Vast areas of Finland's forests are being mismanaged or simply not managed at all because of clashes among heirs with a share in the estate of now departed owners.
Harri Tasanen, the Managing Director of the Lounametsä Forest Management Association, based in Turku, says that poorly supervised timberlands often bring owners little in the way of financial gains.
"Forests in part are not well managed because they are transferred to an estate held by heirs after the owner dies. These heirs have to be unanimous about any decision affecting the forests," Tasanen explains. "If one of the heirs disagrees with the others, then resource management or even sale becomes impossible. If the heirs start arguing, the only one who makes any profit is generally a lawyer."
Well managed is profitable
Harri Tasanen argues that managing woodlands should never be avoided out of a fear of the expense. Timber cleared to make way for new growth generally more than covers the costs.
Forest management encompasses a range of regular operations including not just clearing for new growth, but also for example draining when needed, reforestation and looking after saplings in replanted sections.
Finnish forestry relies heavily on privately owned forests with private individuals and families estimated to own 60 percent of the nation's forests.
Today the average age of individual private owners is 62, and so increasingly large areas of forest land will be shifting to the control of estates in the years and decades ahead. Without better understanding among the heirs to these lands or a change in the law more Finnish forests could well become mismanaged and less productive.
Harri Tasanen compares owning forests to owning a car or a carrot patch.
"If you let its condition deteriorate, you can't expect to get much out of it," he points out.