PROJECT DESCRIPTION
BACKGROUND
Western taiga is a priority habitat that only exists in Sweden and Finland within the Community. Characterised by a complex composition of both young and old trees of deciduous and coniferous species, these western taiga virgin forests are extremely rich in biological terms, providing habitats for many threatened species of animals and plants. The dead wood, in particular, plays a central role in maintaining this high conservation value. Much of this richness is due to the fact that the forests have had little or no intervention over hundreds of years, other than naturally occurring fires. Today much of the original natural forest has been harvested and replaced with monocultures. It is estimated that only appoximately 3% remains of the orginal western taiga and this is under constant threat from commercial forestry. It is for this reason that the habitat type is considered a priority for conservation under the Habitats Directive and why the Swedish Environment Protection Agency has initiated a nationwide programme for its conservation. The great biological values, represented in the remaining western taiga sites cannot be protected without extensive restrictions on commercial forestry. Thus, purchase of land or compensation to landowners is the only truly effective means of obtaining its long-term preservation. During 1995-99, a series of 12 LIFE Nature projects with the primary objective to protect natural forest and mire habitats were launched in Sweden, with land purchase and legal protection as the main project actions.
OBJECTIVES
The project targeted seven of the best remaining coniferous forest areas (69 - 992 ha each) in south and central Sweden. Its main objective was the acquisition and formal protection of 2,295 ha (1,800 ha if leaving out water areas), in these seven sites dominated by western taiga. In some sites the taiga was also interspersed with bog woodland, transition mires, active raised bogs and Fennoscandian deciduous swamp woods. Once purchased, the areas would be left to develop naturally, but burning in order to restore conditions for species favoured by fire was planned for two sub-areas affected by forestry.
RESULTS
The final result can be summarised as follows: · Six of the seven project sites were legally protected as nature reserves (with management plans annexed to the decisions) by the end of project. One project site (Vänersnäs) could not be done during the project due to change in ownership. · With the cancellation of this site, 70% (1,262 ha) of the original objective (1,800 ha of forest) was acquired. · After the project, the sites were left for passive management. The collective results from this project and the 11 others under LIFE II aimed for the protection of natural forest sites in Sweden should be evaluated in the perspective that although 65 % of the land surface of Sweden is covered by forests, and predominantly coniferous forests, most of this land is today characterised by commercial forestry. Less than 5 % of this land is judged to qualify as "natural forests" with reference to "key" characters such as the proportion of old trees, dead and decaying wood etc. Of the land benefiting from satisfactory legal protection, there was a geographical unbalance so far as most of it was located in the alpine region of Sweden previous to 1995. In this perspective, any contribution of western taiga and other natural forest habitats is a valuable input to the Natura 2000 network. The support from LIFE Nature to the various projects launched during LIFE II (1996-99) represented a total additional contribution of 14 % on top of the expenditure from the national budget for the purchase of land for nature protection at that time. Some of the participating county administrative boards in this project have experienced that it has contributed to raise the profile of this habitat as a nature conservation objective in general. The final result can be summarised as follows: · Six of the seven project sites were legally protected as nature reserves (with management plans annexed to the decisions) by the end of project. One project site (Vänersnäs) could not be done during the project due to change in ownership. · With the cancellation of this site, 70% (1,262 ha) of the original objective (1,800 ha of forest) was acquired. · After the project, the sites were left for passive management. The collective results from this project and the 11 others under LIFE II aimed for the protection of natural forest sites in Sweden should be evaluated in the perspective that although 65 % of the land surface of Sweden is covered by forests, and predominantly coniferous forests, most of this land is today characterised by commercial forestry. Less than 5 % of this land is judged to qualify as "natural forests" with reference to "key" characters such as the proportion of old trees, dead and decaying wood etc. Of the land benefiting from satisfactory legal protection, there was a geographical unbalance so far as most of it was located in the alpine region of Sweden previous to 1995. In this perspective, any contribution of western taiga and other natural forest habitats is a valuable input to the Natura 2000 network. The support from LIFE Nature to the various projects launched during LIFE II (1996-99) represented a total additional contribution of 14 % on top of the expenditure from the national budget for the purchase of land for nature protection at that time. Some of the participating county administrative boards in this project have experienced that it has contributed to raise the profile of this habitat as a nature conservation objective in general.