ze fields on mineral soils (Bosin, 1901). Ditching of mires was also believed to prevent frost damage on nearby arable land (Hellström, 1917: 36–41). In the 1840s, the Swedish government therefore introduced subsidies for ditching projects (Hellström, 1917: 222). Between 1841 and 1914, subsidies funded more than 1,500 such projects in Västerbotten County, leading to the creation of more than 138,000 ha of drained land (Hellström, 1917: 223). Similar payments continued well into the 1930s (Bunte, Borgegård, and Gaunitz, 1982: 199).
During the 1800s, forestry became a growing industry, and some large landowners believed that trees could be produced on almost any mire if only it was properly ditched (Kempe, 1909). Forest ditching became a common practice during the first half of the 1900s, periodically subsidized by the state to mitigate unemployment (Eliasson, 2008). According to the Swedish Wetland Survey, between 25% and 90% of the larger wetlands in Västerbotten County (depending on municipality) have been subjected to ditching for either agricultural or silvicultural purposes (Forslund, Löfroth, and Rundlöf Forslund, 1994). Ditching to increase tree growth was much more common and also continued longer, because marginal arable lands began to be abandoned around 1920 (Hånell, 1990). In 1986, new legislation introduced permitting requirements for drainage of new wetlands for silvicultural purposes, leading to an almost complete abandonment of this activity (Hånell, 1990).
Finally, mires have been used for extraction of peat. During the late 1800s, it became common practice in northern Sweden to use dried peat as beddings in stalls (Hellström, 1917). Later, the peat extraction industry developed for both energy production and soil amendment in parts of Sweden. This type of industrial-scale extraction is totally destructive for mires. Only relatively small areas have been exploited, however. In 2002, there were about 20 permits for peat extraction in Västerbotten County, covering about 5,000 ha, but only one active peat pit (Länsstyrelsen Västerbotten, 2008).
Today, all hay is produced in fertilized fields, new ditching has essentially stopped, and peat extraction is minor. Mires are no longer considered to be assets for the rural population but are classified as ‘unproductive land’ (Nilsson et al., 2019). At the same time, mires are increasingly in focus as providers of ecosystem services for climate change mitigation, most importantly biodiversity, water regulation, and carbon sequestration (Joosten, 2015). To take full advantage of these services, mire dynamics must be understood, including a thorough knowledge of the long-lasting effects of former land use. However, our knowledge of the cumulative extent of such land use is limited. Here, we explore in detail the use of mires in a village territory in northern Sweden through an interdisciplinary combination of sources. We aim to identify the various types of land use, quantify the proportion of mires concerned, establish a timeline of impact, and discuss possible legacy effects. By doing so, we lay down a basis for further analyses of the dynamics of northern Swedish mires and their capacities for providing ecosystem services in a landscape marked by climate change.
The study area covers 1,839 ha in Vindeln Municipality, Västerbotten County, northern Sweden (Figure 1). It corresponds to the territory of the village of Abborrtjärn as it was defined through the procedure of enclosure (sw. ‘laga skifte’) in 1880 (see Sources section below). Almost all of the study area is included in the Krycklan Catchment, a research infrastructure for state-of-the-art hydrological, biogeochemical, and ecological studies (Laudon et al., 2013).
Today, the study area consists of about 89% forest, 5% open mires, 3% arable land, and 3% water (Lantmäteriet, 2020b). When it comes to mires, the area is located in the southern subregion of the northern fen region, which covers most of northern Sweden and is characterized by relatively high humidity, a short growing season, abundant snow cover, a