Icelandic forests # 85961

Icelandic Forests. A Hundred-Year Story. Authors Sigurður Blöndal, Skúli Björn Gunnarsson.


This is a large and remarkable book. Here is the opening chapter of the book for fun.


Icelandic forests



Iceland is one of the youngest countries on Earth and the last European country to be settled. Other countries were settled long before that. This island in the North Atlantic had been largely isolated by the species of plants and animals that arrived there at the end of the last ice age. No large herbivores lived in the country, and for more than 13,000 years, vegetation was allowed to grow and thrive unmolested by anything other than the cool, temperate ocean climate.



Icelandic forests millions of years ago


In the second half of the Tertiary period of geological history, 10-15 million years ago, a warm temperate climate prevailed on the islands in the North Atlantic that formed the Icelandic continental shelf. Here a forest grew similar to that which now exists in the southeastern United States. Fossils of about 50 genera of plants from this time have been found, mainly trees. Deciduous trees here have included magnolia trees, tulip trees, laurel, walnut, elm, oak, maple, beech, hazel, alder and birch. Conifers such as bighorn, moor trees, larch, spruce, spruce and pine also grew here during the Miocene period, which ended just over five million years ago.



The latter part of the Tertiary period is called the Pliocene and during that period the climate began to cool. The climate here at that time has been temperate and the flora similar to that of western Central Europe today. The coldest month of the year has had an average temperature of around or above 0 C. During that period coniferous forests prevailed.



Forests during the Ice Age


About three million years ago, there was a profound change in climate and sea temperatures in the Northern Hemisphere. The Ice Age followed with its glacial periods and warm periods. Then, for the first time, vast glaciers formed in Iceland. Few trees could withstand the climate of the glacial periods, and the forests were unable to recover during warm periods on an isolated island as they did on the mainland. However, fossils indicate that from the beginning of the Ice Age until just over one million years ago, pine, alder, birch and willow grew here. But then the pine died out and the alder followed suit about 500,000 years ago, during the last and coldest glacial period of the Ice Age.


During the last two warm periods of the Ice Age, the vegetation here has become similar to what it is today, with birch and willow as the only tree species. However, it is likely that both willow and willow survived the Ice Age.



The birch is spreading


The climate in Iceland appears to have been rather dry and warm 9,000 years ago. The growing conditions for birch were ideal and it spread throughout the country. This warm period lasted for over 2,000 years and is called the First Birch Period. When it ended, a cooler period followed, which led to the expansion of bogs and the growth of wetland plants in the flora. The cold persisted for 2,000 years and is called the First Marsh Period. The Second Birch Period began about 5,000 years ago and lasted 2,500 years. During that period, the weather in this country was very good and has never been better since before the last glacial period. Birch forests and scrub spread throughout the country. It is believed that most of the highlands of Iceland were also overgrown at that time. The birch trees that are found in many bogs date from this period. It is also believed that the remains of birch forests, which now lie at an altitude of over 600 meters above sea level, are remnants of forests from this time.



The Second Marsh Period


Five hundred years before Christ, the climate cooled again. The birch forest retreated from the bogs and the forest boundary moved lower down the mountain slopes. The second bog period began and is still ongoing.


When settlement began, the forest had begun to decline. However, pollen studies and other evidence suggest that it was only then that the decline began to decline significantly.



Untouched nature during settlement


The first settlers of Iceland were undoubtedly fascinated by the untouched nature that greeted them. Irish monks, who all indications are that they were the first to settle here, were not accustomed to such natural conditions. In the British Isles, livestock had been raised for centuries and forests had given way to grassland. The difference was of course not as great for the Vikings from Norway, who are said to have settled here in the 9th century. Considering how quickly the country was settled, news of this prosperous island has nevertheless attracted a lot of attention. The wealth of land and sea seemed inexhaustible and it was easy to farm. The forest that welcomed the settlers stretched between the mountains and the shore where the soil was dry. Although this was not a tall forest, it can be concluded that tall and straight birch trees grew in many places, as can still be found today. Place names indicate that the greatest amount of forest was in South Iceland, West Iceland, by Eyjafjörður, in South Þingeyjarsýsla and in East Iceland, but the least in the Westfjords, by Húnaflói and in the Northeast Horn.


With human settlement, the entire ecosystem of the country underwent major changes. Studies of pollen in the soil have revealed that soon after settlement, birch and willow pollen decreases, while grass pollen increases proportionally. The same studies show that birch forests reached their peak in Iceland 4,000-2,800 years ago, but have been in decline since then, with large declines during the settlement period and the 17th century.



A quarter of the country is covered in forest.


For a long time, intelligent people have tried to calculate how much of the country was covered in forest when it was first settled. Research and sources indicate that more than 40,000 square kilometers were covered with vegetation in the 9th century, or about twice as much as it is today. It is likely that more than half of that land was covered in wood. Most of the forest has been in the lowlands, below 200 meters above sea level, while low-growing scrub has extended into the highlands to over 400 meters. Where growing conditions have been best, in the bottoms of valleys and on sheltered slopes, birch trees have grown well and produced timber. Willows, however, have been low-growing forest and scrub.



The impact of residence


The Norse settlers were accustomed to livestock farming and arable farming. They cleared forests for their farms and fields. Archaeological research shows that people often burned the forest where the farm was to stand and around it. The livestock, sheep, cattle, pigs and goats, were allowed to roam freely all year round in the sheltered forest, while the scrub was burned to make way for pasture and fields for grain cultivation. The settlers may also have used the so-called slash-and-burn farming that was common in the Nordic countries, in which forest land was burned under fields and then sown in the warm ashes.


