Right to Roam

Exercises on the right to roam (allemannsretten)

The text below is about young people out on a tur. They go riding, fishing, picking berries, riding motorcycles and sleeping in tents.

  1. What is the right to roam (allemannsretten)?
  2. What is the difference between innmark and utmark?
  3. Explain how we can practise friluftsliv in a way that is gentle on nature.
  4. You are out paddling on the river Rotna, which runs through the forest areas of Finnskogen. Can you go ashore wherever you like?
  5. Kristina and Marie are out walking in the forest on a hot summer’s day. They get really sweaty and want to bathe in a tarn they come to. Can they bathe freely in this tarn?
  6. Simen and Anders love water-skiing. They usually have fun on Mellomtjernet. It is a small tarn, about 200 metres wide and 500 metres long. Are they allowed to use a motorboat on this water?
  7. Is the right to roam threatened in any way?
  8. In which law is the right to roam enshrined?

In-depth exercise on the right to roam

The text below is about young people out on a tur. They go riding, fishing, picking berries, riding motorcycles and sleeping in tents. Work in pairs, read through the text, and discuss the questions between the paragraphs. Read the brochures to find out whether the young people are allowed to do what they are doing.

Right-to-roam brochures

Utmark and innmark

Photo: Gina Wigestrand

Martine and Tonje are out riding their horses in the forest. They think it is lovely to ride wherever they like in the forest. It is November, the snow has not yet come, but the ground is frozen and good to ride on. Suddenly Simen and Anders come running. They had walked across a ploughed field when the landowner had chased them off. The girls have brought sausages for grilling and something to drink, and wonder whether the boys would like to join in to make a campfire and grill sausages.

  • Is there anything in this paragraph that the young people are not allowed to do under the right to roam? What is it?

Camping and cloudberry-picking in utmark

They are sitting and enjoying the food and the quiet when the kos is suddenly broken by motocross bikes on open exhausts coming along the path. It is Vidar and Kristian. They like to “cross” out in the forest, preferably on paths and tractor tracks. Both love grilled sausages and sit down by the fire with the others. They tell the others that in August they were lying out in this forest area with some friends. They had lain there for three nights, only a hundred metres from a cabin where some girls had been staying with their family. Vidar and Kristian had been fishing and picking cloudberries. They had bought a fishing permit (fiskekort), so that was in order. But they had not asked the landowner for permission to pick cloudberries.

Photo: Gina Wigestrand

Photo: Gina Wigestrand

  • What does the right to roam say about camping in utmark?
  • Can you pitch a tent wherever you like, or are there restrictions?
  • Can you sleep in a tent in the same spot in utmark for as long as you like?
  • Is it necessary to ask the landowner before picking cloudberries in utmark?

Hunting in utmark and motorised travel

While they are sitting and enjoying themselves, Kristina and Marie come cycling along the path on their mountain bikes. They too get a taste of the grilled sausages. Robin and Sondre are also in the area. They are hunting roe deer, and they think it is great to be able to use the utmark for hunting without asking the landowner. The boys have just shot a roe deer, and they call Ole Kristian and Kjell Arne on the hunting radio to ask them to come with the quad bikes and fetch the roe deer they have shot. Everyone agrees that it is good to be able to use the utmark for all sorts of things without asking the landowner. – It is called the right to roam, says Tonje.

  • Who may hunt in the utmark?
  • What does the right to roam say about motorised travel in the utmark?

Try DNT’s online courses

  • Take DNT’s course “the right to roam”

    Motimate

  • Take DNT’s course “Leave-no-trace travel”

    Motimate

Test yourself on Miljødirektoratet’s pages

How much do you know about moving through nature?

Right or wrong about the right to roam - drag and drop

[Right or wrong about the right to roam. Made by: Tone Olavsdotter Mosebø and Anne Budde Erichsen, NDLA](https://www.h5p.ndla.no/s/resources/4c89eb7a-8d03-4c48-a5e3-04b8d03b29dd)

Right or wrong about the right to roam. Made by: Tone Olavsdotter Mosebø and Anne Budde Erichsen, NDLA

Next steps

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Text

  • Gina Wigestrand, Snuitide (2021)
  • «Oppgaver om allemannsretten»: Anne Budde Erichsen, NDLA, 2019 (CC BY-SA), reworked by Gina Wigestrand, Snuitide (2022)