4 April 2025 | Article
With climate change, longer heatwaves dry out forests, increasing the risk of wildfires. These fires severely impact ground lichen, a crucial food source for reindeer, and its recovery is a slow process. However, successful experiments have demonstrated ways to accelerate its reestablishment.
When wildfires occur, essential lichen pastures for reindeer are destroyed. The same happens with controlled ecological burns, which are conducted to promote biodiversity. Normally, reindeer lichen takes a long time to recover on burned land, but research has shown that its return can be accelerated. As early as 2008, experiments were conducted to transplant reindeer lichen onto burned areas. Within just ten years, a grazeable lichen cover had developed.
The transplantation method is relatively simple. Reindeer lichen spreads naturally through small fragments carried by wind, animals, or water. The process involves collecting lichen from an area rich in Cladonia stellaris — the easiest species to harvest—breaking it into smaller pieces, and spreading it over the burned area two years after the fire.
Lichen collection must be done sustainably. Up to 20% of a lichen mat can be harvested every 5–6 years without depleting the resource.
Waiting two years after a fire allows the soil’s pH level to decrease and the ground to stabilize, creating better conditions for lichen fragments to anchor and grow.
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This article is an excerpt from the report "The State of the Forest in Canada" and deals with the issue of substitution and how much of the forest that actually becomes long-lived products. How do you think Sweden compares?
This year, spring arrived early. In southern Sweden, mild temperatures have been around for a while, and now the first spring flowers are starting to appear in the north. The light has returned, birds are singing in the forests, and the trails are drying up – perfect conditions for a walk in nature.
During the winter months, many Swedes and tourists flock to the Swedish mountains to enjoy skiing—both cross-country and downhill. But with a warming climate, the risk of snow shortages is becoming more and more real. March 2025 was recorded as the warmest March in European history, and the consequences are already visible.
