Skógræktarritið - 15.05.1999, Qupperneq 109

HEIMILDIR
SUMMARY
Gunnar Kristjánsson, 1995: Inngangur
XV-CIV, Vídalínspostilla, Reykja-
vík.
Grétar Guðbergsson, l975:Myndun
móajarðvegs í Skagafirði. Islenzkar
landbúnaðarrannsóknir 1975, 1-2:
20-45. Reykjavík.
Grétar Guðbergsson, l992:Skógarí
Skagafirði. Ársrit Skógræktarfélags
íslands 1992, 74-85. Reykjavík.
Guðmundur Georgsson og Guðmund-
urPétursson, 1972. Fluorosis of
sheep caused by the Hekla erup-
tion in 1970. Fluoride 5(2): 58-66.
Magnús Stephensen, 1789: Inngang-
ur. Rit Hins Konunglega íslenzka
Lærdómslistafélags. 10. árg. VIII—X.
Kaupmannahöfn.
Ólafur Ólafsson, 1789: Um Ijáadengsli
á Islandi. Rit Hins Konunglega ís-
lenzka Lærdómslistafélags. 10. árg.
149-160. Kaupmannahöfn.
Páll Bergþórsson, 1987: Veðurfará
íslandi. íslensk þjóðmenning I.,
195-225. Reykjavík.
Sigurður Gunnarsson, 1872: Skógurá
Austurlandi milli Smjörvatnsheiðar
og Lónsheiðar frá 1755 til 1870.
Norðanfari, 11. árg. No. 29-30.
14. júní, Akureyri.
Sigurður Þórarinsson, 1975: Katla og
annáll Kötlugosa. Árbók Ferðafélags
íslands 1975, 124-149. Reykjavík.
Sigurður Þórarinsson, 1977: Rödd
hrópandans. Skógarmál, 73-85.
Reykjavík.
Sturla Friðriksson, 1987: Þróun lífríkis
Islands og nytjar af því. Islensk
þjóðmenning 1., 149-194. Reykjavík.
Þorleifur Einarsson, 1962: Vitnisburð-
ur frjógreiningar um gróður, veður-
far og landnám á (slandi. Saga,
442-469. Reykjavík.
Þórunn Valdimarsdóttir, 1989. Snorri
á Húsafelli, saga frá 18. öld. 3-437.
Reykjavík.
ÞorvaldurThoroddsen, 1917: Árferði
á íslandi í þúsund ár. Kaupmanna-
höfn.
Grágás. Útgefandi: Mál og menning,
1992. Umsjón: Gunnar Karlsson,
Kristján Sveinsson og Mörður
Árnason.
lónsbók. Útgefandi: Odense Universi-
tetsforlag 1970. Endurprentun út-
gáfu 1904. Umsjón: Ólafur Halldórs-
son.
Vídalínspostilla. Útgefandi: Mál og
menning, Bókmenntafræðistofnun
Háskóla íslands, 1995. Reykjavík.
Umsjón: Gunnar Kristjánsson og
Mörður Árnason.
To the defence of lcelandic woods
- Fragments from history
Most lcelanders are now certain
that the country was covered with
wood or shrub at the beginning of
the settlement in the 9th century.
Law making started in the early
1 Oth century while the oldest writt-
en law dates from the year 1118.
The law was clearly ecologically
sound and gave the population
equal rights. jónsbook was accept-
ed law in 1281 and even in the year
1970 there were 54 paragraphs from
seven chapters still valid as law in
lceland although some have been
replaced since. Although the law
from 1281 was beneficial in general,
there were two paragraphs that
proved to be harmful for lcelandic
woodlands, the demand to uproot
all stems when felling trees and
clear felling. This proved to be
harmful in a country where farming
is based on grassland, because of
the ability of the birch to shoot new
stems from roots, where grass is
too dense for birch seed to germ-
inate. The woods were used in-
discriminately for centuries but in
the 18th century people started to
worry about the vanishing wood-
land. One of the first to caution
against this was bishop jón Vídalín
in Skálholt and in 1720 he sent a
letter to the governor of Iceland
pointing out the need to preserve
the woodiands and in that effort
the feasibility of importing coal
from England.
The volcano Katla erupted in the
17th of October 1755 with a huge
tephra fall to the East- North-East
over a large area in eastern lceland.
In 1783 the Laki eruption occurred.
These eruptions were among the
largest experienced in historical
times in lceland. In eastern lceland
these occurrences were referred to
as "The former haze" and "The latter
haze". No concurrent descriptions
in writing are known of effects of
the Katla eruption (1755) on the
vegetation in East-iceland. Those
were not described in writing until
1872. That did a parish priest,
Sigurður Gunnarsson, in a news-
paper article where he was descri-
bing the state of the woodland in
that part of the country. He came to
the parish in the year 1830. Because
of his interest in woodland he soon
began to question farmers, especi-
ally old people, about the diminis-
hing woodland. He was told about
the apparently similar effects of the
former and the latter haze on the
woodland. The descriptions in both
instances indicated heavy fluoride
poisoning. Present day natural
scientists have doubted the de-
scriptions of the effects of the 1755
eruption. The Laki eruption in 1783
is on the other hand well docu-
mented. The scientists have been
especially sceptic about the
fluoride poisoning in the year 1755.
The main reason for their objection
has been the date of the eruption
the 17th day of October. At that
time birch trees had felled their
leaves, making it somewhat im-
possible for the trees to suffer from
fluoride poisoning. All things being
equal this would have been a valid
argument, but it so happened that
in the year 1755 wintercame early.
It set in immediately after Michael-
mas (29th of Sept.). The winter from
1755 to 1756 was very cold. There
was frost all winter without a thaw
until Crossmas (3rd May). Therefore
it may be concluded that the
fluorides carried over East-lceland,
on the ash grains from the eruption
in Katla, in the early winter 1755 to
1756 was put on "cold storage" until
the spring of 1756 and then it did
its damage to the trees.
The pastor, Sigurður Gunnarsson,
was doubtful but hopeful about the
survival of the woodland. Fortuna-
tely the woodland prevailed. The
first conifers in East-Iceland were
planted in the years 1905 to 1908.
Today they are almost 18 m high.
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