Active forestry is essential to thriving rural communities. It creates jobs in places where there are few employers and gives people an opportunity to live, work and enjoy quality of life outside the city regions.
Holmen is one of Sweden's largest forest owners with a land holding of 1.3 million hectares divided between about 4 700 forest properties from Småland in the south to Västerbotten in the north.
We manage our forests and harvest timber on our own land, but we also work with private forest owners and other companies that are part of the Swedish forest industry. Almost 15 000 private forest owners have chosen us as a forestry partner. As well as our own 3 500 forest workers, we create employment for local contractors and companies in many small communities across the country. We estimate that over 90 percent of our employees live in the local communities where we have our operations.
Holmen contributes significant tax revenue in Sweden and in the other countries in which we operate. This sees us fulfilling a responsibility to society and we pay our taxes in line with the legislation and rules in force in all the countries in which we operate.
If you want to read more about how we contribute financially to a rural communities, you will find it under Social key figures.
Through continuous dialogue with the local community and interest organisations, as well as collaborations with colleges and universities, we work for sustainable development. Holmen's land holdings coincide in large areas in the north with the Sami's winter pastures. Through consultation with the reindeer industry, it is possible to find possible solutions that meet the needs of both parties.
Forestry also makes the forests easily accessible for outdoor recreation under Sweden’s right to roam. Our forest roads get people out enjoying the natural world, while thinning means the forest does not become overgrown. Our land is accessible to walkers, for picking mushrooms and berries, and is excellent for hunting and fishing.
Our active forestry creates prosperity, jobs and a confident future for Sweden, while also bringing major regional benefits. We take pride in being a good neighbour and engage with local clubs and societies and the tourism industry. This enables us to develop in harmony with our local communities.
Because when people and communities grow, we can grow too.
The Grow Your Income initiative
When Iggesund Paperboard's Workington Mill decided to invest in a biomass boiler in order to switch its energy sourcing from fossil fuels to biomass, they immediately started to plan for their future fuel needs. The Grow Your Income project engages local farmers to grow willow that is delivered as biomass to the mill. The program has been well received and is expanding.
The Short Rotation Coppice willow is a perennial agricultural crop that is cultivated for the production of wood chips used for heat and power generation. SRC willow can be planted close to its users, thus contributing towards a local energy supply that is sustainable in the long term.
The advantages of willow are obvious. It's the best way to deal with hydraulic roughness and an excellent tool in the toolbox as an option for farmers to use. It increases biodiversity, stores carbon, and ensures a long-term income for the farmers, who make it possible for Holmen to produce sustainable and environmentally friendly packaging from renewable electricity and heat.
Natural flood management
One important advantage the willow crops provide is the ability to supply excellent protection when floods occur in wintertime. Natural flood management involves implementing measures to restore or mimic natural functions of rivers, floodplains, and the wider catchment, to store water in the landscape and slow the rate at which water runs off the landscape into rivers. Natural flood management takes many different forms and different terminology such as 'working with natural processes', green engineering, sustainable land management, or runoff attenuation are also used to describe the techniques used. Every farm will have features that, with some enhancement, could play a role in natural flood management. NFM techniques rely on one, or a combination, of the following underlying mechanisms.
- Slow down the flow of water by placing obstacles in its path, for example by planting rows of hedges and trees, ditching wetlands, building log dams or creating buffer zones on the edge of farmland.
- Store water by creating bunds, dams, ditches, canals or floodplains that have the capacity to handle water during heavy rainfall and then gradually empty.
- Increasing soil infiltration by improving the soil structure. This affects how deeply the rainwater penetrates into the ground, which increases the amount of water that can be taken up by the ground. reducing surface runoff.
- Intercepting rainfall is when precipitation is caught by vegetation (especially leaves) and evaporates before the water has time to reach the ground. This also reduces the risk of flooding.
You can find more information about Grow Your Income Here.