Negotiating Forest Management Within the Multiple‐Use of Forests in Sweden

ABSTRACT European forest governance is increasingly expected to reconcile timber production with biodiversity conservation, climate mitigation, rural development, and human well‐being. In Sweden, forest policy promotes multifunctionality and environmental concern under the principle of “freedom with responsibility,” yet clear‐cut, even‐aged forestry remains the dominant management model. This study investigates how practitioners engaged in economically active forms of multiple‐use of forests negotiate forest management practices in relation to industrial forest management and alternative forest management (AFM), and how institutional conditions shape the room for such negotiation. Drawing on 61 in‐depth interviews with 75 multiple‐use forest practitioners across Sweden, the study examines forest management practices among owner‐practitioners, how multiple‐use activities and management practices shape one another, and how institutional expectations, social norms, and personal values influence management choices. We find that AFM rarely appears as a clearly defined or uniformly applied alternative to industrial forest management. Instead, it emerges incrementally and in hybrid forms through practice‐based adaptation. Multiple‐use activities, such as tourism, small‐scale wood processing, and forest‐based educational courses, reshape economic and temporal horizons by reducing dependence on harvest‐based timber revenues. These arrangements can enable owner‐practitioners to prioritize continuity, selectivity, and long‐term engagement with their forests. Owner‐practitioners pragmatically align livelihood strategies with personal values, creating pockets of AFM where they reinterpret norms of productivity, responsibility, and legitimate forest management from within the existing system. The study contributes to environmental governance research by demonstrating how forest management change can unfold through cumulative, practice‐based adjustments within a stable governance regime.