Bringing Back The Ancient Viking Forests of Iceland | Rewilding Iceland

The vikings cut them down, we want to bring them back! In our latest project we are embarking on a challenge to help bring back the ancient forests of Iceland. We partnered with the Icelandic Forest Service who are reforesting Iceland and trying to accelerate the rate at which trees are being planted. This is where we come in, to help accelerate their planting rate and take the country and the landscape closer to its original forest coverage. ⏱️TIMESTAMPS⏱️ 0:00 Intro 0:49 Icelandic Landscape 1:02 Forest History 2:36 Reforesting Iceland 3:23 Where we come in 4:09 Our project 5:32 Our unexpected adversary ABOUT THIS PROJECT =============================== Bakkakot (literally (river)bank croft or Bankcroft) is an abandoned farm in Skorradalur valley, West Iceland, bought by the IFS in 1979. It includes former fields and pastures in the valley bottom (about 50 ha), a short hillside (50 ha) now mostly planted with pine and spruce, and a large, relatively flat upland area (Bakkakotshals = Bankcroft Hill) of 640 ha, 281.4 of which lie within a fence that excludes sheep. Prior to human settlement Bankcroft Hill was almost certainly birch and willow dominated woodland, at least 3-5 m in stature. Woodland clearing to create grazing pastures was extensive during the early years of settlement, beginning in 870 CE, and livestock grazing prevented regeneration. Shieldings, where livestock was kept for grazing away from the main farms, were common in upland areas. The area is former sheep grazing land, both winter and summer, for most of Iceland´s history. Farming changed greatly during the 20th century, with more cultivation of hay fields and winter grazing ceasing. Farms with little cultivatable land were often abandoned, as was the case with Bankcroft and several other farms in the area. A large fence was erected around the year 2000 to exclude grazing from most of Skorradalur valley and 280 ha of Bankcroft Hill is within that fence. The long term goal is to reclaim native birch woodland on the entire area. Natural succession is likely to result in that eventually, but that could take centuries or even millennia. Speeding the process up with planting is necessary in light of carbon sequestration needed to mitigate climate change and getting birch woodlands established at higher elevations as a climate change adaptation measure. Planting begins in June and should be mostly done by the end of July.