Brochure Virgin Forst in Sjodalen

VIRGIN
FOREST
IN SJODALEN

«Veogjelet nature reserve is a highlight with its old natural
forest, with gnarled, old trees having lots of dry
branches (dwarf pines), lots of deadwood in all existing
stages of degradation, and good continuity in this type
of elements. Locally, there are virgin forest areas»
Do you want to go on a journey through time with us? Would
you like to dive into a myriad of rare and odd creatures?
Leave those forest areas, which are easily accessible. Leave
the trails, too, if you want. They will appear little by little …
bigger trees, with crooked and twisted branches, which is a
sign of very slow growth under poor conditions in the sandy
pine forest. You might see an old stump here and there. The
tree may have been felled in the 17th century, or it has been
felled as late as around 1900 – to build an alp cabin, or to
provide warmth for a smokehouse. There are quite a lot of
old and dead trees … some are still standing, some are lying.
You are now in the old forest or nature forest. You see that all
pine generations are represented and form the livelihood for
many species – no matter if they live on very old, older, dead
upright, dead lying, or younger trees.
The transition to the virgin forest is barely visible. There are
no stumps anymore. There have been humans here before
us, and they have collected firewood, branches, leaves to
feed their animals during the winter months; they made bonfires,
and they hunted moose and reindeer. The forest, however,
has not changed; in this area, it looks the same, and it
lives in the same way as thousands of years ago. People who
lived in the Viking age, have seen the same type of forest.
Welcome to the virgin forest. Let it tell and show you the
forest nature mysteries!

Veostien
Veogjelet
naturreservat
SJODALEN
HYTTETUN
HINDSÆTER
Veogjelet nature reserve, north of Hindsæter, has been established
in 2015. Those areas that look most like virgin forest,
are situated close to Veojuvet gorge, both on the north
side and on the south side – and beneath the steep parts of
Hindsæterkampen Mountain. Whilst the marked path on the
south side passes these parts in some areas, you will have to
follow an unmarked path from Veobru Bridge and further on
the north side. Here you will find unbelievably beautiful old
forests with lots of lichens, dwarfed and slightly special grey
alder and bird cherry trees. Leave the trails, and you will find
your virgin forest!
Hulderstigen
Stuttgongstien
Stuttgonglie nature reserve was extended and reached its current
size in 2015. Stuttgongstien trail goes through the northern
part of the reserve – the trail follows the old traffic route
towards Griningsdalen valley here. The beautiful nature and
culture trail Hulderstigen is a great and simple one, and you
can park your car at Russlie. Leave the trails to find the virgin
forest in less accessible areas – for example, along Sjoa
and towards Melistjønn tarn. Have a look at the wolf lichen
at Nybrue!
Stuttgonglia
naturreservat

THE
MOUNTAIN
PINE
The mountain pine lives a
slow and long life. The usual
life span for pines in mountain
forests is 400 – 500
years; the oldest ones can
be 700 – 800 years old. The
trees die often slowly and
gradually, due to fungi and
insects, and when the tree
is finally dead, it can still
stand as a dry pine for 200 –
400 more years. When the
tree is blown down at last,
it can, thanks to Sjodalen
valley’s dry and cold inland
climate, lie for several hundred
more years until it has
been degraded by fungi and insects, and become new soil.
This means that the lying dead pines along Veostien trail can
be 1000 to 1200 years old now!
In old nature forests, the volume of deadwood is up to 10
times the volume of industrially exploited commercial woodlands.
Countless species are directly or indirectly depending
on deadwood – this applies, in fact, to up to ¼ of all and any
species living in Scandinavian forests. There is bustling life in a
dead tree – you will find insects and different wood-degrading
fungi, but also quite a number of lichen and moss species,
which live on and from the tree in different phases of degradation.
The species come and go as the tree is slowly degraded,
and the biodiversity changes several times from the moment
the tree falls down, to the moment it is completely degraded.
For this reason, it is no wonder that, for example, a fungus that
only can live in pine branches is threatened today, because it
may take 1000 years from the sprouting stage of the tree until
it reaches a suitable degradation stadium. The protection of
old, natural forests is the most important individual measure
to preserve species in Norway.

