The purpose of this study is to identify, document and map any changes in soil due to horse-riding in relation to the nationally prevailing conflict between horse and land owners whether the horse should furthermore be included in the Swedish Right of Public Access. The study includes a field work done in Vagnhärad, Sweden where changes in soil was documented accordingly to the trail-problem assessment method developed by Marion and Leung in 1999. The conflict has been summarized by previous research and supplemented with a framing analysis that shows how it is portrayed in national media. The result of the fieldwork has been visualized with GIS, and then analysed to provide a solution for how and when to use the area for riding to prevent conflict. The analysis was made in relation to the result from the field work and previous research that was presented but most importantly in relation to the notions of the Recreational Opportunity Spectrum and Recreation Carrying Capacity. The result of the study was that the area of interest was indeed affected by horse-riding, mostly through the exposure of tree roots. It also showed that by adhering to the principles of the Swedish Right of Public Access and the previously mentioned models of analysis you can prevent a rising conflict and limit the effects on soil and nature done by horse-riding.

Thinning is performed today with essentially two thinning methods, with strip-roads or stand-thinning machines. The result after thinning affects the stands future development. In this study, the two thinning methods was compared with regard to distribution of basal area, resulting damage, the distribution of stems, actual thinning intensity and the impact that these differences may provide in the future. The survey was conducted in Sundsvall, Sweden in two different stands where basal area- surfaces, number of stems, damage and thinning strength was measured. The result shows that stand-thinning machines produce less damage to the stems and a more even distribution of the basal area. The strip-road method carried out a thinning of excessive thinning intensity of 50 % compared to 30 % for stand-thinning method. From a quality point of view the stand-thinning machines performed a better result. These machines have a lower production (harvested volume per hour) which probably results in lower financial gains in thinnings. Keywords: stand-thinning, basal area, thinning strength, Vimek, soil damage.