For Stockholmers, the archipelago was a fairly unknown and anonymous place for centuries. If you weren’t involved in shipping, you wouldn’t know much about this water landscape. Back then, contact between city dwellers and archipelago residents was restricted to meetings at Fiskarhamnen at Slussen by Stadsholmen (the old town), where the men folk of the archipelago sold their wares.

During the latter part of the Middle Ages the main produce was salted herring, but later on it included fish, potatoes, vegetables, eggs and berries. The fisher-farmers had a bartering system going with the Mälaren farmers: a barrel of salted herring in exchange for two barrels of rye. It was only towards the end of the 19th century that Stockholmers began to show a serious interest in the archipelago. This was down to the new steamboats, which had begun to service the islands. Authors and artists such as August Strindberg and Bruno Liljefors also made their contribution with their fascinating depictions of the nature and people of what for city dwellers was an alien landscape.

During the 20th century, Stockholmers began buying an increasing amount of land in the archipelago. Around the turn of the century, wealthy city dwellers were buying whole islands and erecting large houses. Later on, your average wage earner could buy a bit of land for himself and build a weekend cottage. Today it is mostly those on a high income that buy sites by the water and extend small holiday homes. Agricultural islands have gradually been transformed into holiday islands.

Archipelago in decline
The City of Stockholm was already beginning to buy land in the archipelago for recreational purposes back in the 1940s. The city’s politicians realised that it was important to get involved in the sale of land outside the city boundaries in order to improve opportunities for residents of the capital to enjoy recreational activities in the archipelago.

There was also a social purpose behind the move. Ordinary people would have the opportunity to spend their holidays in the archipelago. This is why holiday villages were built, where Stockholm families on the lowest incomes were given priority and the opportunity to rent a summerhouse for one a several weeks at subsidised rents. This came to an end in the 1980s, when subsidisation of this kind was no longer considered competitive.

The Archipelago Foundation came into being in 1959 at a time when the Stockholm Archipelago had undergone major and crucial changes. The most real and threatening of these changes was depopulation. At the end of World War II there were around 12,000 archipelago residents, but just two decades on this figure had dropped by half. The reasons for this were obvious. The 1950s boom in Sweden led to a massive expansion of densely populated areas. This was particularly true of a city such as Stockholm. Vast numbers of new jobs appeared via company start-ups in the fields of engineering, carpentry, manufacturing, retail and other services.

Meanwhile, many jobs in the archipelago that were based on traditional agricultural and fishing industries were disappearing. They quite simply found it impossible to compete with the increasingly resourceful farming on the mainland, as well as new, more efficient fishing methods that required major investments in trawlers etc., which the small-scale coastal fishermen were not up to. Young archipelago residents therefore increasingly sought work in the big city. The result was that the number of children fell and schools were forced to close down. Shops and other services came under threat, and communications deteriorated.

The authorities step in
It is unlikely that the Stockholm Archipelago would have such a significant and robust population today had it not been for the determined intervention of politicians and authorities during the 1960s and 70s.

The County Administrative Board launched a major investigation, the county council likewise, and for the first time the government was able to set aside regional development funds for a sparsely-populated area in a metropolitan county. The establishment of the Archipelago Foundation may be regarded as one of the first of many investments aimed at breathing new life into the archipelago. At the inaugural meeting in 1959, three of the county’s top political players stood as founders, namely the County Administrative Board, the county council and the City of Stockholm. Furthermore, the archipelago municipalities soon became active members of the foundation, to be followed later on by all the municipalities in the county  

This was no coincidence. The establishment of the Foundation was carefully thought out and prepared. At the start of the 1950s, the existing conservation legislation was revised to include a stronger emphasis on outdoor life and recreation. Nature would now be protected for the benefit of people, instead of being protected from people. At the same time, new shore protection regulations were introduced, stipulating that permits were required for building within shore areas, which were considered to be of value both for bathing and boating activities.

In the mid 1950s, the County Administrative Board also presented a completely new outline plan of the Stockholm Archipelago. The plan proposed that the archipelago be divided up into various zones with different possibilities in terms of their use. The groupings comprised areas of pure countryside such as outer archipelagos, as well as areas that required traditional maintenance, such as meadows and pastureland.
But there were also recreational areas that would be open for anyone pursuing recreational or boating activities. Areas containing buildings were divided up into permanent housing and summerhouse areas. The interests of those living permanently in the area would be prioritised, but not to the extent that they encroached upon the countryside and use of the recreational areas. Summerhouses would not be allowed to split up the landscape but would instead be increasingly grouped together according to a development plan. The proposal was not implemented in detail, but the general idea behind it was used as a standard for the County Administrative Board’s continued work on archipelago issues.

