Fulufjället National Park (Swedish: Fulufjällets nationalpark) is a national park in central Sweden. Its total area is 385 km² (149 mi²), and it is entirely within Älvdalen Municipality in the province of Dalarna. The park is named after the mountain Fulufjället, which is 1,044 meters (3,425 feet) high. It covers the Swedish part of the Fulufjället massif, the southernmost part of the Scandes in Sweden. The Norwegian part of the massif is protected by Norway's Fulufjellet National Park.
The park was established in September 2002 by King Carl XVI Gustaf during a ceremony attended by a few thousand people. It is one of Sweden's newest national parks and one of the first to join PAN Parks, an international effort to protect nature while allowing tourism.
The Fulufjället massif is a high plateau shaped by rivers that flow into the large river Dalälven. This river later forms the unique landscape of Färnebofjärden National Park. The area has bare mountains, valleys with ancient forests, and heaths covered in lichen, grass, and shrubs. These heaths are special because there are no reindeer to graze on them.
The park is home to many bird species, as well as brown bears and Eurasian lynx. The Siberian jay is the park's symbol. Notable features include Njupeskär, Sweden's largest waterfall, which is 93 meters (305 feet) tall and has a 70-meter (230-foot) drop. The park also contains the Old Tjikko, one of the world's oldest trees.
Toponymy
The name Fulufjället has an unclear origin. The ending "-fjället" means "the mountain," but the beginning "Fulu-" is not fully understood. In the book Ortnamn i Dalarna, Harry Ståhl suggests that "Fulu-" may come from the ancient Swedish word fala, which means "pale" or "dim," similar to the names of the city Falun and the river Fulan. The mountain may have been named after the nearby river or city. A road once connected Trysil to Falun, passing over the mountain, and could have been called "the mountain on Falun's road."
Geography
Fulufjället National Park is located in Älvdalen Municipality, Dalarna County, 25 km (16 mi) southwest of Särna. The park covers more than 38,483 ha (95,090 acres) and extends along the border with Norway. It is near the Norwegian national park Fulufjellet, which covers more than 82.5 km (31.9 sq mi). The park is far from major cities, with Stockholm about 400 km (250 mi) away. The nearest railway station and airport are in Mora, 140 km (87 mi) from the park.
The park includes most of the Fulufjället massif, a large mountain area that is 35 km (22 mi) long and crosses the border between Sweden and Norway. A small part of the massif is in Norway. This area is part of the Transtrandsfjällen, the southernmost section of the Scandes in Sweden. The massif is a flat, high area with rounded peaks. The highest point in the massif, Slottet, is in Norway at 1,047 m (3,435 ft). In Sweden, the highest point is Brattfjället at 1,042 m (3,419 ft), followed by Storhön at 1,039 m (3,409 ft). At the southern and eastern ends of the massif, the elevation drops sharply to the valley of Fuluälven. The plateau is cut by valleys that face west (Bergådalen, Girådalen), south (Tangådalen), and east (Göljådalen).
Fulufjället is one of the farthest parts of Scandinavia from the sea, giving it a continental climate. The average temperature in the park is about 1 °C, with high rainfall (835 mm (32.9 in) per year on average). Weather data from nearby Särna shows a drier climate because it is in a valley. Winter is drier than summer, but snow typically covers the area for 175 to 200 days each year.
Weather in Fulufjället changes greatly over time and place, with differences in temperature and rainfall. On the night of August 30–31, 1997, an extreme storm hit the area. At the lakes of Rösjöarna, 276 mm (10.9 in) of rain fell in 24 hours, with even higher amounts recorded further south. This was the highest rainfall in a single day ever recorded in Sweden. The storm caused significant damage, especially along streams, where erosion removed vegetation from the banks.
