SkogstrolletThe free map for exploring Sweden’s outdoors.

Near Luleå

Nature reserves near Luleå

Luleå Municipality includes parts of 55 nature reserves. A celebrated bird lake, a stone field sorted by ancient waves and an extensive forest-and-mire landscape meet close to the city.

Bird water and a shore lifted onto land

Gammelstadsviken is a shallow, nutrient-rich lake bordered by wetlands and natural forest. Around eighty species breed here each year, and more than two hundred have been recorded. Migrating smew gather in their hundreds, while divers, ducks, waders and several woodpeckers divide the lake and surrounding woodland between them.

Stenåkern preserves an older coastline on Sandön. Waves worked across the Luleälven esker, washing away sand and finer sediment until a broad shingle field remained. Land uplift then raised the surface beyond the reach of the sea. Twisted pines and hardy lichens now occupy the former shore, with displaced sand gathered into nearby dunes.

A larger woodland mosaic

Ormberget-Hertsölandet extends across mature forest, mires and Lake Hertsöträsket. Dead wood and old deciduous trees support uncommon fungi and lichens. Woodpeckers use the forest, while red-throated diver and greenshank belong to its wetland openings.

The three reserves reveal different moments in the same coastal process. Gammelstadsviken is an active shallow-water habitat, Stenåkern is a beach raised onto dry land, and Ormberget-Hertsölandet is a broad inland mosaic where lakes and mires retain water. Their contrast gives Luleå three distinct natural settings rather than interchangeable urban woodland.

Three reserves near Luleå

Ormberget-Hertsölandet

7.9 km in a straight line from the centre

An extensive woodland and lake landscape close to Luleå
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Map of nature reserves near Luleå