Conservation of Forest in Sweden: a strategic ecological analysis

Policies for future conservation of forests must be preceded by an evaluation of the present reserves. Using data from the Swedish National Forest Inventory, this study analyses Swedish reserves, i.e. national parks, nature reserves and forest service reserves, in terms of proportion of forest, stand age, site quality, tree species composition and tree volumes. The results show that in Sweden, the proportion of productive forest within reserves is 20% compared to 60% of the non-reserve land area, and that the volume of dead trees is greater in reserves. In general the distribution of forests within reserves is skewed towards old, low:productivity Norway spruce forests in Northwest Sweden. This allocation may not meet the demands for protection of the habitats of endangered species. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.