Forest use and its economic value for inhabitants of Skröven and Hakkas in Norrbotten

This report covers elaboration and demonstration of a method to quantify and evaluate the many uses of the forest for people living in a sparsely populated area in the north of Sweden. The uses are grouped into the forest or forestry as a source of income, value as environment for leisure time, value as residential environment, and finally other values. Ten households in Skröven and Hakkas in Norrbotten are interviewed. The interviewees describe their use and the amounts and frequencies, rank the four uses, and put a relative value in per cent on each use. The annual mean total value is 121 000 SEK. The various mean incomes are less then half (45%) of the value derived from all uses of the forest. Comparing the three uses that constitute the other half, all are of approximately equal value. The incomes concerned are from employment in forestry, from reindeer herding, from the sale of timber from a forest holding or from the increase in value of the holding, or from firewood