The north Swedish starving strings : a forest history analysis of the biking trail construction during the 20:th century

Kommunikationerna i norra Norrland under den förindustriella tiden bestod i stort sett endast av vintervägar (Hoppe 1945, Lassila 1972). Människorna förflyttade sig trots allt över relativt stora områden med släde efter häst eller ren (Friberg 1935, Mannerfelt 1936, Hoppe 1945). Många nybyggen i Norrlands inland var under tidigt 1900-tal fortfarande isolerade från omvärlden tillföljd av bristen på vägar. Vid denna tid började Domänverket att anlägga smala vägar s.k. ”cykelstigar” på statens marker för att underlätta framkomligheten för sina tjänstemän (Hoppe 1945) och på så vis också bättre kunna tillvarata skogsråvaran. Mycket lite finns skrivet om dessa cykelstigar. Det övergripande syftet med den här studien var därför att ge en helhetsbild över cykelstigarnas historia. Utifrån studier av historiskt källmaterial, fältinventeringar och intervjuer i Jokkmokksområdet, norra Sverige, sökte jag svaren på varför Domänverket började anlägga dessa cykelstigar. Vidare ville jag ta reda på var i landskapet cykelstigarna främst anlades samt hur byggnationen gick till i praktiken. Studien syftade även till att undersöka cykelstigarnas bevarandevärde idag. Studier av det historiska källmaterialet samt statliga offentliga utredningar visade vilken omfattande statlig verksamhet som pågick kring cykelstigsfrågan under 1930-50 talet. Man ansåg att en utbyggnad av cykelstigsnätet skulle förbättra kommunikationerna för skogsarbetare och befolkningen på landsbygden. Man ansåg också att skogsbränder skulle kunna komma att släckas fortare. Den största utbyggnaden i landet skedde i Norrbotten där behovet av kommunikationer också var störst. Arbetsbeskrivningarna av cykelstigarna liksom intervjuerna visar hur noggrant kontrollerat anläggningsarbetet var, och vilket hårt kroppsarbete de innebar. Cykelstigarna har i tidigare litteratur beskrivits som ”Svältsnören” eftersom att arbetarna tjänade så dåligt (Sjögård 2009) att lönen inte ens räckte till att köpa mat. Fältinventeringarna av fem olika cykelstigsobjekt i Jokkmokksområdet, uppvisar kulturspår som är äldre än själva cykelstigarna. Stigmarkeringar från så långt tillbaka i tiden som år 1817 samt en kavelbro daterad till år 1893 har återfunnits i anslutning till eller på själva cykelstigarna. Tillsammans med analyser av äldre kartmaterial tyder detta på att cykelstigarna anlades i närhet till äldre gångstigar. Denna slutsats stöds också av myndigheternas mål om att låta cykelstigarna förbinda ensamt liggande nybyggen med centralorter. Cykelstigarnas historia blev emellertid inte långvarig. Under 1950-och 60-talet blev bilen var mans ägodel och cykelstigarna kom att ersättas av lättare skogsbilvägar. Idag finns endast igenvuxna fragmenterade stigar kvar. Cykelstigarna berättar om samhällets utveckling och historia. På så vis är de en del av vårt kulturhistoriska arv. De tidigare anlagda vägarna som spred sig ut från bruksorterna hade liten betydelse för befolkningen. De avsåg snarare att förbinda de perifera områdena med den centraliserade makten för att stärka Sveriges gränser. När cykelstigsbyggnationen väl kom igång fick de, tillskillnad från tidigare vägprojekt, stor betydelse för den lilla människan. För många hemman och nybyggen blev cykelstigen den första riktiga utfartsvägen. De tillkom som ett resultat av att skogen som råvara fick ökad ekonomisk betydelse. Från att ha varit i stort sett väglöst spred sig cykelstigarna som ett finmaskigt nät över Norrland. Jag anser att man genom att rusta upp cykelstigarna och göra dem mer lättillgängliga och framkomliga kommer att locka många människor, både ortsbor och turister att färdas längs dem. Att dessutom berätta deras historia samt den starka skogliga kopplingen till dem ger upplevelsen en extra dimension. Kunskap om landskapets historia och de människor som levt där, kan ge en känsla av kulturell tillhörighet.  During pre-industrial times, transport in northern Sweden relied on winter roads (Hoppe 1945, Lassila 1972). People traveled over relatively large areas with sledges drawn by horses or reindeers (Friberg 1935, Mannerfelt 1936, Hoppe 1945). During early 20:th century many settlements in the north Swedish inland were still quite isolated from the rest of the world due to the prevailing lack of roads. At this time the National Forest Enterprise started to construct narrow roads, so called “biking trails”, on state owned land. The objective was to improve access to forests for government officials and also to ease exploitation of forest resources. Very little has been reported about these biking trails. The main objective of this study was therefore to present an overall picture of the history behind them. By studying historical records and making field inventories and interviewing persons with first-hand knowledge about these trails in the Jokkmokk region of northern Sweden, I found answers to why the National Forest Enterprise started constructing these biking trails in the first place. Further I wanted to find out where in the landscape these trails were drawn, and also what the construction work looked like in practice. The study also aimed at investigating the protection value of the biking trails today. Studies of historical records and legislation proposals showed what an extended governmental work evolved around the biking trail issue during the nineteen thirties to the fifties. The opinion was that a development of the biking trail network would improve the communications for forest workers and people living on the countryside. They also hoped that forest fires could be extinguished faster as a result of this. The largest scale of biking trail construction took place in the north of Sweden where the need to improve communication was largest. Detailed working descriptions together with the stories told by the informers reveal the highly organized and hard work required to build these biking trails. In earlier literature the biking trails are described as “starving strings” (Sjögård 2009), referring to the poor salary earned by the trail-workers, insufficient even to buy food. The field inventories, of five different biking trails in the Jokkmokk region, shows cultural traces which are older than the biking trails. Trail blazes in trees dating as far back as year 1817 as well as an old log road from year 1893 have been found close to or on the biking trail itself. Together with analyzes of old maps showing old walking trails, this indicates that the biking trails were constructed close to older routes. This conclusion is also supported by the governmental aim of connecting settlements with more central places. The history of the active use of these biking trails is brief. As the car became common already during the 1950s and 1960s, the biking trails were replaced by forest roads. Today there are only overgrown and fragmented pieces of the biking trails left. The biking trails tell us about the development and history of our society. In that aspect they are a part of our cultural heritage. Earlier constructed roads, which spread out from the mill communities, had little relevance for the common people. They were rather built to connect vast parts of the country in order to strengthen the boundaries of Sweden. The biking trails on the other hand became important for common people. For many homesteads and settlements the biking trail became the first real exit road. They were built as the result of the gain of importance of forest resources. The inland of northern Sweden changed from being almost empty of roads to being covered by a fine net of biking trails. I believe that by restoring the biking trails and making them more accessible, both locals and tourists will make extensive use of them. Telling their history – including their strong connection to the early Swedish forest industry - will give the experience an extra dimension. Knowledge about the history of the landscape and the people that once lived there will allow travelers to feel connected to previous generations.

