The forest owners are doing well during the day. For the second year in a row, the Norwegian Forest Owners’ Association reports a record amount of timber last year: 5.8 billion. This is an increase of 15.8 per cent from 2021. – Salaries are good due to high timber prices and government subsidies. We are still left with around half of the timber value, says Svein Fjørtoft, landowner in Nordfjord. Kjell Åshamar is forestry manager at AT Skog Vestland. He adds that part of the reason for the increase is that Norway has invested in road development. In addition, the spruce that was planted in Vestland in the 1960s is beginning to be ready for harvesting. Forestry manager in AT Skog, Kjell Åshamar. Photo: Bård Siem / news Optimism also in the future Hans Asbjørn Kårstad Sørlie of the Norwegian Forest Owners’ Association says that lower construction activity is expected in 2023, but that there is high demand for timber internationally. The majority of timber exports go to Germany and Sweden. There is a good market for pulpwood. In addition, a lot of energy chips are exported to Denmark, which are used for heat production. But now forestry is approaching the sustainable goal in the national strategy for the industry. The ceiling on felling is 15 million cubic meters a year. The growth of new trees was 24 million cubic metres. The forestry industry is in the red, but part of the increase is in areas that are protected by environmental protection. Environmental organizations are anxious about what the effects of logging in old-growth forest may be for biological diversity and species at risk of extinction. Forest owner Svein Fjørtoft, presented in this case, has no old-growth forest. The World Wide Fund for Nature calls for an immediate halt to logging Karoline Andaur, secretary general of the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), believes that it is urgent to save what remains of the oldest old-growth forest. Gammalskog The term is used differently. In this case, the sources have only these criteria: Forest little affected by humans. Dead wood in various stages of decomposition. Occurrence of signal species and red-listed species. She is asking for a halt to logging in this type of forest immediately, until it has been mapped out what environmental values exist. Karoline Andaur of the World Wide Fund for Nature believes that old-growth forests with important environmental values must be protected, and that the knowledge base must be available. Photo: WWF – Commercial forestry is estimated to have a negative impact on 87 percent of the threatened forest species. That is why it is urgent. Christian Steel is a biologist and general secretary of the environmental organization Sabima. They share the same anxiety, and think the ceiling of 15 million cubic meters is unreasonably high. – Mapping shows time and again that great environmental values are discovered at the last minute before felling, but also after. It is discovered by voluntary organizations and keen field biologists, not by the industry itself. He agrees that we can cut down a lot of industrial forest, but that we must steer clear of forests with environmental values. He is critical of how the values are investigated, as the vast majority of logging takes place under private auspices. New old-growth forest, but uncertain quality Aksel Granhus, head of research at the Norwegian Institute for Bioeconomy, is not as worried. He points out that the growth of old-growth forest has also increased. It is the oldest old-growth forest that is shrinking. But the new old-growth forest is different from the one that disappeared. The question, according to Granhus, is what quality the new old-growth forest has compared to the original. Whether there is the same amount of biological diversity, whether the rate of decomposition is equally good and whether the forest has the properties that are important for diversity, such as dead trees. Voluntary to protect forests Today it is voluntary for forest owners to protect forests. The target from the Storting is 10 percent protection. Now they are at 5.2 percent. 11.6 million cubic meters of timber were sold to industrial timber in 2022. The value was NOK 5.8 billion. Photo: Bård Siem / news Both the Norwegian Forest Owners’ Association and Norskog believe that the protection work should not be the responsibility of the forest owners, but of compensation from the state for loss of income. – Forest owners today offer far more areas of old-growth forest for protection than what the governing authorities have allocated money to protect. If the authorities want more protection of old-growth forest, licensing must increase, says Sørlie of the Norwegian Forest Owners’ Association. The Norwegian Environment Agency was asked for a comment on the matter, but did not have the opportunity to respond until after Easter.
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