Red blasting and blacksmithing were industries that the Vikings knew well. They had been doing this for centuries in Scandinavia. They quickly discovered that the Icelandic bog red was rich in iron and therefore kept busy in the new land. To do this, they needed a lot of fuel. Forests were also cut down for building materials for huts and long-burning torches in them. However, livestock grazing has played a major role in deforestation. The herbivores ensured that new growth, along with other bottom vegetation, could not grow anywhere, and winter grazing made matters worse.



The forest disappeared in 250 years.


Ari the Wise Þorgilsson wrote Landnáma and Íslendingabók early in the 12th century, or about 250 years after settlement. Both accounts state that at the time the land was settled, there was wood growing between the mountains and the shore. These words indicate that there was no longer any forest in the country to any great extent when they were written. It is not unlikely that the forest had been mostly destroyed within 250 years. The Icelandic birch usually does not live more than 200 years, and a heavily logged forest regenerates little. It is therefore not unreasonable that during the first 250 years of settlement in Iceland, humans and livestock managed to eradicate half of the forest that was there at the time of settlement. Pollen charts show that the birch forest began to disappear soon after settlement began, and some regions, such as Húnaþing and Skagafjörður, became forestless early on.


The destruction of natural forests in Iceland is not unique. The same thing has happened all over the world where Western humans have settled. This happened on the European continent several thousand years ago and was repeated in both North America and New Zealand when Europeans moved there with their domestic animals.



The consequence of deforestation


When the forests were settled, they had reached their greatest maturity at and above the ancient sea level. The soil in those areas was loose, composed of imported rock fragments mixed with layers of ash and pumice. As the forest disappeared, the slough opened up, giving the wind an easy path to the fertile soil. When the leaves of the trees no longer protected the ground from rain and the tree roots no longer bound the soil, the water began to break down the vegetation cover and its subsoil. In heavy rains and floods, the water gradually broke down the fertile layers that had supported trees and other vegetation. The soil was washed away by the melting water. Slopes, rocky outcrops, and bare ground replaced the lush vegetation of unspoiled nature.



The role of natural forces


Although human intervention was the main factor in the fate of forests in the early centuries of Icelandic settlement, natural forces also played a role. The natural forces that created the country were still at work. There are dozens of known volcanoes, and since the age of settlement, 150 volcanic eruptions have changed the face of the country with ashfall and lava flows. Glaciers and rivers break down and the sea erodes the coast. Studies have also shown that the weather was relatively good during the age of settlement, with air temperatures similar to those in the period 1920-1950. In the first half of the 13th century, however, temperatures began to drop and cold weather persisted until the end of the 19th century. The coldest period was in the 17th century.


During this six-century period, both the country and the people deteriorated. Harsh nature, epidemics, and government combined to increase the suffering of the people. The forest had almost disappeared, but people still had to continue to use it for their livelihood. The vicious circle was not broken.



Then all of Kjalarnes was covered in forest.


In the Icelandic Sagas and other ancient writings, there are many accounts of vast forests. Usually, these accounts are told in such a way that it is impossible to understand anything other than that the forests in question were largely destroyed at the time the sagas were written. In some places, however, traces of these forests can still be seen, but it is more common that they have disappeared altogether, like the vast forest described in the Kjalnesingasaga:


Andríður went to Hof for the winter to stay. There was a foster brotherhood there at that time and with Helgi's sons. Andríður asked Helgi to give him a dwelling and a wife. He had a lot of cattle. At that time the whole of Kjalarnes was overgrown with forest, so that there was only a clearing where men cleared for farms or roads. A great path was cleared along the hills from Hof. Helgi and Andríður rode there in the spring. And when they came out to the hill, Helgi said: "Here I will, Andríður," he said, "give you land and that you build a farm here. It seems to me that my sons want you to live closer." After that Andríður built a farm in the path and called it Brautarholt, because the forest was so thick that he thought everything else was more work. Andríður put together a large farm there.



Forest fires in the Ölkofra saga


It happened one autumn that Ölkofri went to the forest that he owned and intended to burn charcoal that he had made. That forest was up from Hrafnabjörg and east from Lönguhlíð. He stayed there for a few days and made charcoal and then burned the wood and kept watch over the graves at night. But as night fell he fell asleep but a fire came up in the graves and ran into the nearby wood and quickly burned it. Then a fire ran into the forest. It then began to burn. Then a strong wind blew. Now Ölkofri woke up and was glad that he could escape. The fire ran into the forest. First the whole forest that Ölkofri owned burned down but then the fire ran into the forests that were next to it and forests burned all around the lava field. It is now called Sviðning.


There burned a forest called Godaskógur. It had six gods. One was Snorri the god, another Gudmundur Eyjólfsson, the third Skafti the lawyer, the fourth Thorkell Geitissson, the fifth Eyjólf son of Thord the Gelli, the sixth Thorkell Trefill Red-Bjornson. They had bought forests then to have for their use at the Thing.


After this coal-burning, Ölkofri went home. But this news was heard far and wide in the districts, and first came to Skaftir, the men who had suffered the damage. In the autumn he sent word north to Eyjafjörður with the men who were traveling between the districts, and had Guðmundur told of the forest-burning, and that the matter was profitable. Such messages also went west into the districts to the men who had owned forests. Then messengers went among them all during the winter, and that the six gods should meet at a thing and all be of one mind, but Skaftir should prepare the matter, because he sat next. But when spring came and the days of the meeting came, Skaftir rode with many men and summoned Ölkofri about the forest-burning, and ordered that the forest-walk be stopped.