– It stings the heart, it does, says Bjørn Henrik Stavdal Johansen.
He is in Flå to go over the house one last time before handing over the keys.
The nature rights leader has long been concerned about the degradation of nature. Several times he has also spoken out about the topic in the media.
Turufjell hyttefelt was the final straw.
Now he is moving from Flå municipality.
From moving in to moving out
Eight years ago, Stavdal Johansen moved to Flå to work as a nature rights manager. In his job, he provides information about the various predators we have in Norway.
For the past six years, he has lived in a small log cabin at the edge of the forest near Turufjell.
Johansen has received both support and incitement after he began to speak out about dissatisfaction with cabin development.
Photo: Lykke Frida Synnøve Høyås / NRK
– When I moved in, this place was perfect for me. I could trudge straight out into nature, he says.
Then the development of the Turufjell cottage field started.
The cabin field on Turufjell is partly built on a wetland area.
Photo: Lykke Frida Synnøve Høyås
The refuge in nature turned into dirt roads, catalog cabins and construction sites.
– It suddenly happened that if I were to go out for a walk in nature, I had to get in the car and drive a good distance. Then the threshold becomes much higher, and well-being lower, he says.
Now he sees no other way out than to move from the municipality.
– There are things that I will miss. Like the view from the kitchen window. On the bird board outside here, I have caught both goshawks, rail hawks and woodpeckers, says Stavdal Johansen.
For the nature rights leader, nature experiences are an important part of everyday life.
Photo: Lykke Frida Synnøve Høyås / NRK
– But of course, I’m going to get a bird board on the new site as well, he smiles.
Several people think that too much is being built
It is not only Stavdal Johansen who believes that the cottage development has gone too far.
The organization Norsk Friluftsliv recently published an investigation which shows that more people than before believe that too many cabins are being built.
Bente Lier, general secretary of Norwegian Outdoor Activities, believes that more people will see what we lose when we destroy nature.
Photo: Lykke Frida Synnøve Høyås / NRK
– In this survey, half of the population in Norway answered that they think too much is being developed, says Bente Lier.
She is general secretary of Norwegian Outdoor Activities.
The survey shows that the number of people who think there is too much cabin construction has increased from 41 per cent in 2021 to 50 per cent this year.
– It is clear that here most people feel that we are starting to approach a limit for how much we should build out of nature, says Lier.
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Can’t make everyone ready
Merete Gandrud (Ap) is the mayor of Flå. She thinks it’s a shame that people choose to move from the municipality.
Merete Høntorp Gandrud (Ap), mayor of Flå municipality.
Photo: Lykke Frida Synnøve Høyås / NRK
– We can’t get everyone ready, says Gandrud.
But she still thinks the development benefits the skinned women.
– Now we have several fine ski slopes, alpine resorts, prepared paths and gap huts. Without the cabins, we would only have had this light trail over here that we buzzed around in, says Gandrud.
I think the state must take over the responsibility
– It is not a problem that will disappear even if I move. Skin is not the main problem, says Stavdal Johansen.
It is not just about tour opportunities for the natural rights leader.
– Each cabin and each individual cabin field is not the problem in itself. That is the sum of it, he says.
A hundred years ago, half of the land area in Norway was wilderness, today we are left with just over eleven percent.
It is up to each individual municipality how this nature is to be managed.
The administration as it is today does not work, believes Johansen.
Photo: Lykke Frida Synnøve Høyås / NRK
Stavdal Johansen believes the state should take over this responsibility.
– Individual municipalities that have to manage a large, coherent nature, it doesn’t work. It goes beyond hiking routes, grazing areas and habitats for wild animals, birds and plants, he says.
He believes that it is necessary to see the development of cottages across municipalities, to prevent nature from being destroyed bit by bit.
– If one had raised it up a level and seen nature management from a larger perspective, it would have been easier to manage this here in a good way, says Stavdal Johansen.
We are left with just over eleven percent wilderness in Norway today, and it is up to each individual municipality how this nature is to be managed.
Photo: Lykke Frida Synnøve Høyås / NRK
Need for plans across municipalities
Since the beginning of the 2000s, the number of cabins has increased. Figures from Statistics Norway show that it is closer half a million cabins in Norway.
Area has been set aside to build half a million more cabins. It shows a report from the Norwegian Institute for Natural Research.
– It is an area that corresponds to four times the size of Mjøsa, says Trond Simensen.
Trond Simensen, researcher at NINA
Photo: NINA
Simensen is a researcher at NINA. He believes that the responsibility for spatial planning should remain with the municipalities.
Nevertheless, he believes that more planning is needed across the municipalities.
– Then we could look at development patterns and management of nature across municipal boundaries, and see larger areas in context, says Simensen, and add;
– But we must bear in mind that these types of regional plans are not legally binding today. So the municipal plans will override the regional plans anyway.
The Ministry of Local Government and District Affairs does not wish to give an interview on the matter, but write the following in an e-mail to NRK:
“The government has confidence that the municipalities make good assessments in spatial planning, but sees the need to strengthen the competence of the municipalities in the area of planning and the environment”.
A new start in Hedalen
Now Bjørn Henrik Stavdal Johansen has got the bird board up in Sør-Aurdal municipality. The new house has nature as its only neighbour, and it is far from the nearest cottage field.
Johansen wants both the goshawk, the goshawk and the woodpecker to welcome him to his new home in Hedalen.
Photo: Lykke Frida Synnøve Høyås / NRK
– For me, living in the countryside is about having good access to outdoor activities, hunting and fishing. I got that here, he says.
Although he thrives in his new place, he is plagued by a concern about the future of Norwegian nature.
– Every little municipality will have to be its little hut king on the pile, and the sum of it all will be catastrophic, believes Stavdal Johansen.
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2023-08-05 19:52:43
#Moves #cottage #municipality #protest
