Last summer, participants on the Research Trip discovered that Sveaskog, SCA, Holmen, Billerud Korsnäs and Pajala Allmänning had notified felling forests with very high conservation values in the municipalities of Pajala, Bjurholm, Örnsköldsvik and Åsele. During the research trip, more than 7500 finds were found of about 170 different conservation species, i.e. species that indicate high conservation values, are red-listed or protected. Two reports are now being published on the inventoried forests.
For over 30 years, the Swedish Society for Nature Conservation and Protect the Forest have been organising the “Research Trip in the Wilderness of Nature Conservation” every summer, a non-profit inventory week of unprotected forest that usually takes place in northern Sweden. This year’s research trip was organized in parallel at two different locations in the country, Angsjön in Bjurholm municipality and Korpilombolo in Pajala municipality. During the voyage, several new discoveries were made of a number of highly endangered species, such as carbon tick, filamentous cartilage lichen, primeval forest spore and greater black beetle. The reports contain a detailed description of the nature values of the surveyed areas and which species are at risk of being lost if the forests are felled.
Read the report from Bjursholm here
“During the week in Bjurholm, we inventoried several areas that were notified of felling that turned out to be fantastically beautiful natural forests with a large number of red-listed species. The research trip continues to show serious shortcomings in Sweden’s work with forest protection and in the Swedish forest industry’s environmental work,” says Philip Weiss, one of the participants in this year’s Research Trip Bjurholm Municipality.
Read the report from Pajala here
In addition to documenting the natural values of the visited forests, the reports constitute an important and revealing review of the actions of environmentally certified forest companies. The companies that have notified several of the inventoried forests are FSC-certified, a certification that claims to guarantee sustainable forestry, but which time and time again proves incapable of dealing with serious violations. The research trip’s inventories of forests notified for felling on SCA’s land confirm the picture drawn by SCA’s forestry in connection with companies such as Zalando and Nestlé choosing to stop purchasing wood fiber produced by SCA.
After the Research Trip’s inventories, a number of felling notifications have been appealed by the Swedish Society for Nature Conservation in Norrbotten and Västerbotten, which has led to the vast majority being imposed with a temporary logging ban or withdrawn by the landowners. However, this does not mean that the areas are protected from logging forever. In order for the areas and their natural values to be preserved in the long term, formal protection is required, for example through the establishment of nature reserves.
The forests that have been inventoried during this year’s Research Trip have high or very high conservation values, and the vast majority are natural forests that Sweden has committed to providing long-term protection by 2030 at the latest. Now it is up to the state and the forest companies to show that they are prepared to live up to their commitments.
About the research trip
Around 80 people of different ages and backgrounds participated in this year’s Research Trip. An important purpose of the Research Trip is for more people to learn how to inventory forests and recognize conservation species. The participants’ knowledge varies and you learn from each other. The important thing is that the Research Trip is a gathering point for forest and nature enthusiasts who want to be involved in documenting threatened and unprotected natural forests.
Contact
Marie Persson, participant in the Research Trip in Korpilombolo, persson.marie82@gmail.com
Isac Enetjärn, participant in the research trip in Bjurholm, isac.enetjarn@gmail.se