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Iceland is covered in the blackest deserts I've ever seen. They are vast, lifeless landscapes devoid of biodiversity that generate terrible dust storms which impact health and livelihoods, shrink glaciers, and smother the native vegetation. But it wasn't always like this. Once forests thrived here, covering much of the country, offering food and shelter for insects, birds, plants, and fungi. But these magical birchwoods have long been lost. Cut down by human settlers. And the consequences became clear for all to see. And in the desperation to fix this, a deal was made with the devil. A new foreign plant was unleashed onto the landscape. One capable of turning deserts purple and bringing back the
forests, but also capable of outco competing the native plants and swallowing up entire ecosystems. And as is the case with such bargains, everyone disagrees about whether it was a good or bad idea and also what to do next. But in the meantime, it does create some opportunity. And this is where we come in. Between the harsh deserts and the purple invasives, we are trying to help Korean and Raknhur reforest a piece of land that they own just on the edge of where the loopin is expanding into the black vastness of the landscape. In this video today, I want to review a bit the whole situation of forests in Iceland, of the Lupine that is starting to conquer the desert, and of our project
here that is planting trees in this place in the hopes of completely transforming it. Okay, so let's take a step back and look at the bigger picture. Deserts are perfectly natural in Iceland, but in the past they existed alongside a presettlement tree coverage of the island of about 30%. That is down to 1% now. Nor settlers of course cut the trees and this is not strange or new. It probably happened wherever you live also, but the impacts here in Iceland are compounded by the fact that this leads to severe erosion and the expansion of these volcanic deserts. These generate terrible dust storms comprised of fine volcanic glass rich in heavy metals. Which means that during
dust storms, the air quality exceeds the health limits by 10 to 100 times. And with about 30 to 130 dust storms every year, some areas of the country might have air quality comparable to a heavy industrialized place. In the wider landscape, the dust covers glaciers, darkening them and melting them faster. And in the past, the severe dust storms were even reported to destroy entire farms overnight and expanding the desert by kilometers each year. These days, much effort has been put in to stop this, but the problem persists to some extent. And while going through this not so cheerful paper, I caught myself giving a double take at this infrared satellite shot that shows the vegetation
in red. And that is because this is actually where our project is right here, in fact. And in our last video from 2023, we showed you what this damage looks like at this thin strip of birchwood surrounded by the Black Desert. I think it's pretty cool that we are working directly to reclaim the damage done by the desert in one of the main examples that this paper uses. It's the kind of applicable evidence that's really handy to have when starting a project. But now it's time for us to check it out. Here really looks like the desert. It's so black. Even the lupine is having like trouble here. As expected here, the desert was almost lifeless. But slowly, we reached the edge of the expansion of a loopin field where some brave pioneers
are settling the desert. And I must say that it is certainly an evocative site. The purple flowering plant standing alone in this harsh landscape. Say what you will about the loopin, but when you're in a desert like this and there's no vegetation in sight besides, you know, maybe a few grasses, you can, you know, really see that the loopin is the one that is bringing the biomass to this place and it's also a nitrogen fixer. So, you know, those who argue in favor of, you know, having more and more loop and those who brought it here say that uh it's really doing a very important job for Iceland. Now, let's address the purple elephant in the room because for some reason you guys simply
love this topic. I mean, you have so much better choice on this channel. But, okay, I get it. It is really interesting. So, let's start by clearing some misconceptions. Here at Mossy Earth, we have nothing to do with the spreading of the loopin. Eight years ago, the Icelandic Forestry Service opened Pandora's box. And this plant has been expanding on its own since then. I think if you step into their shoes and look at the erosion problem I just presented in a time when the concept of invasives wasn't really a thing, I think they were justified to feel it was a good idea. I think the people that brought Lupin to Iceland had this here in mind when they decided to spread this plant here in the shadow of Heeka in an area that has
been first devastated by a big eruption and then later devastated by continuous storms which blow the terra around and really destroy everything in its path. We have life coming back and the lupin is certainly playing a role in that and the literature backs this up. I enjoyed this master thesis that looked at bird and insect diversity in deserts, native heathland and lupine patches. The authors found that the least diverse were of course the deserts followed by the heathland and then surprisingly the lupine. So clearly many species are happy to use these places with the slight asterisk that the birds found in the lupin were of the more common species such as the golden clover whereas the heathland had more waiters
which are decreasing internationally. Other research showed that in places like this the lupin does help with the establishment of birchwood and in areas where it grows too densely it can still be beneficial if it is cut down and then the trees are planted. This works because the loopin helps solve a series of problems such as frost heaving. I mean, the ground here looks like perfectly normal gravel. Then you start tapping it and it behaves more like jell-o, more like water. You can see it just jiggles. And what would happen if we planted a tree here? Essentially, it's really easy to plant, right? Like you just dig a hole in something like this, stick a tree in.
