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Outdoor recreation is a fully integrated part of contemporary daily life in Sweden (Emmelin et al. 2010; Fredman et al. 2013a). Ever since the growth of the urban population in the early 20^th century, and the accompanying economic opportunities and more free time for ordinary people to engage in leisure activities, outdoor recreation has grown as a social phenomenon and become associated with stays and activities in ‘nature’ (Stenseke 2012; Ericson 2014). Many of these activities contribute to the maintenance of cultural traditions, such as berry and mushroom picking as well as hunting and fishing, which all have strong roots in the traditional Swedish outdoors (Lindhagen & Bladh 2013;

Kagervall 2014). At the same time, recent trends within the outdoor recreation and tourism industries have seen the introduction of more extreme and challenging recreational activities. For example, some researchers now talk about a ‘sportification’ of recreational activities (Sandell et al. 2011; Sandell & Boman 2013). This trend has recently been confirmed in a national survey on outdoor recreation activities in Sweden, where adrenalin driven activities are listed side-by-side with more traditional recreational activities (Sandell & Fredman 2013).

Meanwhile, outdoor recreation has also come to include close links to important topics such as public health and well-being. Closer ties with environmental awareness and education have been re-enforced as well, particularly with the development of organized eco- and nature based recreation and tourism activities (Lundmark et al. 2013; Ericson 2014; SEPA 2015). These trends are closely related to a demand for quality recreational opportunities and experiences among the public, which have turned outdoor recreation into a growing industry and important part of the national economy (Fredman et al. 2013c).

The earliest roots of political work with outdoor recreation in Sweden can be traced as far back as the late 1800s and especially the 1930s, when the topic became a political focus and was discussed as a national interest⁷ (Sandell & Sörlin 2008). However, as pointed out by Emmelin et al. (2010) and later by Ankre et al. (2013) and Ericson (2014), growing focus on nature tourism and sustainable resource management in recent years has resulted in increased political atten-tion on outdoor recreaatten-tion in Sweden since the 2000s. For example, in 2001 the Swedish government emphasized outdoor recreation as one of the corner stones in Swedish conservation policy (Swedish Government 2001). This work was later followed up in a program report published twice by the governmental agency that currently is responsible for outdoor recreation planning and management in Sweden, the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency (SEPA). The report is called ‘Värna – Vårda – Visa’⁸ and concerns an ambition to increase the attention on nature conservation in Sweden with a specific focus on reaching different environmental goals (SEPA 2004/2011).

One such goal involves the sustainable use of the environment in

7 Translation: riksintresse. Areas of national interests have priority over other resour-ce interests. The Swedish Environmental Code (Miljöbalken) from 1999 explicitly mentions outdoor recreation as a national interest.

8 Translation: Uphold – Protect – Show. The recommendations in Värna – Vårda – Visa apply to all protected areas in Sweden.

Sweden, which includes a focus on the role and importance of outdoor recreation as one of the main pillars towards reaching the goal. This focus was made explicit by the presentation of the first governmen-tal bill on outdoor recreation from 2010, which highlights outdoor recreation as a political planning priority and its connection to other highly prioritized political goals, e.g. public health, local development, education, science, etc. (see Table 1).⁹

The bill sets the frame around the development of outdoor recre-ation in Sweden by being an important indicator of, and guideline to, present and future outdoor recreation conditions in Sweden.

Furthermore, it goes hand in hand with an increased political focus on securing public access to and use of the ‘Swedish nature’, which includes a focus on professionalizing outdoor recreation management and planning practices throughout Sweden (SEPA 2014). This work, which has the bill as well as the environmental objectives as its base, is presently referred to as Sweden’s outdoor recreation politics (SEPA 2012).

1. Accessible nature 6. Sustainable regional growth 2. Strong commitment and cooperation 7. Protected areas as a resource

for outdoor recreation 3. Free public access forms the basis

of outdoor recreation

8. Valuable outdoor recreation at school

4. Access to nature for outdoor

recreation health 9. Outdoor recreation for the good of the people

5. Attractive natural areas close to

urban centres 10. Good knowledge about outdoor

recreation Table 1 - The governmental bill on outdoor recreation.

Source: Swedish Government 2010.

Both the bill and the outdoor recreation politics in Sweden is, how-ever, not without problems. For instance, there is a long way to go from the bill and the outdoor recreation politics made by the national authorities to the enactment of the bill and policies in practice. In

9 For a more thorough description of how outdoor recreation has been given attention in various political documents and contexts since the early 2000s, see Stenseke 2012.

other words, the process of negotiating national strategies onto local management practices is a challenge. As a result, the success of the bill and the national outdoor recreation politics much depends on current political will and abilities to enact both, not only on a national scale, but also on regional and local scales. This work will require profes-sional documentation of and knowledge about outdoor recreation conditions and developments in Sweden, which can ensure that po-litical decisions are made on a foundation of best practice knowledge (Fredman et al. 2013a).