BECFOR organized a half-day study visit to the Trollberget Forest and Water Experimental Area on September 24, 2020. Six PhD students attended and learned about how historic and current forestry operations affect water quality and quantity, i.e. ditch cleaning, ecological restoration of ditches, and riparian buffer design.
We walked the newly cut experimental catchments and looked at how ditches were crossed by the harvester and forwarder by way of a bridge, talked about how the movement of machines are carefully planned to avoid damage to wet soils and riparian zones, and discussed the Strategic Management Objectives. At fika, we met Tobias Eriksson, who is directing the restoration of the unproductive mire. We then walked up to the mire and discussed how the restoration would be done and what impacts and benefits it could have on water quality, the carbon balance, and biodiversity. On the way up to the restoration site, we were able to see a newly planted spruce forest with recently cleaned ditches. All of this was great stimulus for discussion. The Trollberget Forest and Water Experimental Area are part of the GRIP on LIFE EU Integrated LIFE project.