The Icelandic Forestry Association (Skógræktarfélag Íslands in Icelandic) is a non-governmental organization which was founded in 1930. Its goals are to represent the interests of the 64 local volunteer forestry associations of Iceland and promote the importance of reforestation and land reclamation to tackle the environmental and climate crisis. The IFA therefore represents around 7500 individuals registered in its network and is as such the biggest environmental NGO of Iceland.
It has an important leading role in educating the public on the topic of the environment and land improvement, creating biodiversity shelters, and teaching local communities to connect more to nature.
This representative and educational dimension is strengthened by its experience in forestry as we lead many forestry activities: land assessment and planning, tree planting, Christmas tree harvesting, and forest maintenance (path-making, thinning, public access improvement).
The board of directors is composed of representatives of the forestry associations. Every year, the IFA organizes a general assembly where representatives of the member associations gather to exchange and discuss important topics, vote on the bylaws of the association, elect its board and hear about the latest research in the Icelandic forest science sector. As such, the IFA has a strong bottom-up decision-making function.
Its team is composed of eight employees with four foresters, an environmentalist, a horticulturalist, an anthropologist, an administration and finance manager, and two dogs: Embla and Kolur.
In 2007, the IFA teamed up with Landvernd - the Icelandic Environment Association to create Kolviður - the Iceland Carbon Fund. The ICF plants trees to sequester carbon for private companies and individuals in particularly eroded areas in several parts of the country: in Geitasandur and Skálholt in the south, in Húsavík in the north, in Reykholt in the West, and finally in Úlfljótsvatn, where the house is located.
Úlfljótsvatn is where the heart of our operations is. From there we manage all our tree planting operations in the summer and Christmas tree harvests in the winter. We have celebrated the ICF’s millionth tree in autumn 2020 by planting a Siberian pine (Pinus sibirica) on our land with our volunteers.
Among other things, the IFA manages the bi-annual publication of Skógræktarritið, the only forestry journal in Iceland, that aims to bring scientific and expert knowledge regarding trees, forestry and forest science to the general public. It also manages a variety of projects in collaboration with individual forestry associations and other organizations and funds.
More information on our activities and contact information of our employees can be found on our main website.
The operations of the IFA fall under the hat of the Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Fisheries. Here is a mind map showing the organization of the forestry and environmental sector in Iceland:
The Lake House of Úlfljótsvatn
Úlfljótsvatnsbær
Grafningsvegur Efri
805 Selfoss
Iceland
+354-783-9531
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