Adjacent to the mighty Hotagen nature reserve in Northern Jämtland, unprotected old-growth forests adjoin directly to the reserve. These old-growth forests are still being fragmented.

Paurankivaara is a big mountainwith pristine-like pine and spruce forest. The amount of hanging lichens is remarkable and the forest is more or less untouched – possibly because of the low productivity.

In the northeastern corner of Norway near the Arctic Ocean and Murmansk lies one of the largest old-growth forest areas in Norway. It’s on the border to the vast wilderness areas of Vätsäri on the Finnish side. These sparse, rocky pine forests have to a large extent survived untouched because of their remoteness and low productivity.

Pristine like pine forest exists at the top of Ratnivaara. The oldest pines are more than 300 years old. The area has got sub-alpine characteristics and contains lots of dead wood. 11 red-listed species were found in the forest such as: Hydnellum gracilipes (EN), Antrodia albobrunnea (VU) & Haploporus odorus (VU)

Inari is located in northernmost Lapland and it is the biggest commune in Finland. The forests of Inari have had a shorter and much less intensive use history compared with other forests in Southern Finland. Vast areas in Inari are very low productive pine and subalpine birch forests with scrublands where there has never been much pressure from the commercial forestry.