Sweden is covered by 69% forest. In southern Sweden, human interventions started to have a significant impact on broadleaved forests around 2000 years ago, where the first evidence of extensive agriculture has been found. Recent studies describe a long-term process of borealization in south-central Sweden starting at the beginning of the Holocene where oak ('' Quercus'' spp.) and alder (''

Alnus Alders are trees comprising the genus ''Alnus'' in the birch family Betulaceae. The genus comprises about 35 species of monoecious trees and shrubs, a few reaching a large size, distributed throughout the north temperate zone with a few s ...

'' spp.) seemingly started to decline around 2000 years ago due to a decrease in temperature. At the same time the

Norway spruce ''Picea abies'', the Norway spruce or European spruce, is a species of spruce native to Northern, Central and Eastern Europe. It has branchlets that typically hang downwards, and the largest cones of any spruce, 9–17 cm long. It is very clo ...

(''Picea abies'') started to emigrate from the north, and the

European beech ''Fagus sylvatica'', the European beech or common beech is a deciduous tree belonging to the beech family Fagaceae. Description ''Fagus sylvatica'' is a large tree, capable of reaching heights of up to tall and trunk diameter, though more ...

(''Fagus sylvatica'') emigrated from the south of Europe. Though, as a primary result of production forest management at the middle of the twentieth century, ''P. abies'' and Scots pine (''Pinus sylvestris'') covers together around 75% of southern Sweden actual standing tree volume.

Economic use of forests

Wood from the forest has long been used in the southern part of the country and in early agricultural areas as a source of fuel and as a building material. Wood was essential for Sweden's early mining industry, as it was used to produce charcoal for processing ore. Other important forestry products included wood pitch, tar, and potash, which were produced for export beginning in the Middle Ages. Forestry work expanded to Norrland beginning in the early 19th century, and the resulting cleared areas became the site of small farms and pastures. Extensive logging resulted in the development of a sawmill industry, which produced lumber for export. This expansion continued until 1905.

List of Swedish forests

Kolmården Kolmården () is a long and wide densely forested rocky ridge that separates the Swedish provinces of Södermanland and Östergötland, two of the country's main agricultural areas, from each other, and in historic times, along with Tylöskog an ...

* Tiveden *

Tylöskog Tylöskog is a forested area in southeast Sweden, intersected by many faults, running from east to west between the agricultural plains of the counties of Närke and Östergötland. Together with Tiveden to its west and Kolmården to its east, ...

* Kilsbergen * Ed Forest

References

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