CHAPTER XXI. 

 FOREST DEVASTATION. 



NOTWITHSTANDING the great recuperative power mani- 

 fested by Norwegian forests, of which mention has been 

 made, they are, under the excessive drain made upon 

 them in districts favourably situated for the prosecution 

 of trade in timber, being greatly impoverished. Of this 

 there are indications in more than one of the official 

 reports mentioned in connection with the information 

 given in a previous chapter relative to the geographical 

 distribution of different kinds of trees in Norway. 

 Amongst these is a report on the condition of the forests 

 in Romsdal county, which lies between the Dovrefjeld 

 and the sea, along the coast to the south of Drontheim 

 fiord, where the shore trends to the south-west, passing the 

 town giving its name to the county. The report is by 

 Johannes Schioetz, LL.B., Forest- Assistant, and was 

 issued by the Forest Section of the Department of the 

 interior in 1871. 



In this it is reported in regard to the amount of forest 

 in the County of Romsdal : 



' Large forests cannot be expected in this county owing 

 to the natural formation, which is mountainous, and greatly 

 intersected by fiords ; moreover, the narrow valleys are 

 cultivated, and the mountain sides often nearly bare rock. 

 The inhabitants are often in want of fuel : turf also being 

 rare. Even in the lower districts the mountains rise above 

 the forest line, and on the coast the inhabitants and sea- 

 breezes have almost completely destroyed all the forests 

 which existed there in earlier times. Only on the islands 

 in Nordmore are there some important exceptions. 



' The forest line does not lie high, and depends not so 

 much on temperature as on sheltered position. Among 



