The spring's most beautiful adventure
Spring is on it’s way, and that means forest planting season! Thousands of small spruce plants will now be planted in the soil, and is one of the highlights for us at Hafsrød.
Every year we plant new trees where the former forest has been harvested, so that we start a new generation of forest production. The plants are 1-2 years old, and at Hafsrød we plant approx. 20,000 forest plants each year. This is how we make sure that for every tree that is cut, a new one grows.
The planting season at Hafsrød, and in Norway in general, is divided into spring planting and autumn planting. In the middle of summer it is usually too hot and dry, which the small plants do not like that well. In spring and autumn, on the other hand, the soil is moist and nice, and the plants can take root and get ready for growth for a long time. Making sure they get off to the best possible start in life is one of the most important things we do in the forest.
These plants will grow for many decades to come, but not all the trees on Hafsrød will be planted in this way. Many of the plants are rejuvenated naturally, by leaving seed trees behind when the rest of the forest is harvested. Pine is well suited for this, because they more often set cones and thus ensure that new plants are added. Did you know that there are registered pine trees over 350 years old at Hafsrød? In other words, the pine plant sprouted when Norway was ruled by Denmark, and in the same period there was a great demand for timber in Europe.
When the trees have grown large, they will eventually mature for harvest. The timber can be made into many things, and as long as we plant after harvest, we can harvest from this renewable resources in an eternal perspective. So what do we use the timber for at Hafsrød? Most of it are sold to sawmills and other factories, while we keep some timber ourselves. The timber we keep is used for energy production, and on the farm we heat four buildings with our very own bioenergy plant.
By using timber instead of other more climate-damaging materials, we help reduce our climate footprint. The trees use CO2 as building blocks, and store carbon in the wood. Our forest cabins are built of wood, among other things, and thus function as a carbon storage. Some of the forest cabins were originally produced at the local sawmill in Halden, Saugbrugs, and these were aptly called “Skogstua”, which translates to “Forest Hut”.
Now we roll up our sleeves to secure another generation with a green carbon stock. Yes, in fact as many as 20,000 of them.
Good planting season and welcome to the forest!
ingeborg
24 April 2024
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