With its 470,000 hectares of forest land, the Church of Sweden is the country’s fifth largest forest owner. Of this, around 25,000 hectares are managed by the Diocese of Gothenburg, and at the lake Sollums Lång in Bohuslän, the Diocese now wants to cut down parts of the forest. This has provoked reactions from groups who believe that the forest has a natural value that is worth preserving.
– We believe that clear-cutting farming has come to the end of the road. Especially in parts of southern Sweden where we have transformed natural systems into cultivation systems of spruce and pine, says Christer Johansson at the association Birdlife Sweden.
The diocese believes that you have several different factors to take into account in your forestry, and that these can sometimes be in conflict with each other.
– It may be about leaving areas untouched. But also that we do fellings to obtain forest raw materials that can contribute to renewable products and replace fossil products. But also generate a return that goes back to the parishes’ and pastor’s activities, says Fredrik Tengberg, head of unit at Gothenburg diocese’s property unit.
For the area around Sollum’s lång, it is believed that the necessary balances have been made, and the natural value of the area is taken into account.
Less and less natural forest
As humans have cultivated the forest, the amount of so-called natural forest, which is largely untouched and species-wise more varied, has decreased. Instead, it has been replaced by production forest with the aim of generating various wood products through felling. Today, it is estimated that around 10 percent of the forest land in Sweden is natural forest.
Johan Åberg is a forest ecologist at the Swedish Forest Agency, and talks about the consequences of natural forests disappearing.
– The consequence will be a less species-rich and more similar landscape, and that landscape will not harbor the same diversity as a landscape that consists of a larger proportion of natural forests, he says.
Conversation about the future of the forest
While the felling notices await approval by the Forestry Agency, BirdLife and other associations have held talks with the diocese, hoping to preserve the forest.
– We need to have examples like the church, which leads the way and shows that it is possible to conduct forestry in accordance with the forest’s own boundaries, says Christer Johansson at BirdLife.