priorities are to nurse the forest so they can get the profit later on.

This rapport is based on a survey that was sent to 196 randomly selected forest owners, who during 2013 ordered a forest management plan from Norra Skogsägarna. The purpose was to examine how forest owners experienced advice given by an inspector based on their forest management plan..

According to a press release from the Swedish forest agency in May 2014, western Värmland has the worst regenerations of forest result in the whole of Sweden. The scarification frequency is low in the area. AB Hilmer Andersson want´s to know if the private forest owners want to scarify more than is done today. Good regeneration is important for private forest owners so they can have a long term forest management and economics of their forests. This academic study is done as an opinion poll. The purpose of the study is to see how big the interest of scarification among the private forest owner is.

On behalf has a questionnaire been conducted with the aim to find out the members opinion regarding the management of the association. The survey showed that association has a strong position locally and that the forest owners generally are satisfied with the management and the competence among the forest super visors. The main opinion is that the association can improve the communication with the forest owners before as well as after the sale of forest products..

This degree projects made on behalf of AB Karl Hedin to find out what private forest estate owners would like to have on a forestry-related website. The reason for finding out what estate owners think of the forest websites is to meet needs of the forest owners who are customers of AB Karl Hedin. Marketing and use of the Internet for information search for products and services are two key concepts in this study. To be able to perform the study, a telephone survey was made to find out what estate owners want and what they are missing on a forest site. The survey can be summarized at following conclusion: The marketing of AB Karl Hedin website must be stronger The forest owners want more information on forest business, prices and forestry services.

Half of Sweden's productive forest land is owned by individual forest owners. Research studies show that forest owners have more objectives with their forest than a high net present value, and that the suggestions of the forest management plans doesn?t always correspond to the forest owners? objectives. Through a qualitative study we conducted a discussion about objectives at stand level with the aim of making a more specific formulation of the forest owners? objectives. We asked about the forest owners' objectives at stand level, what forest management they conduct in order to achieve the objectives and how this management affects the net present value of the property. Based on the results of the interviews, we analyzed what kind of factors decide where the objectives place themselves in the landscape and if the objectives at stand level are consistent with the overall objectives for the property. Many forest owners questioned the idea of talking about objectives at stand level, and they didn?t always have their objectives clearly defined.