Utlängan Skottskogen

On Utlängan there are the remains of a mixed oak forest cleared in the sixteenth century. Written sources and a nautical chart show that there were old oak trees here in 1671 and that the trees were used as seamarks, distinguishing Utlängan from other islands. The interpretation of the old oak trees visible today is that they are the descendants of the seventeenth-century oaks and that their roots might be more than 300 years old. Today’s forest is thought to be the remains of a coppice where the trees were deliberately cut to produce oak trees with several trunks. This practice was common in the past and is still found in some mountainous regions in southern Europe to increase wood and fuel production. At this time, it was especially important in the outer archipelago, which otherwise had no access to such materials. The forests also has flora all of its own, including many species of fungi and rich insect fauna. Source: Björn Berglund