STOCKHOLM SWEDEn nORRa 27 kVill 51 Photos: 1 - Sigge Sundström, 2 - Anna Lindberg Firetraces on pine Lake Stora Idgölen The Norra Kvill National Park is a unique The primitive forest is also of scientifi c and well-preserved virgin forest area near interest: it can be studied how diff erent Vimmerby in Kalmar County in the high- trees reproduce, compete with and suc- lands of Småland, southeastern Sweden. ceed one another in a natural context. cOnTacT It was established in 1927, enlarged in 1994 In the south of Sweden, only fragments and comprises an area of 114 ha. of primitive forest remain today. The purpose of Sweden’s national parks Rumskulla oak, Europe's largest English the kalmar county is to preserve large areas in their natural oak with a circumference of about 14 m, administrative Board state for research and outdoor recreation. can be seen a few kilometres from the At Norra Kvill no trees have been felled for park. The oak is thought to be about 150 years, with the result that the forest 1,000 years old. Länsstyrelsen i Kalmar län is steadily reverting to its primeval state. Fire used to be the forest’s normal method S-391 86 KALMAR Some 80 per cent of the trees in the of rejuvenation. Innumerable fi res have Sweden national park are pine trees, many of them shaped the forest in the National Park more than 350 years old. The pine mi- over the centuries, both spontaneous and Tel. +46 10 223 80 00 grated to southern Sweden 8,000 or 9,000 anthropogenic. More than a hundred years years ago, following the retreat of the last have passed since Norra Kvill last caught [email protected] ice cap. Spruces prefer moister declivities fi re. A small area in the northwest, which www.lansstyrelsen.se/kalmar and are usually younger but bigger than burned down on that occasion, now off ers pines. There are giant specimens here, 35 hundred-year-old self-sown pine trees. m tall and 2.5 m in circumference. Often In the western part of the National Park they shelter burgeoning growths of moss, there are pine stumps showing traces of both on boulders and on the ground itself. up to six forest fi res. Source: www.lansstyrelsen.se
28 SWEDEn SkulESkOGEn naTiOnal PaRk STOCKHOLM 52 Photos: 1 - Jonas Salomonsson, 2 - Johann Uebel Skuleskogen national park is situated forests with rare species of lichens, beetles on the east coast of Sweden, about and woodpeckers. Since the eighteenth 500 km north of Stockholm. Established century botanists have been fascinated as Sweden´s nineteenth national park in by this area. The vegetation is unusually inFORMaTiOn 1984, it is part of the majestic High Coast, lush on the deciduous slopes, both alpine a World Heritage Site, where the Baltic plants and southerly plants associated Sea is at its deepest and its islands at their with broadleaved woodland grow in Visitor information highest. The red-coloured Nordingrå the national park. One of the rarities is Naturum höga kusten granite cliff s, the land uplift coast, and the beard lichen Usnea longissima. It can the coniferous forest of the borderland be found draped on old spruces that grow between north and south characterise on north-facing slopes with high and even Skuleberget the national park. Skuleskogen is like a humidity. 870 33 Docksta textbook in physical geography, where The Swedish “right of public access“ you can see how ice sheet, land uplift and (allemansrätten) is an old custom and well Tel. +46 613 700 200 waves formed the land of Sweden. It is a known in other countries, too. It means Fax. +46 613 700 209 forested landscape that reveals what the that visitors are allowed to sojourn in the countryside of our ancestors looked like. nature, even on private land. It is even al- [email protected] In the olden days, Skuleskogen formed the lowed to put up a tent for one day, to pick www.naturumhogakusten.se boundary between the northern Nolaskog berries or mushrooms. But with this right a region and the Sunnanskog area to the responsibility must be accepted which can south. Trolls and giants once lived in these be summarized in the “take nothing - leave forests… nothing“ rule. The national park boasts magnifi cent hills and valleys, an exciting history with the Source: www.naturumhogakusten.se world record in land uplift, and ancient