Process is relatively simple. But essentially the next year because the frost would push this earth up and then down again, our tree would simply pop out and it would be just lying here. So avoiding that is pretty key. But the loopin goes further and it also shelters the trees themselves from the harsh wind. It fixes nitrogen in the soil and generally brings biomass back into the landscape. All of this is crucial for a forest to be able to establish itself. So what is there not to like? Well, it seems that in many places plant diversity goes down when the loopin arrives. This doesn't seem to be a big issue in grasslands or forests, but it clearly has an impact in the heathland,
which is this wonderfully beautiful and diverse habitat that naturally has its place above the tree line or in too dry or too wet sights. So they very much belong here, too. By the way, this section of the video is not supposed to be some kind of authoritative answer to the loop in question. It's more of a skimming of the literature to try to frame our project a bit better. So, if you want to read on, you can check out the sources that we've used in the description below. But what should you make of all this? I mean, from my perspective, there's nothing to be done about it at a big scale. I mean, the plant is spreading and that's not going to stop. There are some areas where it
has a real negative impact and I think it is important to control the spread there. But there are also some areas where it's having a positive impact and I think we should take advantage of that. Okay. So I hope that now you can see why we think there is a real clear case to bring back a forest here in this desertified place that used to be fertile and then became a desert and now has the initial influence of the loopin to help us out. But planting here is still tricky. So to support this work, we founded Ki and Raknahed with €94,820 to cover the soil preparation, which we will look at in a minute, the tree stock, and the tree planting. As usual, 100% of this came from our members. In this case, 52,985.49
49 from the monthly contributions and 41,834.51 from the extra funding contributions which are made by our members in the account by buying an extra tree or two or three or four. You can do this at any time by the way. And if you like this work that we do, reclaiming deserts, re-wetting petlands, rebuilding coral reefs, reflooding forests, recreating seaggrass meadows, and even establishing new rewing reserves in important ecosystems. Then you might enjoy becoming a member and supporting our work directly. In some places, we create our own teams, and in others, we fund people with great ideas like Ki and Raknaher in this project here. But what is common across all of our work is that we implement well-thoughtout
scientifically informed projects that bring back nature. This is the key thing that we do and then we bring you along with us to see the project to see the progress that we are able to make. So if that sounds like something for you, then please consider becoming a member at mossi.ear. The link is really easy to find. It's in a pin comment down below. It's in the description. And if you're watching on TV, you can scan this QR code here by pausing the video. And if this is too big of a step for you right now, then please consider liking the video, commenting, that helps spread it further, and subscribing to our YouTube channel. I know that most of you watching are actually not subscribed, so
it might be worth you checking it out. It's free, but it really helps us quite a lot as well. Okay, so now let's get back to the desert reclaiming. The area we are working on is 12 km west of Heckla, an active volcano famously known since medieval times as the gateway to hell. And this is a classic gorgeous bit of Iceland, complete with its own amazing waterfall and scenic mountain. And actually here on the more gentle part of the slopes, you can see some decent birchwood that has managed to establish itself in the relative shelter of the mountain. I think this shows the potential for this place. But not too far off, we also have an example of what planting can do. One of the neighbors
here had the foresight to plant loads of trees some years ago to create these windbreaks, and the result is really impressive. Currently though, we are working more over here. Last year, we planted in the loopin areas in the southwest of the property, but from this year on we will be working from the northeast to the southwest, 20 hectares every year. We will start about 500 m from that odd-looking strip of surviving birchwood we showed you before. The reasoning here is to start nearer to the loopin fields which offer some shelter from the predominant easterly wind and then gradually extend this towards the area that is less colonized in the southwest. And with an eye on this
expansion in a few years, Ki and Rahen Hador have already started to prepare the ground ahead with a method that I was quite excited to check out. I go with my own tractor with fertilizer and seeds and drive around the area where I can and Yes. So everything to Yeah. to try to stop the sand. Yeah. And when we manage to that everything it will start actually growing. Yeah. Yes. So maybe in just a few years we can see a big difference in this area. Just two years ago this was black. This grass seeding seems to me to work rather well. The site was prepared two years ago and it is likely to be where
we will end up planting in 2027. By then the grasses will have created a lot of the biomass we need which is great but this whole process is of course a bit more intensive than simply waiting for the spread of the looping. I think it's necessary though and in our area for this year to give our trees the best chance of success it was prepared with kutmu which is groundup slaughterhouse waste which probably wouldn't be the preferred fertilizer for your backyard but it definitely gets the job done here. Now so far we've been looking at golden sunsets and blue skies but realistically most days here look like this. And it was of course on such a day that I decided to join them for some planting.
