Ljusbodarnas fäbodställe

Large pastoral farm divided into two areas, Övre and Nedre Ljusbodarna. The upper part is located on Blåbergsbacken's southern slope about 400 m above sea level. The lower part is in a more flat, hilly location. Buildings throughout Ljusbodarna are unusually preserved and well cared for and many hundreds of meters of fence, mainly in the lower part, give an old-fashioned character. Ljusbodarna was probably a mixed village in the 16th and 17th centuries, but was later transformed into a pastoral settlement.

During the 1820s, as many as 11 villages were given sheds here and large areas of fields and hayfields surrounded the farms. There are said to have been as many as 152 buildings within the fäbodtäkten and about 70 barns out on the slogarna (meadows) at this time. Today it is difficult to imagine how open the landscape around the farms was then.

Pastoral farming flourished in the latter part of the 19th century and then declined sharply in the early 20th century. In Ljusbodarna, however, it lived on until the 1960s. Unlike almost all other grazing farms, grazing was resumed in Ljusbodarna, and grazing animals still keep the pasture open today.

A very active and vibrant herding team, in collaboration with landowners, has made great efforts to open up and manage what has grown back. Predator fences have also been erected around the entire pasture. The fence is intended to keep predators and wild boar on the outside and grazing animals on the inside. Contrary to what was done in the past, when the animals had to graze on the forest because what grew on fields and meadows in the pasture would be harvested. But times have changed and this is seen as a good idea to keep the land open.