The starting point for the research was to examine two inter-connected developments: the short-sighted ownership politics of common forests and recognition that private forest ownership and efficient devel-opment of forest farms require new forms of forest ownership. Thereby, the main research question of this study is: Can communal forests solve the problems that both common forest and private forest ownership are currently facing? That is to say, can communal forests form the initial capital for jointly owned forests?

The research aimed to examine the willingness of decisions-makers in communes located in Southern Savonia to connect their common forests to a jointly owned forest in the region. The research seeks also to discuss decision-makers views about the state and future prospects of their forest ownership as well as how they see value of the forest ownership in their economical area.

The research was conducted as a survey by using email and Webropol- survey programme. The survey results formed the primary data for the research and it was supported with statistics about the forest ownership in the Southern Savonia region. From the wider theoretical perspective – the research discusses the current state of forestry and its future development programme in Finland.

The research results illustrate that the decision-makers of communes in Southern Savonia are not inter-ested to connect their commonly owned forests to one jointly owned forest. The research also reveals that often the communes have little knowledge regarding the state and revenue of their forestry, and decisions about forest ownership are often made more on feeling than on fact-basis. The unpopularity of jointly owned forests is partly an outcome of decision-makers lacking knowledge about jointly owned forests and thereby effective marketing and establishment of a communications strategy would provide a solution for further promotion of jointly owned forest ownership.