FORGOTTEN, OR RARE ...
USNEA
Is one of the 30 to 40 species of lichen, that grow hanging
from trees and look like a brown-black «dark beard» and it is
one of the most common species.
Usnea is the only of these species which has medical effect.
Approx. 1 % of the lichen is usnic acid, some sort of broad
spectrum, antibiotic phenolic acid. The lichen has been used
to fight bacterial infections and other diseases for many years;
for up to 3000 years in China.
Usnea is elastic – when the lichen is moisturised, it will be
possible to extend it, using an elastic centre thread. The lichen
is not particularly rare, but you will find more of it in the old
forest.
CYPHELIUM PINICOLA
Is a crustose lichen that grows on old living or dead dry pine
branches. If you find a really old pine with lots of bigger dry
branches, you may find a light-green crust with black dots,
if you are lucky. Put your finger cautiously on it. Do you see
black dots on the finger? Then you have found cyphelius pinicola.
The black dots are the “soot”, the fruiting body of the
lichen. It is on the Norwegian Red List for species, and it is
considered to be vulnerable. There are relatively huge quantities
of it in Sjodalen valley, but it is very rare in the rest of
the country.

INTERACTION IN THE FOREST
WOODPECKERS, AND OTHER BIRDS
Did you know that a couple of the rare white-backed woodpecker
needs at least 2 square kilometres with lots of dead
trees, to be able to raise a litter of chickens? Dead trees are a
habitat for many insects, and this woodpecker has specialised
on them, and he depends on them. Many woodpeckers pick
holes into old trees when they look for food – and these trees
make optimum nesting places for other birds again. Look how
many holes there are in the dry pines or in the old asp groves
which are spread over the natural reserves.
POLYPORES
Are fungi that grow on living or dead wood. Birch bracket
mushrooms and tinder conk mushrooms have been widely
used in traditional medicine; they contain polyporenic acid,
which is anti-inflammatory. They have been used for many
other things, too – as children’s toy, pincushion, and to ignite
and transport fires. Many rare polypores are connected to
the different stages of degradation of old trees. Beneath Hindsæterkampen
mountain, there is one of a total of 15 places of
discovery in Norway, where you can find the extremely rare
Antrodia infirma.

THE HULDER IN
THE STREAM GORGES
There are huge contrasts between different areas of life on
short distances in stream and creek gorges and along rapids
– moist river beds, dry mountain walls, sources, sun and
shade conditions, and a special air humidity. Plants that are
especially adapted to such an environment, are also called
«Hulder plants»! In Sjodalen valley, you find red-listed needle
lichen (in Norwegian: Huldrenål, literally translated as
«Hulder needle»), a really tiny pin lichen; there is the redlisted
Bryoria tenuis (in Norwegian: the “long Troll beard”), a
two-coloured beard lichen, and there are red-listed Evernia
mesomorpha, and Heterodermia speciosa (in Norwegian:
“ivory lichen”).
Even though they are difficult to find and identified without
magnifying glasses and some knowledge, biodiversity in
the nature along the creeks and streams in the nature reserves
is obvious. Look at the many different species of lichen
on the huge boulders along Veo river, or along Sjoa river. Pay
attention to the many different shades of green when you
look at the moss and grass species along the rivers.
SEVERAL NATURE RESERVED IN
SJODALEN VALLEY
Apart from Veogjelet and Stuttgonglie nature reserves, two
smaller reserves have been established in 2015:
1. Baklia Nature Reserve – the old pine forest opposite
Heimsand, with lots of dwarf pines
2. Riddarspranget Nature Reserve – the entire area around
Riddarspranget ravine, with many ravine-typical species
and «Huldra» plants, but also lots of old pines and dwarf
pines, and associated species.

