Members of Protect the Forest and the group Save Tyresta (Rädda Tyresta) have sent a letter to the Tyresta Forest Foundation (Stiftelsen Tyrestaskogen) demanding them to stop cutting down old trees in Tyresta Nature Reserve. Many misdirected management measures have occurred in the nature reserve in recent years, including thinning out and felling of old trees. “We are deeply dissatisfied with the current management of Tyresta Nature Reserve” said the authors of the letter. “Several management measures are in direct violation of the reserve regulations.”
In recent years, the Tyresta Forest Foundation (Stiftelsen Tyrestaskogen) has been thinning and felling forest which is over a hundred years old and they have also removed dead wood in the Tyresta Nature Reserve. Often the actions have taken place in or adjacent to areas with red-listed and protected species, which depletes biodiversity. The first requirement in the letter to the Foundation is that the board should stop all planned logging, and this applies both to the nature reserve and the national park.
The management plan needs to be changed
Instead of logging trees in the forest, the Foundation should focus on the management of the cultural lands in the reserve, according to the authors of the letter. The management plan must be changed because it does not fulfill its purpose, which is to protect the forest and its biodiversity. In the letter, the authors demand that NGO’s should gain more influence by taking a seat in management councils and at board meetings.
Management in conflict with Tyresta reserve regulations
The management measures the Foundation has commissioned in recent years have been based on an industrial forestry approach, according to the letter. Such radical measures have no place in a nature reserve. An example that the writers bring up is the heavy thinning of trees that has recently taken place in old forest at the Vissvass road:
“180-year-old pines, 120-year-old spruce trees and dry, standing trees up to 115 metres from the road have been felled next to the Coastal Trail (Kustleden). This is despite the fact that thinning is only allowed up to a tree length (about 20-30 meters) from roads and open lands, according to the management plan. Free-cutting of old pine trees may only take place in younger forests. Despite this, free-cutting has taken place around pine trees both here and elsewhere in old forest. These are clear violations of the reserve regulations!”
The Tyrestaskogen Foundation removes biodiversity
The Foundation has removed dead fallen trees from the ground, although they are important for biodiversity. Parts of forests have been felled so radically that the flora that usually appears after clear-cutting, for instance tall grass species, has replaced the original ground vegetation.
No inventory in Tyresta before logging
The Foundation has not carried out any inventories in the forests before they cut down the trees: “There have been no inventories of what species live in the forests. In several places where the loggings have taken place there are rare and red-listed species and these species may have been damaged.”
Please read a previous article about logging in Tyresta Nature Reserve:
The Tyresta Forest Foundation harvests trees in Tyresta Nature Reserve
Contact
Kristina Bäck, member of Protect the Forest, kristinamback64(@)yahoo.se, +46 (0)70-443 28 19
Facts on Tyresta Nature Reserve
Tyresta Nature Reserve is located south of Stockholm and surrounds Tyresta National Park. Tyresta National Park is the largest area of ancient forest in the southern part of Sweden. Together with the Nature Reserve, the protected area cover 12,355 acres (5,000 hectares). The Nature Reserve has high conservation values regarding both biodiversity, heritage sites and outdoor recreation. Grazing land, fields and meadows in the Nature Reserve are being farmed.