Excursion through the Hekluskógar restoration project area
Last week, the GRÓ LRT fellows went on an excursion to the Hekluskógar restoration project area in South Iceland. The focus of this trip was on land degradation, ecosystem collapse and the wet deserts in Iceland, while also studying restoration strategies and methods to restore vast areas of severely degraded land.
The excursion started with a visit to the Commonwealth Farm in Þjórsárdalur, a reconstructed farmhouse that was buried under volcanic tephra from Mount Hekla in 1104. There, the fellows were introduced to the lifestyle of the early Icelandic settlers over a thousand years ago.
Following this, the group travelled through the Hekluskógar restoration project area where the fellows were introduced to the degradation history of the area, and how a combination of unsustainable land use, cold climatic periods and volcanic eruptions caused extensive loss of vegetation and soils. This led to the collapse of the birch woodland ecosystem, which had previously shielded the region from recurrent tephra falls from the nearby active volcano, Mt. Hekla.
The fellows also learned about the large-scale restoration project aiming at restoring healthy woodland ecosystems that can provide valuable ecosystem services and mitigate potential damage from volcanic ash from future Mt. Hekla eruptions. The group had the opportunity to explore various sites within the project area, witnessing different stages of restoration, and visiting remnants of birch woodlands that have withstood centuries of human management and heavy deposits of tephra from past volcanic eruptions.