Icelandic Forest Service


The Icelandic Forest Service is a subordinate agency to the Ministry for the Environment and Natural Resources of the Government of Iceland. The Icelandic Forest Research Mógilsá is a research division of the Icelandic Forest Service with headquarters located at, near Reykjavík. Their head of research is Edda Sigurdís Oddsdóttir.
Iceland has been almost entirely devoid of trees, the trees having been cut down since Viking times, when Iceland had 40% forest cover. The forest service has a programme to encourage people to grow trees on Iceland, planting millions of seeds each year. Iceland currently has about 2% forest cover.
The forest service has historically promoted Alaskan Lupines as an aid to reforestation, initially introduced in 1885, and widely spread from 1960 onwards to combat soil erosion. But the plants have turned out to be invasive and spread everywhere, overrunning native plants. Whether introducing the plant was a good idea is contentious.