Meeting with a forest owner

Jan-Åke Karlsson grew up on a forest property together with his brother Sven-Erik. As a young man, Jan-Åke was active in the scouts and spent a lot of time in the forest. About 25 years ago, the brothers took over the parents' farm - Rostock 1: 2 - where the forest was not actively taken care of for many years. It attracted the brothers' interest in forestry and today they own several forest properties and are one of JGA's forest suppliers.

The brothers Karlsson are dedicated forest owners who are keen to learn more about forestry and forestry. Jan-Åke has read several courses at Linnaeus University about, among other things, sustainable family forestry and is now trying to learn how to create his own forestry plans. The fact that he appreciates Linnaeus University's focus on forest-related courses cannot be missed.
 
- The more I learn, the more I realize how little I can! I think it is important that more forest owners train and learn more about forestry, therefore I have followed with LNU and met other forest owners several times at the Elmia Wood fair to inspire them, ”says Jan-Åke. It is also important to me that the forest companies' timber buyers tell about their and future ideas and thoughts about forestry and forestry so that I can learn more. I believe that a skilled forest buyer should be social, business and competent.

The forest is a large garden that needs to be cared for tenderly

As the interest grows, the brothers have bought several forest properties. They were hit hard by storms Gudrun and Per just when they bought their first properties, but they did not lose courage but came back and developed their business further.
 
- I see the forest as my big garden. The more energy we spend on nurturing it, the greater the exchange it will give us - both emotionally and financially. Since the orbital period of spruce forest is 60 - 70 years, it is important that we enjoy our forest while it grows by actually staying in it. I myself have the opportunity to both hunt, pick berries and mushrooms and not least just stroll in our forest which is nice.
 
Like many new forest owners, the Karlsson brothers also inherited a relationship with forest companies, but Jan-Åke, who has worked with marketing and sales for a long time, thinks that competition in an open market economy is important.
 
- It is important to follow, investigate and make demands on the various forest companies carefully, says Jan-Åke. I want to know what happens to my forest and be involved in the work with it. Therefore, it becomes important to look at how the forestry companies' employees act and which subcontractors are employed. JGA Forest has talented forest contractors and purchasers who are responsive to our wishes for how our forest should be used, we are currently satisfied with this cooperation - which I usually say to our purchaser Håkan Karlsson: "JGA is our current partner".

Jan-Åke also appreciates that JGA is a family-owned company that is concerned about and cares for its relationships. To visit the sawmill in Linneryd during the autumn's 90th anniversary was inspiring. The next step in the collaboration is that JGA Skog, together with the Karlsson brothers, will develop a new physical and digital forestry plan. The digital forestry plan makes it possible to constantly keep it updated and thus follow and control the development. A forestry plan must continuously be up-to-date and guide the development and future of the forest property.

Want to see more young people get involved in the forest

The future development is something that Jan-Åke is very fond of and he sees the forest as an increasingly important resource in the future. He thinks that more people would be interested in the forest at younger ages. Today, most forest owners are in their 55s and are without sufficient knowledge of how the forest is to be managed and cared for.
 
- I try to get my children interested in our forest more, but have not succeeded fully - yet. Perhaps this is because the forest is a long-term investment that young people find it difficult to appreciate. After all, it is only possible to have a final felling during their lifetime, but it is all the other joy the forest gives that should be conveyed in a better way. I think it is important that children and young people get out more in the forest at an early age and learn more about forests and see it as one of the country's most important assets, resources and future products!
 
Jan-Åke's and Sven-Erik's goals in the forestry sector are to form a property with a clear age distribution, that is, equal parts of young forest, thinning forest and logging forest, but also see other possibilities.

- We have also on a limited scale built up a business with the rental of cottages around our forest. Germans only have 10 hours drive up to us and here we can offer unique nature, freedom and not least the peace and quiet and the silence - which is appreciated by many who live in the stress and the hunt in Berlin or Munich.

But first, the brothers are going to start planting a little when the snow has disappeared, as many newly planted spruce plants died in the summer's extreme drought. They were also affected by the progress of the spruce bark last year, but the brothers' great commitment and interest means that Jan-Åke is still calm and sees the future with great confidence: The forest is our joy and future!