Environment in the forest at Jos-Olatjärn Photo: Olli Manninen

The Swedish Society for Nature Conservation has made 78 findings of seven different red-listed species in the forest at Jos-Olatjärn, Malung, Dalarna. According to Bergvik Skog, whoch is owned to a majority by Stora Enso, that is not enough to save the forest from being logged. One of the found red-listed species is Oligoporus lateritius which is considered Vulnurable in Sweden.

Oligoporus lateritius in Jos-Olatjärn Photo: Olli Manninen

Old-growth pine-forest in Ormtjärnen. Photo: Olli Manninen

Stora Enso is planning to log Ormtjärnen in Ovanåker municipality, Gävleborg, Sweden. Even though the forest consists of old-growth pine-forest. According to the field inventory that the Swedish Society for Nature Conservation has made these kind of forests have high conservation values in the region. Even though there are some traces of old selective logging the old-growth structures persist and the biological diversity is high. The Swedish Society for Nature Conservation has made 35 findings of seven red-listed species in the area. One of them is Sceletocutis lenis which is considered vulnerable to extinction in Sweden.

Natural pine-forest at Vallsjön. Photo: Olli Manninen

A natural pine-forest that Bergvik Skog, which is owned to a majority by Stora Enso, has notified for logging. The older part of the forest indicates such High Conservation Values that it shouldn’t be logged according to the Swedish Society for Nature Conservation.
42 findings of six red-listed species has been made. One of them was Antrodia albobrunnea which is considered vulnerable to extinction by swedish biological expertise.

Antrodia albobrunnea in the forest at southern Vallsjön

Environment of natural pine-forest at Grotthöjden. Photo: Olli Manninen

A natural pine-forest notified for logging. The forest is part of a big continuos forest area. Stora Enso will log and therefore fragmentize this High Conservation Value Forest area. 63 findings of nine red-listed species has been made in the area. One of them is Oligoporus placenta which is classified as Vulnerable on the swedish red-list.

Natural pine-forest at Grotthöjden that Stora Enso will log. Photo: Olli Manninen

Karats-Råvvåive is a huge unprotected sub-alpine wilderness area in the municipality of Jokkmokk, Sweden. The area contains pristine forest, bare mountains, moor with old-growth pine forests, huge mires and large waters.

Granuddenskiftet. Foto: Eva Ydrén

Northern Karats-Råvvåive

The northern parts of Karats-Råvvåive is about 30 square kilometers in size. There, on the mountains Råvvåive and Kuossavaratj, is an area of around 5 square kilometer with virgin forest. The forests are dominated by spruce with segments of old-growth aspen and sallow. On the mountain tops wide areas of flat rock where old ancient pines are growing sparse – for centuries affected by the mountain winds.

Old-growth spruce on Råvvåive Photo: Eva Ydrén

The other parts of the area is a rather fine exemple of old-growth spruce forest. There is a great abundance of standing and lying dead wood. Some old trees were cut in the early 20th century but there are still lots of them.

Old-growth twin pines at Råvvoive

Some 60 hectares were notified for logging in 2009 by a private owner. It has though not been approved by the Swedish Forest Agency – the regeneration in these forests at 500 m above sea level is very low.

Download this map of Northern Karats-Råvvåive

Eastern Karats-RåvvåIve

In the eastern parts there are unprotected old-growth forests by the lakes Pälkasjaure, Tjäkkaure Lekeljaure and the mountain Lekelvare.

Karats-Råvvåive wilderness area with the mountains in the background. Photo: Daniel Rutschman

Eastern Karats-Råvvåive wilderness area

Even though fragmentarization exists there are still large undisturbed areas which never has been clear-cut. The mountain Lekelvare exhibits some 7 square kilometers of old-growth forest. There are planned loggings to made here in 2009. In the slopes there are moist spruce-forests with lots of deciduous trees. On the top of the Lekelvare there are several hundred year old pines that grows on flat rocks. More or less all of Lekelvare is above the sub-alpine zone (where regeneration is low).

Old-Growth pine, Lekelvare Photo: Daniel Rutschman

Around the lakes Pälkasjaure and Täkkaure the forest consists of old pines on heathland. There’s an abundance of old trees and many of them show traces of old forest fires. such a large area with unprotected coherent pineforest with high conservation values is very hard to find in Sweden.

Old-growth forest notified for logging, Lekelvare Photo: Daniel Rutschman

This inventory was made by Nature and Youth Sweden and the Swedish Society for Nature Conservation during 2008-2009. The pristine like parts of the area has though been identified in a report by Mats Karström in 1993.

Småhöjderna, Krokom Photo: Olli Manninen

All around the mighty Hotagen nature reserve in Northern Jämtland, unprotected old-growth forests are directly bordering the reserve. These old-growth forests are still being fragmented. The timber market situation in Sweden is, at the moment, putting a large pressure on these forests.

There are hundreds of hectares of forests planned to be logged in the surroundings of Hotagen. A few of the plans have been withdrawn, at least for the time being, because of protests from NGOs. But many of the plans are still valid.

Blankvattnet, Krokom Photo: Sini Saarela

In particular, the forest company SCA has planned and lately done many old-growth forest loggings around Hotagen. SCA is notorious for its poor environmental standards and its hostile attitude towards nature conservation. Other forest owners include forest company Korsnäs, National Property Board (Fastighetsverket) and some smaler forest owners. The surroundings of Hotagen and the bordering Lierne National Park in Norway make by far the biggest intact forest landscape in the whole Central and Southern Scandinavia.

A logging in Stor-Foskvattnet in Krokom. Photo: Olli Manninen

The protection and logging situation is very similar on the Norwegian side of the border. There are many unprotected forests close to Lierne National Park. The National Park mainly consists of very low productive scrubland and bare mountain land. In Norway, the forests are mainly privately owned. The Norwegian State owns about 7 percent of the productive forest land.

Map of forests in and around the Hotagen-Lierne Intact Forest Landscape. Download the NordicForests.org Map for Google Earth here .

Greenpeace Sweden and SSNC visited the planned logging sites during 2008 and revealed logging plans in very high conservation value forest areas. Some of them were virgin ancient forests.

.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.

The pictures in the photo galleries can be downloaded at:

• Rusvattenån, Strömsund, SCA
• Ytter-Renaflyn, Strömsund, SCA
• Linjeviken, Strömsund, SCA
• Hällingsåfallet, Strömsund, SCA
• Småhöjderna, Krokom
• Finnvattshöjderna, Strömsund, SCA
• Stor-Foskvattnet, Krokom
• Blankvattnet, Krokom

Hotagen-Lierne is included in the World Intact Forest Landscapes –report. Also this magnificent area is scandalously losing its natural values for good as the fragmentation continues. see more at: IntactForests.org

Ytter-Renaflyn, Strömsund, SCA Photo: Olli Manninen

Status: Unprotected
Size: 200 hectares
Landowner: Jukkasjärvi sockenallmänning
Municipality: Kiruna

Paurankivaara is a big mountain with 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.
17 red-listed species were found in the forest such as: Antrodia infirma (EN), Antrodia primaeva(EN), Laurilia sulcata (VU) & Oligoporus lateritius (VU).

See more at Naturskyddare.se

Status: Unprotected
Land-owner: SCA
Size: >100 ha ha
Municipality: Gällivare

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)

Read more at Naturskyddare.se. (In Swedish only)