New Dean at the Faculty of Forests Sciences

On January 1, he will be dean of the Faculty of Forest Sciences. The seed for the appointment came to earth already in childhood at home in Läppe, a small town in Vingåker municipality with a few hundred inhabitants.

Hunting, fishing and berry picking were a natural part of everyday life. Farming became a part of early life as Göran’s daycare for a period was on a farm with extensive meat production.

All that influenced him for the rest of his life. Still, he was on the verge of becoming an economist.

- I basically have the degree project and some courses left on a bachelor's degree in economics at Uppsala University. Even though nature and biology have always been attractive, I was unsure if it would also be my choice of profession, Göran Ericsson says.

After some thought, leisure interests and careers followed in the same footsteps.

A four-year biology education led to him immediately becoming a doctoral student at SLU in Umeå. It was close at hand because he did his degree project at the master's program at SLU.

In 1999, Göran defended his dissertation on the demographic effects of hunting. It is about how the moose population is affected by hunting with different orientations.

- I have always been interested in how humans affect animals and nature through hunting, fishing and forestry, he explains.

One question is, of course, whether we should use nature at all, a rather dominant opinion in the debate is that it should be left untouched.

- The conditions for life on earth are that we use the natural resources sustainably so they remain in the future. The focus is on use, not consumption, says Göran Ericsson.

He can easily find clear formulations that capture and disarm the counter-arguments. Perhaps the rhetoric has been refined through the interest in following the public debate with commitment.

After the dissertation, Göran Ericsson was called to aid in  start of the Institute for Ecological Sustainability Umeå, an authority under the Ministry of the Environment. Having done that, he then transferred to the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency to work with research and then strategic planning.

In parallel, he managed to complete a two-year postdoc at the University of Wisconsin. Then he and Karina thought it was time to fling around a little less. They sold the apartment in Stockholm and kept it in Umeå, where Göran received an offer to become a research leader in the research program Fjällmistra. In Umeå, the family was expanded with Axel and Frida.

Once again, the research was about hunting, forest, game and nature in harmony with humans.

In 2007, he received a professorship of game and fishing tourism. Four years later, he switched to a professorship in game ecology. In 2016, he became head of the Department of Wildlife, Fish and Environmental Studies.

The work has, of course, resulted in many scientific articles and applied results in the management of natural resources. But when we talk about public results, all this comes in the shadow of The Great Moose Migration.

 Göran Ericsson is one of the driving forces behind the formidable TV success. Although the idea came from SVT, he realized the potential and supported the project wholeheartedly. The result was a huge audience, with viewers far beyond the country's borders. They follow lengthy live broadcasts while waiting for the moose, when the time is right, to cross the Ångermanälven. It can be many hours when you mostly look at swaying spruces before any moose appears.

In addition to being a home among Swedish viewers, the moose migration was world-ranked at the top ten among all those who engage in gaming and streaming via Twitch in the spring of 2021, which is a world in itself. The moose migration is a favorite to have in the background while participating in the advanced computer games.

Among the abundant response from TV viewers, Göran talks about a nursing home for the demented where watching the moose migration is an appreciated activity. . The teacher for a messy class has told how it became calm in the classroom if the moose migration rolled on a screen in the background.

- I think we have an inherent driving force around animals and nature which gives peace and harmony. For us at SLU, the program is an open window to look into our business. As a result, we get lots of questions about our entire business about forests, animals, water and nature. In fact, not so much about moose, but more about our business in general. It's a real golden egg.

And there is the connection to the debate after STV's "The Battle of the Forest". Of course, it does not have the same positive signs as the moose migration, but the point is that it opens a window to the university's sphere.

- Then we will be there and be prepared with research results, , explain and simplify. We must follow and present in the public debate, where so many future issues are on SLUs agenda. We should not be shy. Even if we do not have all the answers to everything, we must dare to take part in the debate.

 Göran Ericsson is the second dean in the faculty's history who is not a forester but the first ecologist. Perhaps you can see it as a sign of the times, the old hegemony is broken up, something that began several decades ago. The subject has been expanded with more ecology and nature conservation. And most recently, the education has been divided into two parts, a three-year bachelor's program plus a two-year master's course.

- It's excellent and I'm sure it's right on time. We will have more students based on their top competence with a master's program and knowledge about forestry science from SLU. Apart from some special educations, such as doctors and veterinarians, there is a natural resistance to committing to one and the same program for five years.

 - We get foresters and other trained students with more mixed and broader knowledge with respect to the forest. And maybe we have been a little anonymous when it comes to conveying the image of what a forester does. The education leads to an enormous width of knowledge and various professional tasks, even far beyond the purely forest sector.

The only question Göran Ericsson has a little hard to answer is which is the most pleasant moment in nature. It is not easy to choose.

- I can be appealed to by a lot. To go with the clearing saw on our farm north of Örnsköldsvik, be out in a snowstorm or pick berries on a day with mosquitos. If I still have to choose, it will be something with an open fire, lighting a fire and barbequing.

 Now the weekend awaits at a time when the weather limits outdoor activities. The question is whether Göran Ericsson has a fiction book to recommend during the holidays ...

- It may be Kerstin Ekman's “Löpa varg”. It is a combination of all our branches of activity in a fictional package, with a fictional forester in the lead role.

By: Pär Fornling