Statskog is a Norwegian

state-owned enterprise A state-owned enterprise (SOE) is a business entity created or owned by a national or local government, either through an executive order or legislation. SOEs aim to generate profit for the government, prevent private sector monopolies, provide goo ...

responsible for the management of state-owned

forest A forest is an ecosystem characterized by a dense ecological community, community of trees. Hundreds of definitions of forest are used throughout the world, incorporating factors such as tree density, tree height, land use, legal standing, ...

and

mountain A mountain is an elevated portion of the Earth's crust, generally with steep sides that show significant exposed bedrock. Although definitions vary, a mountain may differ from a plateau in having a limited summit area, and is usually higher t ...

real estate totaling approximately 20% of the

area Area is the measure of a region's size on a surface. The area of a plane region or ''plane area'' refers to the area of a shape or planar lamina, while '' surface area'' refers to the area of an open surface or the boundary of a three-di ...

of Norway. About 5% of Statskog's land is productive forest while 80% is above the

tree line The tree line is the edge of a habitat at which trees are capable of growing and beyond which they are not. It is found at high elevations and high latitudes. Beyond the tree line, trees cannot tolerate the environmental conditions (usually low ...

. The company has its headquarters in Namsos. In southern Norway the operations of productive forestry is conducted by Statskog-Borregaard Skogsdrift AS, a joint venture between Statskog and Borregaard. Across the country Statskog also manages

hunting Hunting is the Human activity, human practice of seeking, pursuing, capturing, and killing wildlife or feral animals. The most common reasons for humans to hunt are to obtain the animal's body for meat and useful animal products (fur/hide (sk ...

licences and allows for travel and tourism in nature.

History

Emblem of the Norwegian Directorate of the State Forests

Statskog was established in 1860 as Statens skovvæsen and was organized under the

Ministry of the Interior An interior ministry or ministry of the interior (also called ministry of home affairs or ministry of internal affairs) is a government department that is responsible for domestic policy, public security and law enforcement. In some states, the ...

. In 1957 it was separated from the Ministry of Agriculture under the name Direktoratet for statens skoger. It changed its name and underwent reorganisation in 1992–1993, and the head office was moved from Oslo to Namsos. While it presently owns a fifth of the land of Norway, until July 1, 2006, it owned a third. As of that day all properties in

Finnmark Finnmark (; ; ; ; ) is a counties of Norway, county in northern Norway. By land, it borders Troms county to the west, Finland's Lapland (Finland), Lapland region to the south, and Russia's Murmansk Oblast to the east, and by water, the Norweg ...

(a total of 95% of the land in the

county A county () is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesL. Brookes (ed.) '' Chambers Dictionary''. Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, 2005. in some nations. The term is derived from the Old French denoti ...

) were transferred to the Finnmark Estate. Between 300,000 and 400,000 cubic meters are felled annually in Statskog-owned forests by hired contractors. The timber is then used for a variety of commercial purposes. Statskog is certified according to

ISO 14001 The ISO 14000 family is a set of international standards for Natural environment, environment management systems. It was developed in March 1996 by International Organization for Standardization. The goal of these standards is to help organizations ...

, which pertains to the appropriate management of forests. Recently, the company has begun offering a range of tourist-oriented services designed to attract visitors to the various properties across the country, including national parks such as Reisa National Park. Cabin rentals are available online and feature a range of accommodation options.

References

Companies established in 1860 Forestry in Norway Forestry agencies (parastatal) Government-owned companies of Norway Real estate companies of Norway Organisations based in Namsos Ministry of Agriculture and Food (Norway) {{forestry-agency-stub