14 November 2025 | Article

Restoring Old Grazing Lands

Across northern Europe, traditional hay meadows and grazing lands are closing in as small farms disappear. By choosing clear goals – free development, reopened fields or new deciduous  woodland – landowners can restore light, structure and habitat for plants, insects, bats and threatened birds.

From open grazing land to closed forest

Historically, farms and villages were surrounded by open or sparsely wooded grazing land on poor soils, often with light-demanding trees such as Scots pine, aspen, birch and willow.
When grazing stops, old solitary trees are shaded by younger forest, usually Norway spruce mixed with deciduous trees.

Before acting, it is important to define the long-term goal for the area. Different zones on the same property can have different objectives.

Option 1: Free development

The forest is left to develop without active management. Spruce will gradually dominate, but small gaps allow some light-demanding deciduous trees to persist. Over time, dead wood accumulates and the stand gains a more natural character that benefits species adapted to older, unmanaged forest.

Option 2: Re-open the land

Spruce and younger deciduous trees that have grown in after grazing stopped are removed. Old solitary trees are retained as key habitat for insects, and as nest and roost trees for birds and bats. Branches and logging residues are preferably removed or concentrated in a few piles so that ground fungi and vascular plants get sufficient light and space.

If grazing cannot be reintroduced, new shoots from stumps and roots will appear. Regular clearing – and in some places mowing – is needed to maintain the grassland flora that depends on ongoing management.

Option 3: Create a deciduous woodland

In many overgrown pastures, dense spruce and deciduous trees form the starting point. All younger spruce is removed, while the old, coarse spruce trees that pre-date abandonment are kept for their biodiversity value.

The deciduous trees are then allowed to develop more or less freely, apart from periodic removal of new spruce. Over time, the result is an uneven-aged deciduous woodland rich in dead wood. This habitat favours many specialised species, including the highly threatened White-backed Woodpecker.

Photo: fightCOtwo 2025, Re-opening of old grazing land

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This perspective is part of fightCOtwo’s ongoing work on long-term conservation of Swedish boreal forests, integrating verified carbon sequestration, biodiversity outcomes, and documented collaboration with the reindeer herding community and the Sámi Indigenous people.