People-plant interrelationships

Different plants have played an important role historically in the subsistence of the native Sami people of northern Fennoscandia. Generally, their use of plants have however been regarded as less vital in their overall subsistence and in comparison to the domesticated reindeer and the hunted game and fish. Also, the impacts of early human plant use on specific plant-populations and the overall ecosystems which they inhabited have often been overlooked in research. In this thesis the traditional Sami practices and extent of plant use from the 1550s until 1900 was studied from two main perspectives; First) the cultural significance of Scots pine inner bark and A. archangelica was evaluated, in the perspective as a discrete form of resource utilization within a larger set of activities which constitute overall Sami subsistence, Second) The human impact of land use from a perspective of plant use was quantified and evaluated. Special emphasis in this thesis was placed on the role of Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) and garden Angelica (A. archangelica ssp. archangelica L.). My results show that: 1) Scots pine and A. archangelica are two of the Sami cultural key-stone species, since they were qualitatively vital for survival in these northerly regions. 2) It is possible to manage and maintain stable populations of A. archangelica by conducting harvest according to traditional Sami practices, indicating that it is likely that the Sami did not only gathered but also enhanced certain wild plants. Furthermore, the Sami harvest of different Scots pine resources on a regional scale, was shown to be sustainable throughout the study period. 3) Northern Fennoscandia can be considered a domesticated landscape, even long before the onset of agriculture. The Sami have moved over large areas, but they made well informed decisions on what resources to obtain at what times. 4) A combination of methods from different fields should be used to understand Sami plant use in a subsistence context. By combining methods it is possible to understand both the details of how and why Sami used different plants, but also to investigate historical Sami subsistence at different spatial scales

Women in forestry in the early twentieth century - new opportunities for young women to work and gain their freedom in a traditional agrarian society