The National Trust model
In the discussion that ensued, ideas emerged that were inspired by the English National Trust’s way of working. The idea was for a regional foundation to be established with the task of raising funds in order to acquire valuable areas of countryside for recreation in the archipelago. This foundation would then work closely with authorities and other appropriate bodies to manage and preserve these areas, both from a conservational perspective and in order to meet the recreational needs of the inhabitants of the county and the rest of the country.

It was thus a natural step for the County Administrative Board to take the initiative and investigate what such an organisation would look like and how it would function. The county governor at the time appointed a special archipelago committee including, as the newspaper Dagens Nyheter put it, “well-known archipelago-lovers.” The committee comprised researchers, officials and cultural figures from the mainland, but also politicians from what were then the small archipelago municipalities, and archipelago entrepreneurs. The latter turned out to be crucial, because when the committee presented its proposal for an archipelago foundation, there was general agreement that this foundation would not only satisfy the recreational needs of mainland inhabitants, but also the employment needs of archipelago residents. This was a unique approach. Publicly-owned land in the archipelago, as well as state-owned land, such as that belonging to the city, had previously always been managed by city dwellers who worked out on the islands during the summer months. So the archipelago had been granted a completely new profession – the ranger!

Rangers make their debut
The Archipelago Foundation’s rangers are now a genuine archipelago concept. They are out in their boats all year round, except when the sea ices over, travelling throughout the whole archipelago area and overseeing the land and water that is owned and managed by the Foundation. They ensure that the rules of the nature reserves and protected areas are observed. They pursue flora and fauna conservation under the banner of the project “Living Archipelago”. They deal with waste at the Foundation’s dry toilets and rubbish facilities during the busy summer season. In the autumn and spring they work with conservation and building maintenance. During the winter they have plenty to do in the forest, carrying out the Foundation’s conservation-based forestry work.

The rangers are always ready to offer a helping hand to any visitor that has got into difficulties. They have often come to the aid of pleasure boats that have run aground and towed them to the nearest harbour. Many have provided emergency transport with their ranger boats, travelling from the islands in foggy or dark conditions when helicopters were unable to land, to waiting ambulances on the mainland. The combination of personal, lifelong experience of archipelago life and focused training in the areas of nature and the environment, hunting and fishing legislation, fire protection, sea rescue, medical treatment etc. means that in the ranger, the Foundation has a profession with unique skills tailored to the tasks in hand. It is generally agreed that the presence of our rangers offers a sense of security all year round, both for permanent residents and visitors to the archipelago.

It is possible to distinguish two stages or phases during the time that the Archipelago Foundation has been in existence. The first phase stretches from the beginning of the 1960s to the mid 1980s, and is focused on establishing a structure. After that comes the second phase from the mid 1980s onwards, which could be called the consolidation and coordination phase.

Building up structure
The first phase involved major expansion both in terms of the acquisition of land and taking on personnel. This was a natural step since there was a need to build a foundation for the operations in the form of ownership of valuable areas of land. And there was plenty on offer as a result of the continuing closures of archipelago farms. The only limitation really was money, which was scarce at the start, but after increasing contributions from municipalities and county councils it was eventually enough to finance a more active acquisition policy. A new conservation act had been adopted in 1964, which gave rise to a more flexible form of protection in the “nature reserve”. It could be used both for the protection of areas of natural scientific interest, as well as for the promotion of recreational areas. Nature reserves established by bodies other than the state could receive a state contribution covering up to 50 % of the cost of the land, provided that it was of national interest, a stipulation that was particularly relevant for archipelago land.

The purpose of these acquisitions was partly to recover overgrown agricultural land and open it up by leasing it to tenant farmers for farming and grazing, and partly to improve the environment in the natural harbours by supplying toilet/washing facilities and regular maintenance.

When the Greater Stockholm Council was established in 1971, it took over the entire financing responsibility for the Archipelago Foundation via an agreement with the municipalities. In addition to healthcare and public transport, the new council would also devote particular attention to sparsely populated areas in the county. Since all inhabitants of the county pay county tax it was also considered to be fairer if the county council had responsibility for assigning funds to the Archipelago Foundation. This boosted the Foundation’s finances. The new council prioritised archipelago issues and the Foundation’s grant applications were dealt with in a positive manner. Furthermore, the acquisition of land was made easier by the fact that state funds were available, since the county council politicians regarded the state’s involvement as a prerequisite for securing regional financing.

At about the same time, the Archipelago Foundation was launching its largest single investment. The investment related to the acquisition of the whole of northern Utö from mining company Ställbergsbolaget in 1973, including several buildings and the extensive investments in infrastructure and services that followed, which were financed by Stockholm county council. The ambition was to create a tourist destination in the archipelago for the wider public, and also transform an island in decline to a vibrant archipelago village with year-round operations. Since the 1970s, the population of Utö has almost tripled from 90 to around 240. The island receives just over 300,000 visitors every year, which has in turn led to the establishment of several new archipelago companies within the tourist and service industries. The investment has developed into one of the more positive examples of a successful rural policy in our country.