No, you really can't be a sunshine planter in Iceland. So, uh yeah, when the conditions are like this, the conditions are like this. So, Ki, hi. Do you think you're going to plant most of the trees yourself this year? Uh yes. This year me and my wife will I think plant all the trees. All right. So about 30 2,000 or 32,000 in this project and then also some part keeps you busy. Yes. Do you like it or is it like you just uh have the end goal in mind?
Uh I like it but it's a bit too much in a short time but I'm thinking about the end goal. You're thinking about the end eyes on the target. Yes. Last year we put fertilizer on some seed in this area to make it more robust and now I'm planting the birds and I am have a mixture of fertilizer and seeds here and that's just to stabilize the area around the plant so it will survive. And the seeds are from uh the soil conservation agency. So there's some kind of grasses. There are some kind of grasses. But in this area also in five years we still have the birds. But the grass will maybe
be gone. But then it will have serve it served its purpose to help the birds in the first year. Cory and Rahed strike a lonely figure out here planting in the rain. So next year we are planning to support them with some volunteers that will come and stay nearby to help them get the job done a bit quicker. When we have the full details, we will share them to our members, of course, but also here on YouTube. So, if you're frothing to plant trees in the Icelandic rain, keep an eye out for that. And the next day, with the storm gone, it was easier to get the cameras out to show you what our 20 hectares for this year looks like. Okay, so this is our planting site for uh 2025. And uh it's actually quite windy.
So to avoid the all the noise, I'm going to take shelter here next to a little birch that's also taking shelter behind these lupines. And the story here on this bit is that we are rather close to where the lupine is uh is starting to encroach on the desert, but this area is still not so densely packed with the lupine. So the planting will be a bit trickier, but we are confident that with the fertilizer and with the sort of spot planting that this should work out quite well. Quite similar to the first area. This year we planted mostly birch because they are the dominant tree in Icelandic forests, but also a few alder which usually live alongside the birch in comparable forests in Norway. This will add some
diversity to the forest, but not go crazy with a ton of non-natives, as can sometimes be the case in commercial forest or carbon offsetting projects. And I was also quite curious to see how the trees from last year were doing with one winter under their belt. So, this here is what one year worth of birch growth looks like in Iceland. And uh yeah, you might not be very impressed by this, but this is not the right place to plant trees that will grow fast or that will capture loads of carbon. What we're trying to do here is more about changing the ecology of the area to become a mature birchwood. So seeing this little birch that has survived a pretty tough winter looking like this, really nice and healthy, is exactly what
we want to see in this area. The area here amongst the little trees and the loopines felt a lot more lively already. And I really look forward to showing you the progression over the years. But to inspire our thinking, I also want to show you what the future might be for our little forest here in a place that is just a few kilometers away. So, it's actually 5:00 in the morning. It's the last day of a really productive visit in Iceland. And I thought I would come have a look at one of these uh birchwoods near Heekla just on the side of the road where the loopin meets the birch. And I have to say that I really enjoy this.
Some people say it blocks the view. You know, I love the bird song. I love all the life that is here. I love the idea that more of the landscape could look like this instead of just a few patches. And I'm hopeful that the area that we are working in, this desolate desert, could become something like this in the future. I really look forward to walking in amongst the trees. So that is the update for this project. Uh it's a slow progress but steady progress and I'm I'm really pleased with how things are going and the pace at which we are taking this reforestation effort. And uh if you enjoy this project, then please consider becoming a member at mossi.ear to support this work and all the other work
that we do across our hubs and our partnership projects. Until next time, cheers.
