Mårdshytte Kalkskog, Naturreservat

The Mårdshytte limestone forest nature reserve is, as the name suggests, a forest on limestone-rich soil. The forest is home to a wide range of rare plants and animals, species that cannot survive in today's modern forests. It is also home to a number of very hardy species, which only grow in old forests where there is lime in the soil.

Old spruce forest

Mårdshytte limestone forest is located on the slope down to Lake Usken. The forest is old and has a great variety of species. Here you will find trees of many different ages as well as dead trees. Many rare species find food and shelter in the dead wood. Spruce is the dominant tree species in most of the reserve. Many of the spruces have grown slowly, initially often under older trees, and therefore do not look as old as they actually are. In the partly neglected land at the bottom of the slope grows a denser mixed forest containing both spruce and birch.

Many lime-loving species

Mårdshyttan and Fanthyttan are located in an area with ancient limestone. The fact that the soil is affected by limestone is evident not least in the vegetation. There are many species here that are specially adapted to lime. One example is the rare lime bracken that grows abundantly here. Lesser celandine, wood sorrel and fleabane are other lime-favored plants. Among the fungi, we also find many exciting species, many of which can only be found in old limestone coniferous forests like this one. Like the purple violet and the flat-topped club mushroom. Or how about the rare four-lobed earth star. In the damp and calcareous environment, mosses are also appreciated, with species such as lime comb moss, lime spring moss and comb moss.

Lime quarries and kilns

Humans have also taken an interest in the limestone-rich bedrock. There are several limestone quarries in the area. Just south of the reserve are two lime kilns from the 1920s, where lime was burned for mortar and other purposes.

Accessibility

Mårdshytte limestone forest belongs to level 1 in the County Administrative Board's leveling of the county's nature reserves, which means that the reserve has a wilderness character and lacks outdoor recreation facilities.