After the Great Northern War at the beginning of the 18th century, Sweden encouraged the foundation of villages on its territories by tax exemptions. As a result, a few isolated villages were established in the forest of Skuleskogen, but none in today's park. Until the middle of the 18th century, logging was limited to the area directly around the villages and thus only minimally affected the forest of the park. But that soon changed, the state taking an active part in the exploitation of the forest. Logging became the principal activity in the area of the park. In a few years, a dozen mills, including a steam mill, were constructed in immediate proximity to today's park. The sawmills driven by water wheels only had weak capacities in general and only functioned during certain periods of the year. The number of steam mills grew thereafter. At first, only the trees with trunks over a fixed length in diameter were able to be cut, but bit by bit, these rules changed, and in the end all the trees were able to be felled. Logging slowed down markedly at the turn of the century, allowing the forest to regenerate. About 15% of the forest was affected by a new period of exploitation before the protection of the area. The forest's oldest trees therefore date from the start of the 20th century.