«KEEP WATCH ON THE NATURE»
There are really many forests in Norway. The forests have
good conditions when the climate gets warmer, and the pressure
from agriculture (meadows and pastures) and mountain
pasturing is reduced. Why is it then important to protect
the forests?
Most of forest areas in Norway have been logged here and
there, or over huge areas, during the last centuries. After the
mining industry and shipbuilding reached their peaks, industrialization
started swallowing up the last bigger rests of the
untouched forests – with extensive logging in the first instance,
with logging machines and logging of bigger areas during
the 20th century.
When we consider the life span of a pine, it is just one
logging, even if it was just here and there and long ago, may
have deprived the forest of many species. And it is not certain
that these species manage to re-establish themselves within
500 – 1000 years.
In addition to purely nature-specific arguments, the untouched
forest also has its very special intrinsic value and aesthetics.
There are many species which have not been explored
yet, but can have huge importance in the future – may it be
for the development of new medicine, or the insight into new
correlations and interactions in the nature.
Dare leave the trails. Moss, heathland and young trees are not
threatened! BUT: do not use old trees for firewood, and leave
the old branches and all the old trees in peace. You can
collect known edible mushrooms, and of course, berries, in
autumn, but do not collect other species. Be considerate, and
take all your waste home again. Enjoy your hike!
TRAPPER PITS
ALONG VEO RIVER
Along Veostien trail, you will pass a lot of pits in the ground –
they are remains of very old trapper systems for wild reindeer
and moose, and they may have been used from the Stone
Age on. This method for catching animals was mostly used
during the Viking time and the Middle Ages. The pits were
then 2 – 3 metres deep, with steep edges, and hidden by
branches and moss. They have been established as a system
crossing the natural migration trails of the animals, which approach
the gorge and have to follow the gorge to cross the
river down in the valley. There are several hundreds of these
pits in Sjodalen valley. Only in 1863, this trapping method was
forbidden by Law.

VIRGIN FOREST SAFARI
You never experienced the forest this way. We shall take you
deep into an age-old forest realm which mysterious and rare
species call home.
Our ancestors learnt to use the qualities of plants, lichens
and fungi in the virgin forest. This is unknown
for most of us today. In addition, many of the useful
plants have become scarcer in the usual forests that we
know today.
Come along and search for golden threads in old pine
roots, try the taste of Iceland moss, and take a close-up
picture of Cladonia bellidiflora. Here you stroll through a
landscape full of natural monuments where fatwood and old
trees that have fallen down in hundreds of years, will give you
wonderful motives for your pictures. Poke your nose down
into the roots, and enjoy the strong pine scent generated by
a tree that flourished when the Vikings lived.
Did you know that the dry, gross, dead branches of old
dwarf pines are almost the only place where the scarce
Cyphelium pinicola can grow? Did you pay attention to the
silver and bluish colour of dead trees, which lead to them
also being called «blue pine»? Did you touch the age-old
grinding and polishing tool called «rough horsetail»? Did you
taste Nephroma arcticum?
We promise you to meet wondrous, forgotten fungi and
lichens, and lots of new understanding for the correlations
and interactions in the forest, and you will look at the forest
around you with other eyes.

YOU CAN FIND MORE
INFORMATION HERE:
Hiking map free of charge, at the reception desk of
Hindsæter hotel.
Digital tour guide with GPS tracking, via the
free app outtt.com
Virgin forest safari: ask the receptionist at Hindsæter hotel,
or check facebook.com/hindseter
References:
• Holien, H./ Tønsberg, T.: Norsk lavflora. Bergen 2014
• Hågvar, S./ Berntsen, B. (red): Norsk urskog
og gammelskog. Otta 2011
• Larsson, J./ Sandved Dalen, L.: Den fantastiske
skogen. Oslo 2018
• Sverdrup – Thygeson, A.: Viktige valg for skogen. Aftenposten
innsikt 4/2016
• Wohlleben, P: Trærnes hemmelige liv.
Trondheim 2016
Reports forming the basis for protection:
• http://lager.biofokus.no/omraadebeskrivelser/Frivilligvern2009_Veogjelet-Hindsaeterkampen.pdf
• http://lager.biofokus.no/omraadebeskrivelser/
Statskog2004_DP2_StuttgonglieN.pdf
• http://lager.biofokus.no/omraadebeskrivelser/
Statskog2005_Langmorkje_Ridderspranget.pdf
Published by Hindsæter with support from Norwegian Environment Agency
IVK Design