Many rivers begin on the Fulufjället massif. These include the Tangån (1.5 m³/s), Girån, Bergån, Fulubågan, Stora Njupån, and Stora Göljån (0.4 m³/s). The first three rivers flow into the Görälven, which runs west of the massif. The last three rivers flow into the Fulan (also called Fuluälven), which runs east of the massif. The Görälven and Fulan meet to form the Västerdal River, which becomes the Dalälven. One of the park’s streams, Njupån, creates the Njupeskär waterfall to the north of the plateau. The waterfall is 93 m (305 ft) high, with 70 m (230 ft) of free fall, making it the highest waterfall in Sweden. The plateau, especially its southern part, includes several lakes, such as Stora Rösjön (1.01 km²), Stora and Lilla Harrsjön (0.77 and 0.65 km²), and Stora Getsjön (0.66 km²). These lakes are often shallow and refill quickly due to heavy rainfall. The area also has many bogs covering more than 20 km² (7.7 sq mi), which is smaller compared to surrounding mountain regions.
Geology
The Fulufjället massif is mostly made of sandstone. This sandstone formed 900 million years ago when this part of the Baltic tectonic plate was near the equator. At that time, the climate was very dry, like a desert. Strong winds carried large amounts of sand from dunes into the ocean. Over time, these sand deposits were pressed together at the ocean floor, forming horizontal layers of sandstone. This structure has remained largely unchanged because it was not greatly affected by the Caledonian orogeny.
This sandstone is different from the typical rocks found in Sweden, such as granite and gneiss. It is also different from the rest of the Scandes, which are part of the Caledonian orogen. This sandstone is called the Dalecarlian sandstone or the sandstone of Trysil on the Norwegian side. It is the largest sandstone area in Sweden and is up to 1,200 meters (3,900 feet) thick. The sandstone is usually red but can also be gray, yellow, or brown.
At Fulufjället, the sandstone contains veins of diabase. This diabase is important because it provides a better environment for plants to grow than sandstone. It also resists erosion better, creating noticeable landforms. For example, the highest point in the park, Brattfjället, is located in a large diabase area. The diabase is about 300 million years old, which matches the time of the Oslo Rift’s formation. This suggests the diabase is linked to that event.
The same forces that shaped the rest of the Scandes also formed Fulufjället. About 60 million years ago, the west coast of Scandinavia and the northeast coast of the Americas experienced significant tectonic uplift. The causes of this uplift are not fully understood, but some theories suggest it may have been caused by the Iceland hotspot or isostasy related to glaciers. This uplift occurred in different ways across the Scandes, with the area between Trondheim and Östersund slightly lower. Regardless, this uplift created a large flat region thousands of meters high.
This area later experienced heavy erosion, shaping the landscape seen today. Unlike the southern parts of the Scandes, such as those near Sarek National Park, the area around Fulufjället shows less evidence of glacial erosion. Even during the Quaternary period, when glaciers covered the mountain, the ice moved slowly and did not erode the massif much. Instead, the most significant erosion happened during the Tertiary period, when the climate was tropical.
Environment
The park is located in the WWF terrestrial ecoregion known as the Scandinavian and Russian taiga. However, much of the park lies above the treeline, making it more similar to the Scandinavian Montane Birch forest and grasslands ecoregion.
The plateau has poor soil and harsh weather, so most of it is covered in heath and bare dirt. Only a few common juniper shrubs and some moor birches grow there. The main vascular plants found here include snowbed willow, Alpine bearberry, Alpine hawkweed, crowberry, cowberry, blue whortleberry, and alpine azalea. What makes the Fulufjället plateau unique is its wide variety of lichens, especially large areas of reindeer lichen and fönsterlav. These lichens are not disturbed by domestic reindeer grazing, unlike most other mountain areas in Sweden. In these hard-to-reach places, there is also Old Tjikko, a Norway spruce that is 9,550 years old, making it one of the oldest trees in the world.
Few animals live in these areas. Birds such as the willow warbler, meadow pipit, northern wheatear, European golden plover, Eurasian dotterel, snow bunting, and Lapland longspur are found here. The willow ptarmigan is common, while the rock ptarmigan lives only on the highest peaks. For many of these species, Fulufjället is the southernmost place in Sweden where they can be found.
