Aldo Leopold and stewardship: Lessons for forest planning and management in the Nordic countries?

Abstract

There is a major trend in forest management that local managers are being replaced by entrepreneurs, who are often less placedependent. Entrepreneurs are also more updated when it comes to scientific knowledge and national and international trends in forest values and functions, as well as knowledge about general planning and management concepts that have high value for tourism and recreation. Parallel with the observed changing management culture, there also seems to be an increased abstraction of forest values and functions in forest certification programmes. The article briefly presents some key aspects of Aldo Leopold's thinking that are of relevance for forest stewardship, and discusses these in relation to key forest stewardship trends in a Nordic forestry context. In a Nordic tradition, forest management and planning are deeply rooted in local management practice carried out by official local supervisors in cooperation with forest owners and other stakeholders. Local traditions and accumulated local knowledge over time were, in addition to updated scientific knowledge, important skills for local managers. Today's post-modern forestry includes complex multi-valued forest situations on different scales, which are even more complex and challenging to manage than the more utilitarian historical forest was.

Dimensions of Landscape Stewardship across Europe: Landscape Values, Place Attachment, Awareness, and Personal Responsibility

“…In a previous study [27], we observed how such values tend to be perceived collectively and are shared among different local actors. These shared values tend to facilitate mutual understanding and cooperation, becoming especially relevant for landscape stewardship, as it greatly relies on collaboration and communication within a local community for land management activities [59]. Yet, values that are perceived more individually, such as appreciation of a landscape's existence or gaining personal fulfilment from it, also seem to play an important role, as they were strongly associated with higher levels of awareness and responsibility in our study.…”

A bridge over troubled water: A contextual analysis of social vulnerability to climate change in a riverine landscape in south-east Norway

“…As a collective practice, this included behavior such as being, making, using, starting, practicing, regarding, perceiving, defining, discussing, and being involved in a place-all of which are elements of forming social networks in a particular place (Amundsen 2012). Care and stewardship of places includes most of what we do and do not do in places (Gundersen & Mäkinen 2009), and some negative practices associated with neglecting, ignoring, and giving up were mentioned by some interviewers. Many of the participants emphasized the utilitarian values of landscape and that the natural resources should be utilzed to their maximum production level to secure the livelihoods of those living in the community.…”

“…To date, the local flood mitigation measures have been short-term coping strategies rather than long-term adaptation. Sense of place is part of long-standing coping traditions through shared concepts of local identity and well-being being contingent upon landscapes that are familiar and providers of economic income and good livelihoods (Gundersen & Mäkinen 2009;Murphy et al 2015). Among the most prominent place connections for the inhabitants of Gausdal Municipality are the longstanding bonds with each farm and a former way of life that is rarely found today.…”

Outdoor recreation research: Different approaches, different values?

“…The literature on feelings attached to places does not focus much on specific attributes in landscapes as such. From a management point of view, this approach implies more focus on specific localities and viewing each place as a totality, not just as a sum of attributes that may be manipulated (Gundersen & Mäkinen 2009). …”