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Protect the Forest says no to wind power in Ore Forest Landscape

A valuable natural forest in Sveaskog’s Ecopark Ejheden near Lannaberget where a large wind farm is planned. Photo: Bengt Oldhammer.

Not only are several forests with high natural values ​​planned for logging in Ore Forest Landscape in Dalarna in Sweden – now parts of the area are also threatened by two large wind farms. Protect the Forest demands that both permit applications for the wind farms Lannaberget and Broboberget should be completely rejected.

The wind power company Wpd plans to build two large wind farms at Broboberget and Lannaberget in Ore Forest Landscape in the municipalities of Rättvik and Ovanåker in Dalarna. A total of 80 wind turbines will be built at Broboberget and 35 wind turbines will be built at Lannaberget, both with a total height of 230 meters.

Already in 2014, Wpd submitted a permit application for the wind power projects Broboberget and Lannaberget to the County Administrative Board in Dalarna County. Permission was granted by the County Environmental Permit Board (Miljöprövningsdelegationen) at the County Administrative Board in Dalarna County in 2016. The decision was then appealed by the Swedish Society for Nature Conservation in Rättvik to the Land and Environmental Court, which referred the case to the County Administrative Board for further processing. Wpd has now submitted documentation to supplement the former application.

Several woodland key habitats and areas with documented conservation values ​​are found where Brobobergets and Lannaberget wind farms are planned. Several of the woodland key habitats will be surrounded by wind turbines.

Protect the Forest writes in its submitted response to the Country Administrative Board in Dalarna County:

The woodland key habitats will remain as small isolated islands in a fragmented and permanently deforested landscape. This will affect many red-listed species and indicator species’ ability to survive and spread extremely negatively.

In addition, the Broboberget wind farm is located near the Trollmosseskogen nature reserve in the west. Just a few kilometers south of Broboberget’s wind power park is also Gåsberget nature reserve where one of Sweden’s most preserved post-fire deciduous forest is located. The bird life in the reserve’s deciduous forest area is very rich and, given the proximity to the wind farm, there are great risks that the bird life in the nature reserve will be negatively affected.

Protect the Forest state that the planned wind farms will have a strong negative impact on biodiversity, landscape ecology, the visual impression, noise disturbance, tourism, outdoor life and recreational opportunities. The organisation calls for a landscape ecological analysis of the cumulative effects of the two wind farms and demands that both permit applications for the wind farms Lannaberget and Broboberget are rejected.

Ore Forest Landscape harbours one of the largest and most valuable natural pine forest landscapes in northwestern Europe. As much as 20 % of protection-worthy older natural pine forest with a history of forest fire is found in the Forest Landscape. Very few such landscapes remain in Sweden below the montane region, which makes Ore Forest Landscape unique. However, the valuable forest areas in Ore Forest Landscape have decreased in recent years. Sveaskog logged over 600 hectares of high conservation value forests ​​in Ore Forest Landscape between years 2013-2017. Since then, even more high conservation value forests ​​have been logged or are planned for logging.

Download Protect the Forest’s submitted response to the Country Administrative Board in Dalarna County regarding the permit application for Lannaberget wind farm, municipality of Rättvik, and Broboberget wind farm, municipalities of Rättvik and Ovanåkers, here (in Swedish).