A dive in the forest of Úlfljótsvatn!

A dive in the forest of Úlfljótsvatn!

The lake of Úlfljótsvatn is the second coldest lake in Iceland. Only the most adventurous people will dare take a dip on a hot summer day, and most will avoid falling from their canoes. There is however more than meets the eye in Ulfljótsvatn, and more opportunities to enjoy the summer days, be they warm and sunny, or cold, windy and rainy!

In the 1990s, the Scouts of Úlfljótsvatn Forestry Association planted a Land Reclamation forest in partnership with the Icelandic Forestry Association. The forest has since then grown a lot and presents now many interesting areas, tree and plant species, as well as birds (an owl has been spotted this year!) and insects. Fungi are starting to appear, and one can now easily go there to pick blueberries and stone bramble in the autumn.

This is why Úlfljótsvatn has welcomed eight volunteers for two weeks from July 22nd to August 4th to improve the accessibility of the forest and other forestry-related tasks, so that every guest and volunteer can discover and enjoy our new and growing forest ecosystem!

The program „Creating an exciting forest for youth“ was funded by the European Solidarity Corps ERASMUS+ program of the European Union and gathered volunteers from Hungary, Ireland, France, Greece and Sweden who lived together in Fossbúð, a small cabin owned by the scouts, on the outskirts of the forest: Márton, Irène, Ciara, Félicien, Frej, Madeleine, Alexandros, and Vinciane.

A similar project had taken place in 2023, and the experience was so positive that it was decided to continue this year with a new group. This project is a close collaboration between the Icelandic Forestry Association, the Scouts of Úlfljótsvatn Forestry Association, the Scout and Adventure Centre of Úlfljótsvatn and the Scout Association of Iceland. It was made possible with the help of Rannís – the ESC national agency of Iceland. The Scout of Úlfljótsvatn Forestry Association received a grant from the Land Reclamation Fund to buy material and plants for the program.

A new path of 480 meters was made from the entrance of the forest to the cross that overviews the area. This was done to increase the safety of children and groups who hike to the cross on a daily basis from the scout camp and often have to walk on the road.

The design of the path was drawn and then made by and with the volunteers. Stairs were added for more comfort on steep areas, and gravel was put on half of the path to make sure it will last for a long time.

The volunteers planted and then fertilized ca. 550 birch trees from the Landgræðsluskógar project in empty areas to extend the forest and help reforest the area.

An afternoon was spent in the tree nursery Kjarr where each volunteer got to learn about the practice of growing trees, the variety of plants that can be sold and adapted to the Icelandic environmental conditions, and the importance of shelter belts to grow them.

At the end of the day, and with the advice and recommendations of our staff and the owner of the nursery, all of them could bring two trees of their choice back to Úlfljótsvatn.

The sixteen trees were later ceremoniously planted one by one in the forest along the new path to extend the arboretum created last year. Each volunteer got their „plant portrait“ taken, which can be found further below.

Finally, the volunteers ended their mission by helping us take out lupine in the future Christmas tree areas, and were trees had been planted last year. By doing so, we gave the young trees a month of growth out of the lupine, and preventing the extension of the lupine within the forest. This will overall stimulate vegetation growth and the lupine will retreat a bit faster from the growing pine stands.

Despite a rainy weather and a large amount of flies, our volunteers have shown determination in their work, but also a lot of curiosity, enthusiasm, and interest in the various tasks that were given to them. They have achieved a lot in a very short period of time and all the partners of the project were delighted to host and teach such an excellent group.

On their last working day, the staff of the Scout and Adventure Centre of Úlfljótsvatn offered them the green badge of „Úlfljótsvatn volunteering“ as a token of their commitment to a greener future, a more sustainable society, towards more solidarity with local communities and the education to nature of the future generations of children who will walk the forest. They went back home with their ESC certification, full of new skills and knowledge on the Icelandic nature and on how we can work with the environment to tackle the effects of climate change.

With their work and tree planting activities with us, our volunteers completely compensated their travelling CO2 emissions, and created a positive CO2 sink of 180,37 t.CO2 for the next 50 years.

So what to do if the lake is far too cold for you? Just go for a forest bath in the scout forest of Úlfljótsvatn! Maybe you will spot the owl, or some of the young trees planted by our volunteers…

Plant portraits