For hikers, berry pickers, tourism entrepreneurs, hunters, and those seeking health and peace of mind from forests, continuous cover forestry is by far the best way to manage forests. Numerous studies show that continuous cover forestry is a better choice than clear-cutting when considering the many values and ecosystem services of forests, such as berry yields (Peura etc. 2016, 2018; Pukkala 2016, see also Tonteri ym. 2016). The forest remains a forest, the landscape remains forested, the value of holiday plots stays high, and neighborly relations remain good when continuous cover forestry is increased. Many of us feel eco-anxiety and genuine sorrow when a beloved forest landscape is destroyed by clear-cutting. For example, in Finland the majority of citizens would be ready to restrict clear-cutting by law.

According to AEFC’s perspective, the spiritual and social values of forests are typically underestimated. In particular, the effects of forest management on mental health and the so-called biodiversity hypothesis have only recently begun to receive attention. The biodiversity hypothesis suggests that a diverse, as natural as possible forest supports our health (Haahtela 2019). At the same time, it also promotes stress recovery better than the young forest growth phases that follow clear-cutting (Simkin 2025).