Myrbråten, Naturreservat

Mixed forest with dead wood for the benefit of many species.

The nature reserve is a forest with deciduous trees and some conifers. The most common tree species are aspen and birch. The forest has long been left fairly untouched. Most of the area was previously open land that was cultivated or grazed. The land was abandoned in the interwar period and began to spontaneously grow back into a forest. In the long term, growing spruces will make the deciduous forest denser and darker. The forest in the nature reserve has high and even humidity.

The reserve was established to preserve biodiversity and valuable natural environments. Therefore, the area should continue to develop into a natural forest with a large proportion of dead wood.

Animals and plants

The area is an important environment for birds that depend on deciduous forests. A good example of this is the lesser spotted woodpecker, Dendrocopos minor, which is found here. There are some really old aspens, dead standing and lying trees and wood that is rotting. This creates good habitats for rare species of mosses, lichens and fungi. Wood-living fungi such as the lichen tick, Fomes fomentarius, grows on birch trunks, the fox tick, Inonotus rheades, on aspen and the alder tick, Inonotus radiatus, on gray alder. Rock walls also provide good habitats. So far, Värmland's only discovery of the herb lichen, Lobaria virens, is found here.