The Glomma fairytale forest

This forest is home to an incredible number of species. Many different plants and animals live here. Even the lynx has trotted through this forest. Most species in Norway live in the forest, and some of the species who live right here are so small that you cannot see them. They may hide right under your feet. Others tower far above your head and are clearly visible at the exact same place all year round. The pine tree can become 500 hundred to 600 years old - just think if the old pine trees in this forest could talk… they could probably tell so many exciting stories. Unfortunately, they can’t. But if you continue a little further on, I can tell you some stories about those who live here.

Have you ever seen a mite or a springtail? Do you know what they look like? Most likely you're standing on top of one right now. In the soil, right under your feet, there is a whole miniature world. There are actually quite a few species that have the soil as their home. Woodlouse, millipedes, spiders, earwig, mites, and springtails all live in the soil, as do many others. Most of these creatures will probably see you as a giant, and you will need a magnifying glass to be able to see many of them. Mites are not just one species, there are almost 1000 species of mites in Norway alone, and many of them live in the soil. Most mites are less than 1 mm in size, but still, some of them are predators that may eat springtails. In the upper layers of the soil there are thousands of springtails. They are also only a few millimeters in size, and most feed on dead plants, fungi, and lichens. However, some of the springtails are also predators. Springtails can eat mites, and mites can eat springtails. It is a tough life for those who live in the earth as well.

Have you ever tried your luck fishing in Glomma? Supposedly it’s an abundance of grayling and trout in this part of the river out by the Koppang islands. One may wonder why some areas give such luck fishing while others don’t. There are 12 species of fish in Glomma, but not all thrive equally well along the entire stretch of the river. It takes more than just water for the fish to thrive. The river Glomma starts in the mountains northeast of the municipality Røros, 950 meters above sea level and flows for 632 km before it reaches the outlet to the sea at Fredrikstad. There is a big difference in the temperature, and the amount of minerals and nutrients in the water in the mountain and down by the sea. The cold, running water also has a higher oxygen level than still water, and when the river approaches the sea, the water turns brackish as it mixes with salt water. Together with the very design of the river, all of these factors, are having an effect on the answer to why it is good fishing in some places and not others. Here at the Koppang islands, the river is special. The many islands, shallows, and canals create different habitats for both plants, insects, and other small insects which in turn provide an abundance of food for the fish.

The large carnivores also live here. The Lynx, Brown bear, Wolverine, Wolf, and even the Golden Eagle live in the forests of Stor-Elvdal. There are not many municipalities of Norway where all the large predators live, so here we have something a bit special. In the small piece of forest right here, it is probably only the lynx that has stopped by nowadays, but from time to time you can get lucky and see some very large cat tracks through this forest. The lynx is a nocturnal cat that is adapted to living here in the cold north. The paw of the lynx is large so that it can float on top of the snow in the winter. Most often the Lynx is at rest during the day, but when evening comes… the hunt is on. The lynx is a fast and efficient hunter who can take animals that are far larger than himself. It will prefer roe deer, but it can also eat sheep and tamed reindeers, therefore not everyone is happy to have the large cat close by. But to be fair, it may be us humans who have come too close to the large carnivores. We use more and more space, both for ourselves and for our livestock. It is very easy to remove the forest when we need space for roads, houses, and cabins, but then we must not forget that all the large predators also require large habitats.

If you sit here by the water's one summer day, you might get a whole swarm of lake flies around you. You may not feel that it is very cosy, but the lake flies do not sting at all, it is only the females of the mosquito that stings. Lake flies are insects, and we should be very happy that we have insects both in the river and here in the forest. If the insects were to disappear, we would have a big problem as the insects nourish many stomachs. In Norway, we have around 1500 species of mosquitoes, which is quite a lot when we consider that all of us humans in the world, no matter what we look like, are only one species. The lake flies count over 500 species in Norway, and much to the delight of the fish, most larvae and pupae of lake flies live freely in the water. Under the calm water surface in this river, there is a constant struggle for existence, not all lake fly larvae manage to become adults and have the opportunity to buzz around you by the riverbank.

Right here, in the anthill, lives the red wood ant. For most of the summer, it is a bustling life both above and below ground. The anthill is built of straw, twigs and conifer needles - and is almost like a small city. Over a hundred thousand working ants and several hundred egg-laying queens may live here - for ants do not thrive alone, they are social insects. All the ants who live in the anthill have their very special roles and tasks - a bit like in our own society. Humans and ants are quite similar in some areas. It is the working ant that is in charge of the construction of the anthill, and if there are too many ants in an anthill, well then they take some queens with them and move out to make a completely new anthill. – eventually, there will be a whole network of anthills throughout the forest. Of course, there are more than just one species of ant. The red wood ant is one of the most common ant species in our forest, but more than 60 species of ants have been identified in Norway. And worldwide, there are about 14,000 species of ants. Not all ants live in anthills like this. Some build nests in old stumps and tree trunks, and some live in the soil, as the red wood ant does in the winter when it goes to sleep.

Look up! Do you see the big trees towering over you? Do you know the names of any of them? The forest is full of trees! Conifers that are green all year round and deciduous trees that shed their leaves in the autumn. The Norwegian forests are dominated by spruce, pine, and birch, but we have around 30 species of trees in this country. To be able to breathe, we are completely dependent on the trees’ oxygen production, but have you ever thought about the fact that a single tree in this forest can be home to a large number of species? The old pine tree is like an apartment complex that provides housing for many species of lichens, fungi, insects, and birds. In a tree, there is a bustling life everywhere; on the needles, the bark, and even around the roots, where it is a rich life of microorganisms. Some of the species may damage the tree, while others cooperate with it for their common good.

Did you know that fungi and conifers have worked together for millions of years? In fact, most green plants cooperate with fungi in a symbiosis called mycorrhiza. At some point in history, plants and fungi must have come to an agreement on how they could work together for the good of both species. Fungi are neither plants nor animals, they belong to their own kingdom – the fungi kingdom. Fungi do not have the ability to extract energy from the sun as the plant does through the photosynthesis. They need to get nourishment from others. Plant like trees, on the other hand, always needs to fetch water and nutrients through the roots, but have a problem with the roots being too thick in some places. The solution was then that the fungus made a kind of root on the outside of the tree root – a fungi root - which was 100 times thinner than the plant roots. This gave the tree more water and nutrients - in exchange for sugar that can be used as energy in the mushrooms. This is a win-win for both parties - and isn’t that a little wise?

If we could close our eyes and think a hundred years back in time… the cultural landscape would probably have looked quite different. The cultural landscape is the human-made landscape, and it has been cared for by us humans and our livestock for thousands of years, but our way of farming has changed over time. The fields that we see here are longer harvested with a scythe, and the hay is no longer hung up to dry outside. We have replaced the horse with a tractor, the ax with a chainsaw and we fertilize the earth with artificial fertilizer to get larger crops. Pastures and hayfields that were previously maintained are now vanishing. Since the 1950s, our entire country has been turned upside down, and the development that has taken place has been both good and bad. Good because we are living quite comfortably, but bad because we are involved in the extinction of species on a large scale. If we ask the flowering plant and insect, they would probably say that the development has been a disaster! - When cultural landscapes change or disappear, the diversity of flowers and thus also the insects that depend on the flowers disappear. Over 500 species are endangered in the cultural landscape today. If we do nothing, many of these will be exterminated.