Taking a lesson from the Norwegian anti-cabin protests

Managing cabin visitors and their impacts on local nature-based practices in rural municipalities

Second homes or “cabins” are important platforms for outdoor recreation in Norway (1), but there are knowledge gaps on cabin visitors’ outdoor recreation practices, and how these affect local nature-based practices and values. There is an urgent need to solve these challenges with better adapted management practices, in face of the escalation of anti-cabin protests in several rural municipalities.

In 2017 we conducted a survey of all recreational activity on the Hardangervidda mountain plateau (2). In 2020 a web-based survey targeted residents and cabin owners in eight Hardangervidda municipalities (3). In addition, in the spring of 2021, we conducted in-depth interviews with 25 informants in Vinje, a rural municipalities in with intensive second-home development, as well as document analysis of municipal plans.

Visiting tourists are more positive to recreation infrastructure than cabin owners, who in turn are more positive than residents. This reflects their practices, as locals avoid “touristic trails” and often pursue off-trail practices as hunting, fishing and herding. The tourist and cabin owners use the terrain purely for recreation purposes like hiking, skiing and cycling. The locals are more positive to development of businesses linked to traditional harvesting and farming activities than cabin owners. They are also far more interested in wildlife management and believe much more strongly that hiking and skiing disturb both big and small game populations. The interviews uncovered fundamental differences in practices and attitudes, exceeding "user conflicts", as impacts on local nature-based practices are experienced by the locals as a threat to how they live their lives. We conclude that visitor management and facilitation of cabin-based outdoor activities must take into account the central role of local nature practices and harvesting activities have in building identity, belonging and “sense of place” at local community level.

1. Arnesen & Ericsson: Policy responses to the evolution in leisure housing: From the plain cabin to the high standard second home. The Norwegian case, (2013)

2. Selvaag et al: User survey in Hardangervidda national park summer 2017, (2018)

3. Selvaag et al: Local population survey in Hardangervidda, (2020)

Key words: second homes, outdoor recreation, conflict, sense of place, visitor management