This article aims to seek guidelines on how regions depending on natural resources could meet future challenges. We do this by searching for past regularities through a survey of the long-run development of the use and discussion of timber and other forest-related natural resources in Finland from slash-and-burn cultivation in the 18 th century to present day bioeconomy. The uses and rank orders of the forests have changed several times over time, often quite rapidly, especially compared to the rotation period of forests. To anticipate this uncertainty, we need to keep as many eggs and baskets as possible. Regarding forests, that could mean using many tree species and protecting biodiversity in general. The bioeconomy concept seems to encompass all the conflicting goals set for the utilization of Finnish natural resources over the last two and a half centuries. Compared to earlier periods it is, however, trying to encompass all these conflicting goals simultaneously.