Freshwater rewilding

1.3 Case study: rewilding the Abramsån in Sweden's Nordic Taiga

In the Nordic Taiga most rivers have been severely damaged by historical logging. Here, Rewilding Sweden is working to restore natural water courses and forests. In 2023 and 2024, the Rewilding Sweden team led efforts to rewild a stretch of the Abramsån River in the valley of the Råne River by removing embankments, removing log flooring and adding gravel and silt. These actions will help to create a range of different habitats, slow down the flow of water, promote sedimentation and increase connectivity between the river and the surrounding forests (Rewilding Europe, 2023c).

Rewilding rivers helps to retain water in the freshwater system for longer. In the case of the Abramsån, this has a huge ecological benefit for:

• insects, birds, and fish that depend directly on the river
• natural grazers like reindeer who feed on hanging lichens that thrive in moist forest conditions, and moose that graze on plants in and around rivers.

In addition, seeds from upstream can be deposited on the river floodplain, boosting biodiversity in flooded areas. Deadwood, washed down the river, can also be deposited which provides an important substrate for macrofauna, creating a wide range of micro-habitats and adding nutrients to the soil.

Use the left and right arrows below to show the before and after landscape.

Click here for an accessible description