Half of the forest near the mountains in Västerbotten bought by the state - forest owners receive hundreds of millions

The commons in the mountain municipalities are common forests owned by everyone who owns private properties above the cultivation limit.

And it is about more than half of the forest holdings at Sorsele, Tärna-Stensele, Vilhelmina and Dorotea common that now become nature reserves.

About 50,000 hectares of forest.

- After the Swedish Forest Agency on several occasions refused us to harvest what was considered mountainous and worthy of protection, we realized that it was just as good that the state redeemed the forest and gave us reasonable compensation, says Anders Pettersson who is public manager and business policy spokesman for the commons.

Can be more money: Clink at the checkout

In the first instance, the commons will receive SEK 400 million, but at a later stage it could be just as much more money.

- Sure, there will be a jingle at the checkout and now we have to be careful to manage this money, but we can imagine buying another forest or go into other businesses outside Västerbotten as well, says Anders Pettersson.

See the pictures from the mountain forests and hear more from the manager in the video above.