Forest landscapes

National Property Board Sweden´s forest landscape

In the government-owned forests near the mountains, which are managed by the National Property Board Sweden (SFV), 18 new forest landscapes have been demarcated. In total, they comprise 1.4 million hectares. The purpose of these landscapes is that future forestry shall be adapted to the forest-ecological conditions that prevail in the various forest landscapes.

How are the landscapes demarcated?

The purpose of the demarcation has been to divide the forests into units that have the same characteristics from a nature-geographic and ecological aspect. For example, larger pine dominated forests on poor land have been designated as its own forest landscape while more spruce dominated forests on richer land has been assigned to another forest landscape.

What are the goals of the forest landscapes?

For the purpose of achieving high quality in every individual forest landscape, SFV has established certain goals for minimum levels regarding special qualities for every forest landscape. These goals are shown in a table in the long version of this text, which is in the attached PDF of the page´s left column. The idea is that the goals will be reached within a 20-year period, except in those cases where it is apparently impossible, for example, due to lack of "very old" forests. In the majority of forest landscapes, the goals regarding nature/culture allocations have been reached, but in several of the most affected forest landscapes the selection of objects has not been finalized.

With the help of Satellites

Where other landowners land does not border our holdings, the outer boundaries of the forest landscape have been extended until these forests thin out and the timber stock is less than 35 cubic metres per hectare. This is a boundary that we believe can constitute an approximate boundary for when the forests become so thinned out that it does not ecologically have the same possibility to accommodate "normal" forest flora and fauna. At the same time, this demarcation should approximately include those lands that would be classified as forest in accordance with international definitions. The demarcation has been done with the help of interpretation of satellite images.

Would you like to know more?

If you would like to know more about the new forest landscapes contact conservation specialist, Per Linder, National Property Board Sweden per.linder@sfv.se