Life happens there. Sensitive and red-listed species live life protected from the threat of extinction that their species face in Sweden. Trees and fungi communicate with each other and the soil, teeming with life, stores large amounts of carbon.
The dead trees help to provide habitat for endangered species and the falling trunks are quietly stored as carbon in the ground. And the Natural Heritage Charter guarantees that this is what will happen to Natural Heritage forests forever.
While we raised a record amount of money last year and have had a better start to the year than any previous Q1 quarter, we also have setbacks. Our application for SEK 2 million from the call for funds to individual environmental organizations from the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency was rejected because we are a foundation and not an association! It should be mentioned that we have been awarded grants once before as well as several other foundations ...
Our application to participate in the EOCA spring round of the €30,000 award was selected out of 250 among the 50 who had to submit a complete application but did not proceed to the final round even though we have full points and meet all the criteria for this round. We are now putting our faith in taking part in this year's edition of the Naturbonusen from Naturkompaniet.
It's Easter! Take the opportunity to give a last-minute gift with a Happy Easter! greeting in our forestry shop. You can create your own title for the gift certificate by selecting "1. Select Category" choose "Write your own" 🙂
Otherwise, it is mainly a spontaneously growing group of forest godparents (now 490), three large private gifts and old (Urberg) and new (premium and Atteviks) partnerships that delight. Agio and Atteviks have reserved spaces in Svartsundets old-growth forest . We also have new partnerships in the pipeline that we will be announcing shortly. These collaborations will not only add to our coffers, but also spread awareness of Naturarvet beyond the already saved crowd.
We have received a proposal from a private individual who wants to lend money on a slightly longer-term basis. The idea is that a number of people with a good amount deposited in a savings account with minimal interest lend the money interest-free to Naturarvet instead. If 500 people, each with 1 million in a savings account, lend it to Naturarvet over 10 years, it could generate between 2 500 and 20 000 hectares of protected forest now. In 10 years it will be too late! Do you want to join the project to create a Naturarvet Fan Fund? Contact Lo Jarl!
The County Administrative Board in Västra Götaland has paused its decision to expand Ekliden's nature reserve with Skarnhålans old-growth forest. During the consultation round, comments were received from a neighbor and from the Mellersta landowners' association that a regulation should be introduced to allow the construction of hunting facilities and that a regulation should be introduced to allow measures against harmful insects.
The County Administrative Board has added the regulations to a new draft decision without first asking Naturarvet . We have protested against both and refer, among other things, to the lack of scientific basis and legal support for insect control because a nature reserve is not included in the Forestry Act but is regulated by the Environmental Code. Since we sent in our submission on December 10, there has been silence.
We also have good cooperation with the County Administrative Board in Uppsala County, which concerns both active efforts for biodiversity and will contribute to expanding the area of protected forest around Svartsundet. We have initially positive signals from two forest owners who are neighbors to acquire land from them.
Now we need to raise the money we didn't get from our applications to make the project work for this year. For the next few years, we need to raise more money to protect even more old-growth forest before it literally goes up in smoke as biofuel.
For Gräsö, we also hope to make visits more inviting by offering free accommodation in a renovated barn and by marking a trail. And what if we could make getting from the southwest to the northwest easier than swimming across Svartsundet somehow. Get in touch if you want to contribute to that.
Feel free to read Lo Jarl's blog about what is happening with the forest in Sweden in general.
Warm tree hugs to all our readers. 🌳🤗
Naturarvet