A small walk in the forest - Why Protected Forests are amazing!

It's almost the end of March already and I'm still freezing my lovely butt off, it's a bit like the spring forgot to be spring and instead try to cling to being winter cause apparently that's just so much cooler! Still, the sun was shining all day and I had to get out and get some fresh air, relax a bit after a week of a shitload of new impressions at my new job, so off I went.
In Denmark we have this concept that is called a "fredsskov", which literately means "peace forest", that is this kind of protected forest which is more or less like a tiny national park.
The protected forest can not be altered by humans in any way, the forest is deemed "wild" and will evolve as if no humans had ever set food inside of it. It's to start with a little messy because in normal forests there are usually a ranger to clear up the fallen logs etc. but in the protected forest everything is just left like nature intended, leaving everything to decompose instead of clearing out to please the visitors of the forest.
In Denmark the government have decided that by the year 2020 ten percent of all forest in Denmark will be wild protected forest, which unfortunately have had the side effect that the current forests are being cut down in a rapid speed before the regulations kick in, leaving quite a few public forest in a very thinned out state which is honestly a horrible profit maximizing pile of shit.

Back to this lovely Sunday and my daily get away.. This time my trip took me to a place called Allindelille fredsskov, a small privately owned protected forest in the southern part of Sjælland (Zealand in English) with my father in tow. We parked the car where we thought the forest began and started our walk, fully believing we were on the right track. Pretty fast we encountered huge piles of cut down lumber and we started to double guess if we were the right place, because after all, you weren't supposed to cut down trees in a protected forest. We quickly realized that that we were in an adjacent public forest that was absolutely getting stripped for trees, racing the 2020 decree to establish more and bigger wild areas.
It was a little sad but soon we entered our real destination and even though the trees are still bare it was so beautiful and idyllic, it almost felt like walking in a pretentious winter painting painted with the most delicate brushes. Can't wait to come back in may when everything is green and lush, everything sprouting in a huge cacophony of flowers, leaves and grasses.

A frozen forest lake is so serene

Nothing like a walk in the woods to gather a little spirit for the coming week

Allindelille forest used to be one of the most biodiverse places in Denmark counting a myriad of animal and plant species, but previous predatory lumbering almost destroyed the area until the University of Copenhagen was gifted it by the government late last century. It was later sold and is now being owned by the Danish nature conservation foundation, working on restoring and preserving the original wildlife. I hope the visitors to the forest one day in the future can find the same orchids and animals that our ancestors once took for granted, but no matter what it's still an amazing place to visit.

wild Ivy clinging to it's host tree

the leaf says "damn it's cold"

So to summarize.. protected forests are amazing because being there is just pure serenity, leaving you and your soul peaceful and in balance when visiting. walking the paths will take you back to nature in an authentic and "real" way and at worst it's a little messy and at best it can preserve some really fragile ecostystems. Hopefully in the future we'll have way more of these areas, I for one is looking forward to explore them all!

Have a spectacular weekend and be happy all you lovely steemians!

The Wandering Danish