This is
Iceland, a cold beautiful island in the middle of the North Atlantic.
Famous for its waterfalls, black sands and volcanoes, and also for being cold.
Well, very cold, which is why it might seem
like an odd choice for our next major tree planting project.
But that didn't stop Hannah, one of our biologists
who decided we should plant 50,000 trees there this summer.
So in this video, I will try to explain to you why
I think that she has not lost her marbles and also why this project has
some special characteristics that give it a unique place in the rewilding world.
But before we get into that, let's start by understanding the landscape.
Iceland is grassy and mossy
with only a few small trees dotting the landscape.
In fact, locals have an expression that if you get lost,
all you should do is simply stand up and you'll be able to get your bearings.
But it wasn't always like that.
According to the Icelandic Forest Service, at the time of human settlement,
almost 1100 years ago, Iceland had a forest coverage of 25 to 40%,
which is a lot more than the 1.5% it has at the moment.
The forest consisted predominantly of downy birch and tea leaves willow.
Then one could also find very small pockets of Rowan and Aspen.
So what happened here?
How did all of this disappear?
Well, most historians and archeologists agree that about
95% of this forest was cut by the first settlers of the islands
who use the wood for fuel ships and houses,
and then also clear the forests to make room for sheep grazing.
The consequences are that for 1000
years, the ecosystem of the island has been left in a degraded state.
Sheep that roam free in the highlands will graze down any potential tree
regrowth, which makes natural regeneration only possible within fenced areas.
In addition to that, the loose soil will blow around Iceland, creating
dust storms and then end up in the sea leading to severe erosion.
In this photo here taken by Hannah in her latest visit,
you can see that the soil has completely disappeared from this area.
And it was supposed to be a forest back in the day.
Almost all of the very fertile soil the original Viking settlers found
there as well as the extensive forests they found have in the past thousand years
been covered by a heavy coating of sterile volcanic material.
So centuries after losing all their forests,
the Icelandic people decided that they wanted them back.
But this hasn't really happened overnight since this idea took hold in the 1950s.
Tree planting
projects had to first face competition by other land uses, especially grazing.
Then afforestation grants started popping up in the seventies,
but they only became meaningful in the nineties, which means that Iceland
has only really been planting trees for about 25 years or so.
Since then, the average afforestation rate
has been about 1000 to 1500 hectares per year.
In terms of the bigger picture.
This means that at this rate it will take 70 years to plant
1% of Iceland's and about 750 years to get to 25%, which,
as you'll remember, is the lower end of our historical tree coverage estimate.
However, in the eyes of the Icelandic
Forest Service, there is scope to increase the speed at which this is moving.
And this is where we come in.
As you know, here at Mossy Earth
we run a membership that aims to reforest and rewild the landscape.
We do so through a variety of projects, including regular tree planting,
but also extending to flooding forests to create wetlands
or helping create kelp forests in the ocean.
Among many other such projects.
And it is with this membership money that we managed to put together
a summer tree planting budget to try and plant 50,000 trees in Iceland.
So if you're interested in becoming a member and supporting stuff like this,
you can head over to mossy dot earth to see what it's all about.
We have a discord where you can chat with the team as well as an app
where you can stay up to date with all the updates with the different projects.
So yeah, I think it's really fun and it's definitely really impactful.
So if you like rewilding, be sure to check it out.
So this is where Hannah comes in.
She's our conservation biologist in charge of reforestation projects in general.
But also everything that happens in the UK and Slovakia.
And she set out to find us a new project.
So we were looking for a new and impactful project
to plant some trees and diversity to our portfolio.
When I thought of Iceland, the idea immediately appealed to me
because of the degraded state of the landscape And not many people
realize that Iceland should actually have a lot more woodland cover.
So I reached out
to the Icelandic Forest Service, and they've been great to work with.
The plot of Land that the Icelandic Forest Service assigned to us
is here in the east of the country, about 2 hours from Reykjavik.
It is called Bakkakotshals, which means Bancroft Hill.
Its relative proximity to the capital understates the remoteness
of this location.
So last October, I visited the planting site.
And to get there, we had to drive down some really remote roads
and some really sketchy tracks before we could reach the planting site.
And when we were there, we were only able to take a short walk
through the planting area before we had to retreat to the car for safety.
So the task set to us by the Icelandic Forest Service is to reforest.
281.4 hectares of land.
The area has been fenced
to prevent sheep from getting in, which is an important first step.
But here is where the unexpected adversary comes in.
And I cannot believe I'm saying this, but our main challenge here
is Moss, our beloved namesake.
You see the Racomitrium
Moss dominates other species and slows down natural succession.
If we were to leave
this area fenced and protected from sheep for about a thousand years or so,
natural succession would eventually lead to a birch forest.
However, we are trying to get things moving a bit faster.
So the first stage of this project is to take the fight to the moss
with a rotavator or a rotary tiller.
Then we will plant birch trees in
those areas at a density of about 1500 trees per hectare.
And then finally, the third stage of the project
will be to plant some rowan, aspen and tea leaved willow to add some diversity.
This forest is expected to capture approximately 250
tonnes of CO2 per hectare.
Over the next 50 years.
Now, as you know, for us it is not really about carbon.
In fact, when discussing our plans with the Icelandic
Forest Service, we chose to prioritize biodiversity over carbon.
We could have planted spruce or other non-natives that could capture more CO2,
but we decided to go with native species so we can bring back the original forests
that once thrived here.
This will benefit a variety of bird species such as the ptarmigan,
not to mention fungi, woodland flora and many insects.
I think it shows the true, genuine potential of rewilding to try and repair
this 1000 year old wounds because the land has been degraded for more
than a thousand years, and we are now trying to bring it back to a better state,
a place where it hasn't really been for a very, very long time.
And that just feels so positive, so positively stated as as a challenge,
as an objective that I think it's really exciting to to be working on this.
I'll be visiting the area
in the next few months to show you everything in a bit more depth
and to also explore some general topics around rewilding in Iceland.
So if you have anything you would like answered or covered
in an upcoming video, please let me know in the comments below.
And if you're simply curious to learn more, you should check out this video
right here about our expedition to a deserted island
to try and save four species from extinction.
Until next time. Cheers.