Today I spent the day on an excursion with the Comparative forest history course. Our first stop was at Norrfors hydro electric power plant where we looked at 4000 years old rock carvings depicting detailed elks. The carvings
were most likely done by hunters inhabiting the area along the baltic coast. According to our best knowledge today it is believed that these peaople saw the elk (Alces alces) as the mother of earth and they are there fore plentyful among
the rock carvings.
were most likely done by hunters inhabiting the area along the baltic coast. According to our best knowledge today it is believed that these peaople saw the elk (Alces alces) as the mother of earth and they are there fore plentyful among
the rock carvings.
Our next stop was the tourist center at the river side of Vindelälven in Vindeln. Here we studied the structures built along the shores of the river in order to channelize timber that was floated down the river. In Vindelälven timber floating was practised from the early 19:th century to the end of the 1970s. During this period continous work was carried out to improve the river as a transport route for the timber floated down towards the sawmills at the coast. In the picture some of these structures are visible. As the river became a better transport route for timber condtions for migrating salmon deteriorated. With the constuction of the Norrfors powerplant in 1959 the possibilities for salmon migration were impaired even more. Today much money is instead invested in restoring these waters in order to improve possibilities for salmon migration and restoring spawning areas. |
From Vindeln we continued our trip towards Lycksele with a short stop at Kulbäckslidens experimental forest. At Kulbäcksliden Erland Mårald informed us about the history of the research station and gave some brief information about some of the research that was done at the site as it started up in the first half of the 20:th century. One of the researchers who stayed at the research center was Lars Tirén. His work Skogshistoriska studier i trakten av Degerfors i Västerbotten from 1937 can be seen as one of the earliest studies of forest history with a multidisciplinary approach. For anyone interessted in the history of Västerbotten I can recommend this text.
Log with resupinate fungi..
After the short stop at Kulbäcksliden we carried on towards Lycksele and the Forest museum at Gammplatsen in Lycksele. At the museum we had a short guided tour focusing in the sami-part of the exibition. They museum has an impressive collection of paintings and other handicraft made by NN Skum. Skum was one of the most renouned sami artists during the first half of the 20:th century.The museum also holds a nice exibition on the history of forestry in northern Sweden and an outdoor part with old buildings from the area. Information is plentyfull and you also get to try out some of the stuff in the museum.
At the northern end of the museum grounds there is a small nature reserve. Considering the small size and central location of the reserve it is still a nice place to spend some time. There are plenty of large old pines, both living and dead. The high amounts of dead trees makes it possible for many species of wood decaying fungi to live in the area. During the short time I spent in the forest I found Fomes fomentarius, Fomitopsis pinicola, Piptoporus betulinus and some other species that I couldn't identify. Besides from old large pines and a rather great variety of wood decaying fungi there are also many aspen trees within the area, some of them with substacial amounts of Leptogium saturninum growing on the bark. There is also supposed to grow some Colema species on the aspens within the area, unfortunatly I didn't find any of these.
At the northern end of the museum grounds there is a small nature reserve. Considering the small size and central location of the reserve it is still a nice place to spend some time. There are plenty of large old pines, both living and dead. The high amounts of dead trees makes it possible for many species of wood decaying fungi to live in the area. During the short time I spent in the forest I found Fomes fomentarius, Fomitopsis pinicola, Piptoporus betulinus and some other species that I couldn't identify. Besides from old large pines and a rather great variety of wood decaying fungi there are also many aspen trees within the area, some of them with substacial amounts of Leptogium saturninum growing on the bark. There is also supposed to grow some Colema species on the aspens within the area, unfortunatly I didn't find any of these.
All in all would like to thank Nancy Langston, Erlan Mårald and all my fellow students on the course for a really nice day on the road.