Coordination
Public finances dwindled during the 1980s. Grants from the county council towards the acquisition of new land were no longer guaranteed. Meanwhile, the supply of interesting sites for acquisition was running thin. And the Foundation was no longer hunting high and low for new sites. However, the Foundation was increasingly in demand as a manager of the state-owned lands. Such areas included the Bullerö archipelago, after the previous manager Domänverket was converted into an independent subsidiary company, and later Fjärdlång.

At the end of the 1980s, the Foundation owned and managed around 8,000 hectares of land. And it was land that met the Foundation’s aims in relation to both varied natural environments and location. The most important step in this situation was to consolidate this land and the Foundation’s finances.

This was done by placing an even greater emphasis on quality aspects. Land restoration work was stepped up, services in the natural harbours were extended and more buildings were fitted, taking into consideration their architectural value. In terms of finances, efforts were focused on increasing external income, thus raising the degree of self sufficiency, i.e. the proportion of total running costs that could be covered by external income.

This was achieved by adopting a much more professional approach to property management, where rents based on utility value were set both for recreational and permanent housing. Furthermore, a system of annual rent negotiations was introduced for the recreational housing as well.

Refinement of core operations
The Foundation began refining its administrative role by increasingly leasing commercial operations to archipelago residents and their companies at current market rates. For youth hostels, which were rapidly on the increase, this had already been the case from the start. But it came to be a successful solution for Utö Värdshus as well, and eventually for all of the Foundation’s commercial installations.

This approach benefitted the development of small companies in the archipelago, whilst enabling the Foundation to focus its operations on what it did best, namely the actual administrative role comprising building and nature conservation, flora and fauna conservation, as well as waste management and maintenance of the natural harbours. Over 50 archipelago residents are now employed by the Foundation as rangers, conservationists and tenant farmers. The Foundation’s commercial operators employ several hundred people at the various tourist centres.

The City of Stockholm’s decision to donate the considerable amount of land that it owned in the archipelago to the Archipelago Foundation in 1998 was yet another stage in the coordination process, which also gave a considerable boost to recreational life. The Foundation was reorganised in connection with this donation. The reason for this was that the political majorities in the city and county councils wanted to reinforce protection of the lands, which is why the new statutes included a stipulation that the Foundation was not entitled to sell off its properties.

The Archipelago Foundation in Stockholm county is led by a board, the chair of which is appointed by Stockholm County Council. The Foundation’s total budget is estimated at around SEK 80 million for 2008, of which around half comprises government contributions from the county council, and the remainder is operative income, e.g. rents and leaseholds, state grants, contributions from Friends of the Foundation, and sponsorship. The Foundation currently owns and manages around 14,000 hectares of land, or around 15 % of all the land in the archipelago. Some 75 % of the rest of the land is owned by private individuals. These people comprise both residents of the mainland and archipelago residents. The remaining 10 % is owned by the state, municipalities, the church, private companies and foundations, i.e. legal entities.

Well-being and quality of life
Some 21,000 people and companies currently support the work of the Archipelago Foundation as Friends of the Foundation. They have a key role in inspiring and supporting the work of the Foundation. It is also this core group, almost a little popular movement in itself, that through its commitment has been largely responsible for inspiring politicians to make increased, long-term investments in recreational life, tourism, conservation and a living archipelago.

At first it was holidaying Stockholm families and the boating community that made the most use of the publicly-owned land in the archipelago. In recent years, the categories of visitors have increased in number to include day-tourists, island-hoppers, youth hostel guests, anglers, canoeists and not forgetting ice-skaters, when the waters freeze over. Both Waxholmsbolaget and the Archipelago foundation have also improved opportunities for disabled people to take trips out into the archipelago.

It is not difficult to imagine the impact this has had and continues to have on people’s wellbeing and quality of life. Millions upon millions of people have visited the Foundation’s islands over the years. Studies have shown that there is a clear connection between physical wellbeing and spending time in the natural environment.

Today the Archipelago Foundation has a broad level of support from several sectors in society: the public sector, with Stockholm County Council as the main financer; the private sector through sponsorship; and the general public through the Friends scheme. The land is managed for outdoor recreational activities by archipelago residents. Thus nature is spared, while at the same time the residents of the archipelago have the opportunity to earn a living, entirely in the spirit of eco tourism. The work of the Foundation offers everybody the opportunity to continue to discover and enjoy the Stockholm Archipelago!

Berndt Festin
CEO of the Archipelago Foundation

(This article was published in the Finnish journal Skärgård, published by the Archipelago Institute at Åbo Academy, issue no. 1, 2008)