By Katja Malmborg, Johan Enqvist, Erik Andersson and Lisen Schultz

In our study with private non-industrial forest owners in southern Sweden, multiple narratives describing motivations for stewardship practices emerged. Often rooted in deeply held relational values, these narratives express diverse pathways to sustainability in production forests. One narrative centered around particularly meaningful, often peculiar-looking trees, like the pictured birch. Such trees are cared for as loved individuals, but also symbolize the necessary long-term perspective needed in caring for a small forest property. Photo: Katja Malmborg.

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Forests play a crucial role in sustainability. They provide resources that might help us adapt to climate change and they house an essential diversity of species. Forests especially play this role for sustainability in a country like Sweden, where 58 percent of land is made up of production forests. Small-scale private owners control about half of Sweden’s production forests, which means it is important to understand what motivates these owners in their forest management.

We asked 16 small-scale private forest owners in southern Sweden to pick and photograph five places on their forest properties. We asked them to pick places where they feel at home and that in some way represent how they care for their forests. We then interviewed the forest owners about the places they selected and what they do there, using the photographs for guidance. We then constructed 6 type narratives, or generalized stories, about how the places were meaningful to the forest owners and how these meanings motivated different actions and practices in the forests.

A rich picture of diverse meanings and motivations for caring for forests, often rooted in deeply held relational values, emerged from these narratives. The forest owners described how they felt at home in their forests. They enjoyed experimenting and learning with their forests, found support in collaborating with neighbors about current challenges, and took pains to increase the diversity of tree species – both for the long-term resilience of the forest, and because mixed forests are beautiful. And they shared how remnants of historic structures and old, peculiar-looking trees reminded them of past generations and how caring for forests requires long time perspectives.

Based on these narratives, we recommend that policymakers design policies in forestry so there is space for small-scale private forest owners to act on their internal and relational motivations to care for their forests. Policies could, for example, support relationship-building initiatives such as community dialogues and peer-to-peer learning programs. Sharing stories, such as ours, about how meaningful actively caring for forests can be, also has potential to inspire other landowners.