Forests of the Municipality of Skanderborg

The forest today
The forest as we know it today is basically cultivated forest as a result of more than 6,000 years of human activity. However, a large degree of indigenous flora and fauna can be found in many places. Over the last 20 years emphasis has been on securing the natural values of the forest.

In the northeastern corner of the Municipality of Skanderborg the forest grows mainly on hard and stony soil with an underlying layer of plastic grey clay. Most woods are quite small, and there is often a sudden transition from forest to farmland. Only oak, red alder, elm, ash and hornbeam grow in those places. Where the soil is deeper, beech, sycamore and conifer are also found.

In many places the soil has never been farmed. Here and there you find old oaks which bear the marks of having stood in an open grazing forest. The woods are mostly naturally renewed and are very close to appearing like the natural ancient forest. All that is missing is a few more really old trees which are left to decompose naturally on the forest floor. The soil is very limy, and the decomposition of fallen leaves is fast, usually completed from one year to the next. In these places blue anemones grow together with baneberries, orchids such as Orchis mascula, Listera ovata and Epipactis helleborine, as well as globeflower, Dactylorhiza majalis, herb paris, Ajuga reptans, Chrysosplenium, lungwort, dog’s mercury and nettles.

Insects mainly include lesser stag beetles, long-horned beetles, ground beetles, earth-boring dung beetles, wasps and butterflies, e.g. Camberwell Beauties, Commas, Maps, Purple Emperors and Swallowtails. Ants include orange ants, biting ants, black garden ants and yellow meadow ants. In the area’s woods there are no large anthills made by red wood ants and therefore no black or green woodpeckers. Other species of bird found in conifer woods such as coal tit, crested tit, crossbill and siskin are only rarely seen.

Common frogs, moor frogs, common toads, great crested newts and smooth newts breed in the waterholes of the forest; the rare tree frog can be found in the southeastern part of the forest. Grass snakes, viviparous lizards and slowworms can also be seen. Many species of bat live in the old hollow trees. Yellow-necked mice, bank voles, harvest mice, water voles, shrews, moles and hedgehogs are also common, as are all the small members of the weasel family. Generally the soil is not suitable for digging, but in those places that allow it, you can be sure to find fox and badger lairs. The forest has many deer, some hares and in recent years red deer have spread and can occasionally be spotted.

Throughout the Municipality of Skanderborg there are woods on very hilly terrain. As a result of wide variation in the soil, the woods are highly varied. To the east the limy soil provides the most favourable conditions for beeches, whereas on the less limy soil in Ry Nørreskov to the west, some of Denmark’s tallest spruces grow to a height of about 50 meters. The area is situated on the boundary between eastern and western Denmark and has extremely varied flora and fauna. The expansiveness and interconnectedness of the woods have allowed a genuine forest ecosystem to develop, and on the fringe of the woods towards the farmland, birds such as red kites and ravens breed.

On the light, sandy soil on river terraces and heath plains, the main vegetation is conifer plantations, but in many places there are also clearly visible traces of degrazed heathland that has grown into forest. The trees in such areas are mostly oak, birch, aspen, buckthorn, pine, spruce and a few often multi-branched beeches. On the forest floor there is a rich vegetation of low shrubs, e.g. heather, crowberry, cowberry and blueberry. On open, south-facing and southwest-facing hillsides some species of animals live that require more heat, e.g. adders and purseweb spiders, Atypus affinis. The waterholes are inhabited by green frogs, whose croaking can be heard from afar, and the area around Gl. Rye is one of the places in Denmark that have the greatest variety of butterfly species.

The vegetation in the wetland areas around the lakes, bogs and streams consists mainly of black alder and willow. On more acid soil there are northern bilberries and bayberries as well as many ferns and mosses. Where there is much peat moss and sufficient light, you may have the chance to see the carnivorous sundew as well as cranberries, cotton grass, bell heather and water arum. Near streams, you can find dippers, grey wagtails, kingfishers and perhaps traces of an otter.

Today, the products of the forest are the same as they have always been; the wood is

used for firewood, woodchips for power stations, cellulose for paper production and timber for the building and furniture industries.

During the past 50 years, the production of Christmas trees and greenery has become increasingly important, and Denmark is now Europe’s largest exporter of these products. The largest market is Germany, but for several years Danish trees have won the award as the most beautiful Christmas tree in Britain and received the honour of spending Christmas at no.10 Downing Street.

Of course the forest also has a high nature content, offering citizens wide-ranging recreational opportunities.

Today, it is up to us to decide where forests should be planted, and the Danish Parliament has decided that Danish forest areas are to be doubled over one generation of trees. The new forests are mainly a mixture of various broadleaf trees and shrubs with a small addition of conifers. These plantings have great potential, and they may be shaped in several different directions which will result in a high nature content within the foreseeable future.

According to the new Forest Act existing forests must increasingly be cultivated on nature’s own terms, historic management methods will be reintroduced and forests must be of benefit to nature, the landscape and the citizens. In several areas there will be sufficient space to reintroduce e.g. cattle, horses, elks, bison and boars. They will help keep the forest from overgrowing e.g. in wet areas, valleys and hilly terrain, which will create a more distinct and varied landscape for the benefit of plants, animals and humans.