29 DEnMaRk ROlD FOREST COPENHAGEN REGiOn nORDjYllanD 53 Photos: 1 - Peter A. Larsen, 2,3 - Uff e Westerberg The Rold Forest is the biggest and oldest one in Denmark that can be traced back in Denmark and one of the few forests that to the period just after the ice age. It was was not completely destroyed by log- saved from extinction because of its ging, farming and livestock grazing from high value as a hunting trophy. 1400–1800 AD. The most valuable parts of The forest is home to Lake Madum, the the forest are protected by conservation biggest clean lake in Denmark, character- statutes and by Natura 2000. Most of it is ized by the beautiful little fl ower water cOnTacT also a Ramsar-protected bird area. lobelia. The spring fed rivers Lindenborg The forest is known for its magnifi cent and Willestrup are fi ne examples of chalk beech trees, shaped by westerly winds streams. Large areas of the forest used to Naturstyrelsen, and frequent coppicing. These beech be covered by bogs. Some very fi ne raised himmerland trees form a cluster of small forests with bogs have escaped the forest industry’s oddly shaped trees, locally known as dredging eff orts and the most important (National Forest service) “troll forests”. of the dredged bogs are being restored to Huge reservoirs in the limestone beneath the natural hydrology. Møldrupvej 26 the forest feed a multitude of freshwater Despite its rich nature the forest is unlikely 9520 Skørping springs that are among the biggest in to be designated a national park, as most northern Europe. The spring water is 7.5°C of it is owned by private estates. However, Tel. +45 72 54 30 00 all year round and because of this, the stricter Natura 2000 schemes will ensure Fax +45 98 39 27 14 springs are home to insects you otherwise that the forest gradually becomes more would not fi nd in northern Scandinavia. diverse. [email protected] Where the limestone surfaces, the vegeta- The state owned part is being turned back tion is very special with many species of to nature and has been divided into zones. www.naturstyrelsen.dk/ orchids, for example the magnifi cent Some are reserved for undisturbed wildlife, Lokalt/Himmerland lady’s slipper (Cypripedium calceolus) while others accommodate a variety of www.roldskov.info Among the wildlife it is worth mentioning outdoor activities like hiking, biking, riding the population of red deer, as it is the only and skiing.
GERManY anciEnT BEEch FORESTS 30 BERLIN 54 Photos: 1,2 - Betina Meliss, 3 - Freddie Bijkerk Since 2011 fi ve German beech forests are examples of an ongoing post-glacial inscribed in the UNESCO World Heritage biological and ecological evolution of List. Three of them are located in the north- terrestrial ecosystems. eastern part and two in central Germany. The Carpathian forests are in mountain cOnTacT They represent the most valuable relicts and subalpine altitudes (up to 1940 m), of large-scale natural beech woodlands the German woodlands are in lowlands in Germany: Jasmund and Müritz Natio- and low highlands up to 626 m only. www.mueritz-nationalpark.de nal Parks in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, These lowland beech forests are unique Grumsin Forest in Brandenburg, Keller- in the world. Together they refl ect the wald-Edersee National Park in Hessen and broad spectrum of beech forest types www.nationalpark-jasmund.de Hainich National Park in Thuringia. in Europe. Beech woodlands host a lot of species Carpathian beech forests (in Slovakia and (around 10,000 diff erent species of www.schorfheide-chorin.de Ukraine) have been already listed as world animals, plants and fungi), thus they are heritage since 2007. Now the German areas indispensable for saving biodiversity. were added. Together they are known as www.nationalpark- Primeval Beech Forests. Information about these World Heritage kellerwald-edersee.de About 6,500 years ago beech woodlands properties: covered 40 % of Europe. Today the German Ancient Beech Forests are essential to www.unesco.de/ understand the spread of the beech in buchenwaelder.html?L=1 www.nationalpark- the northern hemisphere. They represent hainich.de