Logging and forestry have traditionally been seen as a purely masculine sphere. The aim of this study is to analyze women's introduction into and situations in the forestry sector in twentieth century northern Sweden. We interviewed 30 women who worked as cooks between the 1930s and the 1960s, and examined written sources. We found that driving forces behind the emergence of a system involving forestry cooks included state investigations, rationalization of the forest sector, the effects of WW2, and overall modernization of society. Our informants were unmarried and young when they started working, and their introductions to the job were characterized by encouragement and pressure in their surroundings. They had prior knowledge of cooking, but few underwent formal training. They were, in most cases, hired by the forest workers, and portray the camps as egalitarian social systems. It is clear that the Swedish system was rather unusual internationally, and these women had a definite impact on modernizing a workspace far from cities and industries. For the women, the job entailed hardships, but also a sense of freedom. Conceivably, a seed of women's liberation in twentieth century Sweden was planted by these thousands of young women working in the northern forests

Kyrönjoen yläosan vesistötöiden vaikutus ja Kyrönjoen tila vuosina 1975-2003

Kyrönjoki (F = 4920 km², MQ = 43 m³/s) virtaa laajojen tasaisten peltolakeuksien läpi. Joki tulvii herkästi, minkä vuoksi vesistöalueen tulvasuojelu on ollut laajamittaista: vuonna 2003 valmistui Kyrönjoen yläosan tulvasuojelu, johon kuului jokivarren pengerrys noin 24 km matkalla, 22 tulvapumppaamon rakentaminen sekä aliveden aikaista vedenpintaa nostavan Malkakosken padon rakentaminen. Kyrönjoen pääuoman virtaamia, veden laatua sekä kala-, rapu- ja nahkiaiskantoja sekä vesistötöiden vaikutuksia näihin on tarkkailtu vuosina 1975-2003. Kyrönjoen tilaan vaikuttavat vesistörakentamisen lisäksi lyhytaikaissäännöstely, virtaamien voimakas ja nopea vaihtelu, voimakas haja- ja pistekuormitus sekä varsinkin alueen happamien alunamaiden kuivatuksen aiheuttamat happamuusongelmat. Kyrönjoki on tummavetinen ja rehevöitynyt joki, jota luonnehtivat suuret virtaaman vaihtelut ja alajuoksua kohti pahenevat happamuusongelmat. Happamuus ja sameus ovat voimakkaimmillaan tulva-aikoina, kun taas rehevöitymisongelmat korostuvat kesän alivirtaamakausina. Kasvillisuudessa, pohjaeläimistössä, kalastossa sekä rapu- ja nahkiaiskannoissa näkyvät rehevöitymisen, happamuuden sekä rakenteellisten muutosten vaikutukset. Heikoimmillaan veden laatu ja ekologinen tila oli 1970-luvulla, jolloin pistekuormitus oli voimakasta ja happamien maiden kuivatus laajimmillaan. Näistä ajoista joen ekologinen tilanne on hiljalleen parantunut, mikä näkyy esimerkiksi pohjaeläinlajiston runsastumisena. Vuosittaiset vaihtelut ovat kuitenkin suuria ja joen ekologista tilaa voidaan edelleenkin pitää melko heikkona. Vesistörakentaminen on aiheuttanut  joen rakenteellisia muutoksia ja toisaalta voimakkuudeltaan vaihtelevaa, vuosikausia jatkunutta eroosiota. Pitkään jatkunut rakentaminen on pitänyt yllä jokiekosysteemin jatkuvaa stressiä, joka on hidastanut Kyrönjoen tilassa muuten tapahtunutta myönteistä kehitystä. Malkakosken yläpuolelle muodostunut allas näyttää  odotetusti rehevöityneen. Vesistörakentamisen suurimmat vaikutukset ovat kuitenkin välillisiä: tulvasuojelu mahdollistaa happamien alunamaiden tehokkaan kuivatuksen ja viljelyn, mistä puolestaan seuraa vesistön happamoitumista. Kuivatusalueilta tuleva happamuus yhdessä lyhytaikaissäännöstelyn muuttaman virtaamarytmin kanssa aiheuttaa  nopeaa ja vesieliöstölle haitallista happamuuden vaihtelua

Overview of ongoing cohort and dietary studies in the Arctic

Published version. Source at http://dx.doi.org/10.3402/ijch.v75.33803 This article gives an overview of the ongoing cohort and dietary studies underlying the assessment of population health in the Arctic. The emphasis here is on a description of the material, methods and results or preliminary results for each study. Detailed exposure information is available in an article in this journal, whereas another paper describes the effects associated with contaminant exposure in the Arctic. The cohort descriptions have been arranged geographically, beginning in Norway and moving east to Finland, Sweden, Russia and the other Arctic countries and ultimately to the Faroe Islands. No cohort studies have been reported for Alaska or Iceland

Observations on groundwater-surface water interactions at River Vantaa, Finland

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SNCA mutation p.Ala53Glu is derived from a common founder in the Finnish population

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