basal burnings in a pine forest

Veteranization – basal burning and partial debarking

One of SCA's conservation measures is veteranization. This means actively damaging selected trees through basal burning and partial debarking. We help the trees develop wood characteristics that normally form in older, fire-damaged trees. This creates vital habitats for species that depend on this type of wood to survive.

In the past, forests burned much more frequently than they do today, and many of the flora and tha fauna in pur forest are adapted to this. During wildfires, most spruces would perish, while pines were better able to survive. The fire damage caused the pines to develop a special type of wood that grew slowly and was impregnated with resin.

Nowadays, as we efficiently extinguish wildfires, there is a shortage of habitats for species that benefit from or rely on fire-influenced pines/pine forests.

Alternatives to burning

The best and most effective way to create fire-adapted environments in today's forests is through prescribed burning of entire forests, primarily pine forests, as these were the types of forests that burned most often in the past.

However, this is often labor-intensive work requiring perfect weather conditions for safety reasons and to ensure the success of the operation. Additionally, in the short term, burning reduces the availability of ground lichens, which impacts reindeer herding. In many cases, affected Sámi communities oppose burning during consultations.

As an alternative to burning entire forest areas, we can instead veteranize pines through basal burning and partial debarking. In basal burning, we burn the lower section of the trunk of selected individual trees, and with partial debarking, we intentionally peel away part of the bark.

Both methods help trees accelerate the process of developing slow-growing wood, which is typically formed in fire-damaged, very old trees. We often say that we "speed up the aging process of the trees."

Basal burning

Performing basal burning, SCA uses convenient and simple portable fires, which can be described as a small, wooden bag filled with wood blocks, birch bark, and a fire starter. At each pine tree we select, a portable fire is placed at the base of the trunk. As the portable fire burns, the flames rise a couple of meters up the trunk, creating a fire scar. It takes about an hour for the portable fire to burn out. Trunk base burns are best conducted in winter, partly because the portable fires can easily be transported using snowmobiles, and partly because the snow provides additional fire protection.

Partial debarking

When we perform partial debarking at pines, we peel off part of the bark but ensure that enough bark remains so the tree can still receive water and nutrients. Partial debarking can be done either with a chainsaw or manually using tools such as a debarking iron, bark spade, or axe. Even forestry machinery harvesters can be used for girdling. It's beneficial to debark a variety of thick and thin trees, and to also vary the width and height of the debarking. Additionally, one can choose to first partial debark trees that are later subjected to basal burnings.
a pine with fire scar
A pine with fore scar.

Slow growing wood

When pines are damaged, they become stressed and increase resin production in the sapwood as a way to heal the injury and protect themselves. This makes the wood harder and impregnated with tar-like substances, thereby making the tree more resistant to rot. Damaged pines also grow more slowly because the injury reduces their growth.

Over time, the tree will encapsulate the damage on the trunk with new wood and bark. Damages caused by fires are called fire scars. In forests that have experienced frequent fires, it is possible to find pines with multiple fire scars.

Long-lasting benefits

Thanks to the fact that fire-damaged pines develop wood that is highly resistant to rot, these trees can remain in the forest for a long time – in many cases, hundreds of years. First as a standing, living tree; then as a standing dead tree; and finally, when the tree collapses, the trunk remains as a fallen dead tree stem.

Over centuries, these damaged pines serve various purposes for a range of species, including insects, fungi, mosses, and lichens that depend on fire-adapted forests with wood in various stages of decay.

A recurring measure

Working with basal burning and partail debarking is quite labor-intensive. However, these measures could be scaled up even further and, over time, become recurring practices in the conservation areas left untouched on lands where SCA conducts forestry operations.

During every harvest, SCA takes conservation measures, such as preserving dead wood, tree groups, and buffer zones. In areas we have designated for non-utilization, we aim to create more trees with the potential to support biological diversity. If these efforts can be carried out cost-effectively, large numbers of trees can quickly develop these special wood properties.

We see it as rewarding to align active forestry with proactive conservation efforts, thereby creating higher environmental value in our forests.

Specialized species

Many species are extremely specialized and need their specific niche to survive. For example, some species can only survive on trees of a certain quality. Damaged pines, for example, are home to the red-listed and near-threatened beetle Stephanopachys linearis. It lives in the border between dead and living wood, and can at best appear within a couple of years after an action.

Other species take considerably longer. The wood fungus Anomoporia kamtschatica, for example, can take 150 years before it considers the habitat to be the right one. In other words, we do not know for sure whether the measures will have the right effects because the results are so far in the future. But we hope and believe so.

Extensive effort in Västerbotten

In recent years, SCA has both partial debarked and performed basal burnings on over 2,000 trees in a landscape in Västerbotten. This applies to both voluntary set-asides forests with high natural values ​​and in thinned production forests where we use basic retention.

One of the efforts consisted of burning 230 pine trees and clearing 350 pine trees in a 30-hectare sand pine forest in the autumn of 2025. We selected pine trees of different thickness and age to obtain a variety. Some of the baal burnt pines were first partial debared to create an open wood surface that was then sooted and charred during the burning. In this way, species that thrive in such an environment are benefited. The measure will hopefully have a good effect and benefit certain lichens, as well as various wood fungi and insects.

The operation also sawed off 300 pines, which will cause the trees to die within a few years. This will provide both an addition of dead wood and a thinning effect that will increase the amount of light in the area.

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Old aspen forest

Indicators for biodiversity

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dead wood, so called high stumps

Dead wood creates life

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A prescribed forest burning with a man watering the ground

Prescribed forest burning

Prescribed forest burninh is one of the most effective nature conservation measures that we can perform. Through controlled burnings, we create habitats for species that benefit from the fire or that are dependent on forest fires to be able to survive.