31 GERManY jaSMunD naTiOnal PaRk BERLIN 55 Photos: Betina Meliss Jasmund National Park is Germanys smal- been left to develop naturally, and lest National Park, but very well known due since 2011 the beech forest belongs to to the so called “Königsstuhl” (in English: the UNESCO World Heritage List. the king’s chair), which is the highest point cOnTacT (118 m) of the impressive white cliff s at The woodlands inhabit a wide range of Rügen's coastline. nutrient-poor to nutrient-rich deposits. The area is mostly covered with beeches. Diff erent types of peatland are scattered Nationalpark It is the largest contiguous beech forest throughout the forest, and the limestone jasmund on the Baltic Sea coast, covering some plain is dotted with a network of streams. 2,100 ha. The predominant type is the Bal- This diversity of habitats provides the basis tic wood barley beech forest accompanied for a wealth of fl ora and fauna. Stubbenkammer 2a by orchid beech forests on steep limestone 18546 Sassnitz escarpments. In 2004 a new visitor center opened – it GERMANY is managed by WWF - and today it is one This territory was fi rst placed under pro- of the most successful visitor centers in Tel. +49 38392 350 11 22 tection back in 1929 due to its impressive German National Parks with more than Fax: + 49 38392 350 11 20 landscape and the threat of chalk erosion. 300,000 visitors annually. Other protective legislation followed and [email protected] fi nally it was designated as National Park www.nationalpark-jasmund.de in 1990. Since that date, the woodland has
TOuRiSTic inFORMaTiOn 56 More travel information about the countries participating in aGORa 2.0: Belarus Finland Visit Belarus The Official Travel Site of Finland www.belarus.by/en/travel www.visitfinland.com Visit Helsinki www.visithelsinki.fi Denmark Visit Denmark www.visitdenmark.com Germany Visit Copenhagen German National Tourist Board www.visitcopenhagen.com www.germany.travel Official Tourism Portal for Visitors to the German Capital Estonia www.visitberlin.com Visit Estonia Tourist Board Mecklenburg- www.visitestonia.com West Pomerania – Tourismusverband Mecklenburg-Vorpommern The Official Website of www.auf-nach-mv.de the Tallinn City Tourist Office www.tourism.tallinn.ee Tourism Marketing Brandenburg – Tourismus Marketing Brandenburg Visit Tartu (in German) www.visittartu.com www.reiseland-brandenburg.de Tourism Agency Schleswig-Holstein – Tourismus-Agentur Schleswig-Holstein www.sh-tourismus.de
57 latvia Russia / kaliningrad Region Official Latvian Tourism Portal Regional Tourism Information www.latvia.travel Center Kaliningrad www.visit-kaliningrad.ru Visit Riga www.liveriga.com Latvian Rural Tourism Association Sweden www.countryholidays.lv Sweden's Official Website for Tourism and Travel Information www.visitsweden.com lithuania Stockholm’s Official Visitors Guide Visit Lithuania www.visitstockholm.com www.visitlithuania.net Visit Vilnius www.vilnius-tourism.lt Poland Poland’s Official Travel Website www.poland.travel Official Tourist Website of Warsaw www.warsawtour.pl
iMPRinT ISSN 2194 - 8224 All rights reserved © 2012 University of Greifswald SERIES EDITOR Dipl. oec. Betina Meliss Tel. +49 3834 / 864541 [email protected] ISSUE EDITOR Baiba Strazdiņa, Latvian Fund for Nature PRODUCED IN THE FRAMEWORK OF THE PROJECT AGORA 2.0 Project leader: Prof. Dr. Wilhelm Steingrube Tel. +49 3834 / 864540 [email protected] Project coordinator: Betina Meliss University of Greifswald Institute of Geography and Geology Makarenkostrase 22 17487 Greifswald COVER PICTURE Shutterstock ENVELOPE PICTURES Photos: 1 - Valda Baroniņa, 2 - 3 - Liene Auniņa, 4 - Daiga Brakmane ARTWORK GRAF FISCH DESIGN, Greifswald PRINTING Hoff mann-Druck GmbH, Wolgast
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