Tame animals in the wilderness
livestock grazing around summer farms in Jämtland, boreal Sweden 1800-2011
The forest and mire landscape surrounding the north Swedish villages have been of fundamental importance through time for the farmers. In the Scandinavian summer farm system the forest and mire pasture was used to its full potential. The system consisted of smaller summer farms some kilometres from the main farm in the village, and were the livestock grazed in the forest around the summer farm. The livestock affect their environment, and grazed forests generally contain a higher biodiversity than an ungrazed forest. The overall aim of this thesis is to understand the impact of livestock grazing on a northern forest ecosystem over a long time period. The studied system is the parish of Klövsjö, in the south-western part of the county of Jämtland, Sweden, and the studied period comprises the period year 1800 - 2011.
To determine the pasture area for the parish of Klövsjö, old cadastral acts and their protocols have been studied, and the area of the villages´ grazing lands and forests have been calculated. Some numbers and statistics from previous studies have been used to calculate livestock numbers, together with National Statistics. To estimate the stocking density the livestock numbers were converted to grazing equivalents, based on the animals energy demand. This facilitates comparisons over time without having to consider changes in livestock species and sizes.
My result show that the livestock numbers and stocking density (livestock numbers on a specific area) has fluctuated through time in Klövsjö parish. The peak for highest livestock numbers and highest stocking density occured at different times. The highest livestock numbers were given when goats and sheep were at their peak and cows still increased, but the stocking density was at its maximum when cow numbers were at their peak, since they were the most energy demanding. At the peak of grazing equivalents there was a bit more than 0.05 grazing equivalents per hectare in Klövsjö parish. In contrast, the grazing pressure in Klövsjö village in 2011 would be 0.007 grazing equivalents per hectare if the same area is used as in the 19th century.
Several studies show that modern forestry has led to evenaged, homogenous forests and a loss of important structures, such as old trees. However, when comparing structures such as multilayered forest and old trees in the studied area, there are no significant differences between 1925 and 2011. One reason could be that the Klövsjö forests in 1925 was highly affected by human impact such as burnings, firewood collections and grazing and therefore the stands were not older. It is also likely that they already were affected by the forest industry in form of early logging.
Generally, biodiversity in grazed forests is higher than compared to ungrazed forest. One reason for this is the variation and heterogenity in structure within the grazed forest, created by the different species of grazing animals. Examples are the gradients in grazing intensity from the more open summer farm towards the denser forests and the openings, shrubs and full grown trees.
The number of summer farms has decreased. If the summer farms disappear both cultural and biological values will disappear with them. A lot of challanges faces the modern summer farms, but my opinion is that it would be worth it for society to try to preserve the lasting summer farms.