Forstästhetik and forest aesthetics

Abstract

Forstästhetik is a programme for forest management, resembling an art manifesto. Forest managers are programme executors. Forest aesthetics is forest investigation from the point of view of beauty. In the case of managed forests, it is possible to ask, what is the manager’s programme and his skill to achieve personal solutions. In forests, the functioning and sustainability of the ecosystem are basic principles affecting all other values. On this basis it is possible to evaluate the competence of taste systems and the logic of their application. The paper is based on a lecture given in the seminar ‘The forest as a Finnish cultural entity’, held in Helsinki in 1986. The PDF includes a summary in English.