SkogstrolletThe free map for exploring Sweden’s outdoors.

Near Östersund

Nature reserves near Östersund

Östersund Municipality includes parts of 36 nature reserves. Limestone around Storsjön influences flower-rich fens, shallow bird habitat and old woodland containing spruces around two centuries in age.

Three expressions of limestone country

Rannåsen shifts between dry wooded ridges, wet fens, streams and the small Rannåstjärnen. Lime in the ground supports exceptional botanical variety, including several orchids. For a few weeks in late spring, the rare violet copper adds another distinctive feature to this patchwork of woodland and wet ground.

At Ändsjön, limestone shapes a shallow aquatic system instead. Pale marl beds form where lime precipitates from the water. Woodland, old farmland and grazed shore meadows surround Frösön’s only lake, providing feeding and resting ground for ducks, waders and migrating geese.

A forest measured in centuries

Torvalla urskog is denser and more enclosed. Many spruces are about two hundred years old, accompanied by mature pines and deciduous trees in natural openings. Fallen trunks remain in place, allowing insects and uncommon fungi to use the wood through every stage of decay.

Lime and periodic flooding also create rich fens in the northern part of the reserve, where orchids grow among specialised wetland plants. The three places are therefore complementary rather than interchangeable: Rannåsen is defined by butterflies and calcareous flora, Ändsjön by birds and marl-rich shallows, and Torvalla by the long continuity of old trees, decaying wood and wet forest ground.

Three reserves near Östersund

Map of nature reserves near Östersund