Skógræktarritið - 15.05.2001, Side 130

greatly between Sweden, Norway
and Finland (Pohtila &Timonen
1980, Veijola 1998b).
Timberline areas have been
important for reindeer husbandry
for centuries and this livelihood
continues to be one of the most
important in these areas
(Tasanen & Veijola 1995). The
reconciliation of different land-
use interests, especially forestry
and reindeer husbandry, has in
recent decades, given rise to
heated debate (Gustavsson
1989).
ln Finland, citizens of any EU
country living in the reindeer
husbandry area have the right to
own reindeer, while in Norway
and Sweden it is restricted,
almost exclusively, to the Sami
people (Helle 1995). The reindeer
husbandry area covers approxi-
mately 36% of the total land area
of Finland, and there are over
7,000 reindeer owners. For 800 of
them, reindeer husbandry is the
main livelihood (RKTL, Internet).
The number of families earning
their main livelihood from rein-
deer husbandry in Norway is
about 650 and in Sweden 800
(Helle 1995). Recreational use of
the timberline area plays an
important role in creating jobs in
the tourism industry, but at the
same time tourism causes signif-
icant problems for the delicate
ecology of these northern areas,
where marks left by humans typi-
cally remain visible for a long
time. The establishment of ski
resorts, has also created land-
use conflicts between the various
interest groups.
Research problem
According to Clark (1992) there
are distinct differences between
the problems that science tries
to tackle and the problems that
managers face in natural re-
source management. Thus the
goal of the present research is to
gain understanding ofdifferent
values, opinions and viewpoints
of managers and researchers
regarding the use of timberline
resources. The research aims at
answering the following ques-
tions:
• What is the timberline area
and why it is important?
• What are the main land-use
activities?
• What is the future of the tim-
berline area and oftheland-
use activities?
• What are the things affecting
the use?
• What are the possible threats
to the timberline area?
The viewpoints of managers and
researchers were compared and
their implications for planning,
policy development and manage-
ment procedures, as well as for
the sciences related to these
activities analysed. Comparisons
were conducted between
Norway, Finland and Sweden,
because of their common history,
societal similarities, and similari-
ties in the traditions of land-use
and management of timberline
areas. In this study, national and
regional land managers and deci-
sion-makers are generally called
managers.
Data collection and analysis
methods
Data was collected by using
semi-structured, face-to-face in-
depth interviews, which are rec-
ommended in the case of expert
interviews (Huberman et all.
1994; Russell 1995). Experts i.e.
managers representing the fields
of nature conservation, reindeer
husbandry and forestry, as well
as researchers working in these
fields, were chosen by using pur-
posive and snowball-sampling
methods. Respondents were
from the Ministries of Agriculture
and Forestry, Federations of
Forest Owners, state forest ser-
vices, various universities and
research institutes, the Union of
Reindeer Herders (in Finland),
and World Wildlife Fund (WWF).
Seventeen interviews were con-
ducted in 1999, of which four
were conducted in Norway, seven
in Sweden and six in Finland. The
interviews lasted for 25-60 min-
utes and were conducted in
Swedish, Norwegian and Finnish.
All the interviews were taped and
afterwards transcribed. Analysis
of the texts was a three step
process in which the texts were
divided among separate themes,
re-organised and re-categorised.
The resultant analysis units were
used to form models. The pro-
cess of creating the models may
be divided into simplification of
data and interpretation of re-
sults. In the simplification pro-
cess, essential themes are
searched for from the text. The
analysis is actually a formation of
general rules that are valid for all
the data.
Results - Model of values
The models of values outline the
factors, activities and values that
belong to the timberline area
and are therefore classified as
image schematic models. As
seen in the table I, the re-
searchers defined the timberline
area as an area for multiple-use
possibilities, i.e. it is pasture
land, an area for tourism and
recreation, a resource for non-
timber forest products as well as
a resource for household timber.
Larger scale forestry is clearly
restricted by the limitations set
by climate, other forms of land-
use and the importance of the
protective role of these forests.
For managers, associations
balanced between timber pro-
duction and multiple-use possi-
bilities and values (table 2).
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SKÓGRÆKTARRITIÐ 2001 l .tbl.