UNHIDE Agroforestry booklet 2025.09.22 - Flipbook - Page 31
Ramson.
FUTURE FORESTS IN
SOUTHERN SWEDEN
•
Since the 1960s, landowners have received
subsidies to plant spruce monocultures on arable land and pastures, profoundly changing the
landscapes and reducing biodiversity in large
parts of southern Sweden. Now the Swedish
Linnaeus University is exploring the future of
forests in southern Sweden, (The Oak Project)
studying whether and how different oak species
can contribute to increased biodiversity that are
better suited to meet the challenges that come
with the ongoing climate change, compared to
the spruce and pine stands of today. A recent
study from the same University reports that
plant and insect diversity in Swedish oak forests
increases toward the north.
•
An SLU project has since 2015 tested whether
two different types of hybrid walnut (Juglans x
intermedia): NG23 and NG38 can be grown
on a larger scale in production forests, for timber, and giving nuts while growing. So far, survival is at its peak and both grow very quickly.
•
Thorny bushes can act as a nursery for fruit- nut
or deciduous trees; the blackthorn slowly but
surely withers in the shade of a few oaks or
wild apples. Notably, the Celts considered the
“oak, ash and thorn” a sacred trio. While thorn
and ash offered a perfect nursery, with even
temperatures, water and nutrients supply, the
jay, famous for hiding acorns in spots protected by thorny shrubs, assisted with the planting
of the oak, symbol of the natural world and its
enduring power.
Walnut trees spread by birds, Simrishamn.
