It was Gustav Vasa who, in 1542, declared all uncultivated lands the
property of the Crown. Parts of them, however, were given to colonists,
and these as well as the resident population had the right to use the
neighboring forest to supply their needs for wood and pasture. By the
continued exercise of this right, the forest came to be considered
commons, proprietary rights remaining long in doubt. Finally, a division
came about, some of the lands becoming the property of the parishes,
others of smaller districts (the hundreds), others again encumbered or
unencumbered property of the State, and some remained in joint ownership
of State and private individuals under various complicated conditions.
The State now owns somewhat over 16 million acres, of which, however,
only 70% are really forest, and controls more or less 4 million more, of
which about 900,000 acres are ecclesiastical benefices and forests
belonging to public institutions, and 2.7 million acres in State farms,
which are rented.
Since 1875, the State has pursued a policy of purchase, which has added
over 500,000 acres (at $7 per acre) to the domain. Lately, this policy
has found considerable opposition. In this way, by reforesting, and by
settlement of disputed titles the State property in absolute possession
of the government has grown by nearly 5 per cent., to 10 million acres.
In Lapland the entire forest area used to belong to the State, but in
order to attract settlers these were given forest property for their own
use, from 10 to 100 times the area which they had cleared. This forest
area the settlers disposed of to wood merchants (lumbermen), until the
law of 1873 intervened, restricting the settlers to the usufruct alone,
the government taking charge of the cutting of wood for sale and
limiting the cut to a diameter of 8 inch at 16 feet from the base.
This interference with what was supposed to be private rights seems to
have been resented, and has led to wasteful practices, in the absence of
a sufficient force of forest guards. Nevertheless the law was extended
to Westerbotten in 1882.
In other provinces, Wermland, Gestrikland, etc., the government vested
in the owners or ironworks the right to supply themselves with charcoal
from State forests. But about the middle of the 19th century, when,
owing to railroad development in other parts, some of the ironworks
became unremunerative and were abandoned, their owners continued to
hold on to the forest privileges, and by and by exercised them by
cutting and sawing lumber for sale, or even by selling the forest areas
as if they were their properties; and in this way these properties
changed hands until suddenly the government began to challenge titles,
and commenced litigation, about 1896.
Grants of certain log cutting privileges on government lands were also
made to sawmills in past times, usually by allowing sawmillers to cut a
certain number of logs annually at a very low price. In 1870 these
grants, which were very lucrative, were modified by substituting the
right of an increased cut for a stated number of years at a modified
price, after which the grant was to cease. In 1900, there were still
some 300,000 acres under such grants.
No wonder that under these circumstances the value of the State forest
property was, in 1898, assessed at only $1.60 per acre; the net income
being $1,680,753, or about 12 cents per acre; the expenditures for
administration, supervision, and forest school amounting to $423,659, to
which should be added an undetermined amount for the participation of
the domain bureau, the agricultural department and provincial
governments, all taking part in the forest administration.
Many of the towns and country districts (_haerad_) have received
donations of forest areas from the Crown, which have been a considerable
source of revenue to them. The parish of Orsa, e.g., realized from its
forest property some 2.5 million dollars, and other similar results are
recorded.
These communal and institute forests of various description comprise
somewhat over 2.6 million acres, or 5.5%, and are placed under
management of local committees, with the governor of the province as
chairman. The management consists in selling stumpage of all trees over
13 inches in diameter 5 feet above ground, to be cut by the purchaser
under regulations.
In the years from 1840 to 1850, the government sold to English wood
merchants considerable tracts of timberland, and in the latter part of
the 19th century, as the sawmill industry expanded, many mill firms
acquired wood-cutting leases for 50 year terms for prices which were
often realized from the forest in the first winter. At present longer
leases than for 20 years are prohibited by law. The diameter limit of 12
inches, 18 or 20 feet above ground, was usually the basis of the leases;
and as the owners could then lease away other sizes, it might happen
that 2 or 3 persons besides the original owner would have property
rights in the same forest. Of late years many of the mill owners have
endeavored to get rid of the resulting inconvenience by buying the
fee-simple of the land. This movement has resulted in the aggregation of
large areas in single hands or more often in the hands of large mill
companies.
By the acquisition of these properties a certain amount of cultivated
land is usually included, which is then left to the former owner at a
nominal rent, provided that he pays the taxes on the whole; thereby
creating a class of renters in lieu of owners of farms. The area thus
privately owned, mostly by sawmill companies, must be over 25 million
acres; the total private forest area, which includes the bulk of the
commercial forest, is about 30 million acres (61.3%), unreclaimable
waste lands swelling the figure to over 50 million.