On the night of the 26th December 2011, large parts of southern Norrland were struck by the storm ?Dagmar? that caused serious damage to the forests. In the past 10 years wind damage has become a hot topic after several major storms. Forest companies own 25% of the Swedish forest and thus influenced largely by wind damage. The main purpose of this study was to examine whether forest companies attitude towards preventive wind damage actions were changed after the storm ?Dagmar?. The result was developed by doing interviews with two forestry companies.

When I began my studies at Gammelkroppa forest school I started to think about an appropriate thesis. There was much discussion about the wild grazing damage during that period. I was at that time a part of Boo property and helped at their great hunts. They had the dual uses of wildlife and forest. I decided that I want to study how big the wild grazing damages are and if we can reduce them.

The last decades the populations of wild boar (Sus scrofa) has increased rapidly over the species? entire European range, including Sweden. This is followed by increasing human-wildlife conflicts as a result of the wild boar foraging behavior, causing damage to agricultural crop fields due to trampling and feeding. To be able to minimize damage we need more knowledge of where in the fields the risk of damage is high and what features in the landscape that affect this risk. I analyzed damage distribution in relation to the distance to six different landscape features; forest, road, ditch, building, game field and bait station, in the study area, the Island Mörkö in eastern central Sweden.

Wind and wind damage has become a hot subject because of the storm ?Gudrun? in January 2005. The main purpose of this study was to establish how the land owners attitude toward preventive wind damage actions was changing immediately after they had been struck by a storm. The result of the study was built on interviews. In springtime 2005 a total number of 20 private land owners were interviewed. Ten of the landowners lived in the province of Småland and ten in the province of Värmland.

The aim of this work was to study if the edge of the forest is more resistant to heavy winds than the trees located further in from the edge, and how this edge effect changes between different types of tree species and site types. The data was collected from an electric power line going from the north to the south of Sweden. The mean value of the clearcutted area around the power line was 120 meters. The main direction of the storm in January 2005 was west-southwest and thus the power line was a perfect place for gathering a large data set. The main parameter studied was the damage frequency at the edge of the forest compared to the trees located further in from the edge (up to 100 m from the power line). Tree species mixture, soil moisture class, soil type, topography, stand height, stand height of the stand on the other side of the power line and wind exposition was estimated. The results showed a distinct edge effect. The edge of the forest had clearly lower damage frequency for all tree species. A marked difference was observed between tree species and damage frequency.

The global climate-change means increasing mean-temperature and higher precipitation in Sweden, which leads to shorter periods of frozen ground in the forest. At the same time the harvesting machines are getting bigger and more powerful. The forest industry aim at an even wood flow, and the ground damage has to be as low as possible. The two biggest causes for ground-damage is the bearing capacity of the forest ground and the ground-pressure of the harvesting machines. The aim of this study was to find out some rules for the machine choice considering ground pressure, when harvesting on ground with low bearing capacity.A field study, using a Valmet 890.3 forwarder, was carried out where different ground pressures and their effect on the ground were tested on two different types of ground.Additionally, an inventory of damaged harvesting grounds was made.

Conditions for Swedish forestry are expected to change in the future due to the climate. Among other things, increased production is expected in a warmer climate, mainly because of a longer growing season. With the changing climate risk of damage by such as insects, fungi and storms are expected to increase. Hence, it is of highest importance for private forest owners to spread these risks in the way they cultivate their forest. In this study a qualitative method was used to examine ten private forest owners with forest properties within Kronoberg county, Sweden in their attitudes and actions to prepare in terms of climate change and if they have been affected by the climate change debate in their forest decisions.

A storm in January 2005 felled 75 millions cubic metres of forest in South Sweden. Previous studies of wind damage in thinned stands indicated the importance of early thinnings. The risks of wind throw increased by increasing age and height of the stands. Previous studies also indicated increasing risk of wind throw along the strip roads. The aim of the present study was to investigate wind damage in Norway spruce stands in South Sweden in relation to time of the first thinning and different pattern of strip roads (width, length and direction).

Sweden has today the highest moose (Alces alces) population in the world. The population has been very high since the late seventies and in the beginning of the eighties there was a big ?moose explosion?. The main food source for moose during the winter is young pine (Pinus sylvestris) and birch (Betula spp.). The high moose population has therefore lead to high damage on pine forests over big areas.

This is a literature review of how the climate change affects the forest growth innorthern Sweden. The temperature will rise about 5 °C with the largest increase in thewinter season (December - February) and the CO2level in the atmosphere is expected tobe doubled. Precipitation patterns will change and increase with 25-35 % and theprecipitation will be in form of rain rather than snow. Today the forests in northernSweden are entirely dominated by coniferous stands. This may shift with the climatechange and results in a larger number of deciduous trees, preferably birch will becomestronger and grow better and faster.

Forestry is increasing on an industrial scale where collection of logging residues takes a greater part. This has resulted in more machinery and heavy machinery driving in the clear felled area, this increases the risk of soil damage that will occur in the form of soil compacting and rutting in the clearings. This affecting on the nature in a negative way and especially in rivers and lakes that are affected by siltation and acidification leading to increased levels of heavy metals and methyl mercury. The purpose of this study was to investigate why there is damage to the ground when working with the slash in forest management from the forest officer point of view. A self-designed questionnaire was used and 45 questionnaires were sent out to various companies all over Sweden.

The purpose of this study is to investigate if there is enough consideration taken to sensitive forest areas close to water or wetlands during clear cutting assignments, and to estimate the extent of damage made by forestry machines used at that time. A field and literature study is used to show how to improve and prevent the damage made in the wake of the machines. This study is made for Sydved, and shall culminate in a policy to prevent ground damage during their clear cutting assignments. The areas which were part of the field studies were clearcuttings on fine grained soil close to water and wetlands. The purpose was to find out if the water had been affected, what had been done to prevent ground damages and what more could have been done. The results of the field studies show that more work needs to be done to reach up to expectations. More information about the assignment area, better planning of sensitive regions, and strengthening of the main haul roads with brush are some of the improvements that can be done. There is also a need for more exact guidelines, follow-ups and education for everyone involved to have the same goals and understanding to prevent ground damage..

In the 1980?s the moose population in Sweden grew explosively due to big changes in the silviculture with clear cuttings instead of single-tree selection. Clear cuttings brought big areas of young forest and therefore a lot of fodder in one place. Since this change, the discussion about how to manage the moose population has grown into a very big problem. Forest owners think that the population needs to be strongly reduced because of all the damage that is done to the young forest when the moose seeks its food, and the economic losses because of that.

Bark-stripping by red deer (Cervus elaphus) cause extensive damage to economically valuable spruce trees (Picea abies) in Swedish forests. The underlying causes for bark-stripping are not fully understood, and the frequency and severity of damage unpredictably differ between regions. In this study, I investigated if landscape structure (e.g. agricultural dominated landscape opposed to forest dominated landscape), forage availability, population density and disturbance (e.g. roads and settlements) affect bark-stripping frequency.

Bark-stripping by red deer (Cervus elaphus) cause extensive damage to economically valuable spruce trees (Picea abies) in Swedish forests. The underlying causes for bark-stripping are not fully understood, and the frequency and severity of damage unpredictably differ between regions. In this study, I investigated if landscape structure (e.g. agricultural dominated landscape opposed to forest dominated landscape), forage availability, population density and disturbance (e.g. roads and settlements) affect bark-stripping frequency.