In the valleys and on the mountainsides, better weather and diabase rock allow for more plant life. These areas are covered in forests, with moor birch, Scots pine, and Norway spruce growing over 4,100 hectares, 3,500 hectares, and 5,000 hectares, respectively. The undergrowth has many plant species. South-facing slopes are mostly covered in Scots pine, with undergrowth resembling heath, including common heather and crowberry. Other coniferous forests have plants like whortleberry, northern oak fern, woundwort, and common cow-wheat. The diabase-rich soil supports plants such as Alpine blue-sow-thistle, wood cranesbill, and northern wolfsbane. These areas also have many moss species, with the park containing more than a third of all moss species in the country.
Animal life in these areas is more diverse. The park is important for brown bears, which hibernate in mountain dens during winter and return to the mountains when berries are available. Eurasian lynx also live here. Both species are protected in Sweden. Other predators, such as wolverines, gray wolves, and Arctic foxes, are rare and do not have fixed locations in the park. The park has a large moose population that spends summers on the mountains but winters in less snowy areas. There are no wild reindeer in the park, as it is not part of the area where domestic reindeer graze. Muskoxen, which left the area nearly 4,000 years ago, were reintroduced in Norway and sometimes wander near the park. Smaller animals include red squirrels, European pine martens, and mountain hares. Norway lemmings are present in Fulufjället but appear in large numbers some years and are nearly absent in others. This pattern is not fully understood.
The wooded slopes are home to birds like the ring ouzel, common raven, and golden eagle. Other birds in the forests include Eurasian three-toed woodpeckers, parrot crossbills, red crossbills, common redstarts, bramblings, and Siberian jays, the last of which is the park’s symbol.
Several marsh areas exist in the park, but most have little vegetation. However, some areas with diabase soil are richer in nutrients. Along mountain streams, plants such as alternate-leaved golden-saxifrage, chickweed willowherb, wolfsbane, and wood stitchwort grow. At Njupeskär, conditions support wood sorrel, which usually does not grow this far south. These wetlands have many mosses and lichens, with Fulufjället being one of Sweden’s richest sites for these plants. The presence of lichens is partly due to the park not being part of reindeer grazing areas.
The wetlands are home to Eurasian beavers, which were hunted to extinction but have since returned. These areas are also important for birds, as they are the southernmost nesting sites in Sweden for species like the greater scaup, oldsquaw, common scoter, and important populations of red-necked phalarope, ruff, common greenshank, and wood sandpiper. Eurasian curlews, an endangered species, are sometimes found here.
The lakes are mainly populated by Arctic char, brown trout, and burbot. The park’s waters are known for their abundance and have been protected since 1962.
History
The Swedish part of the mountain area is not as well studied as the Norwegian part from an archaeological perspective. In mountain regions, human activity is often limited and hard to find. The mountain was covered by ice until about 8,000 to 10,000 years ago. The first people arrived during the Stone Age, as shown by items like a stone axe found near the Fulan River. These early people were hunter-gatherers who did not live in fixed homes. This way of life continued until the Iron Age.
Four Iron Age burial mounds are among the most important remains from that time. These are the only ones found in Dalarna. They are located in the northeast of the plateau, about 2 kilometers (1.2 miles) southeast of Njupeskär. Each mound is 2 to 4 meters (6 feet 7 inches to 13 feet 1 inch) long and less than 1 meter (3 feet 3 inches) tall. Inside, arrowheads and spears were found. Another important site is the Altarringen, an oval wall 5 meters (16 feet) wide and 1 meter (3 feet 3 inches) high. An altar was built in the center of this structure. Dating this site is difficult because it has been repaired many times.
During the Viking Age, permanent settlements were built near Mora. It is likely that the first such settlements appeared in the valleys of Fulufjället before the year 1000. Villages like Särna, Heden, and Idre were probably established to hunt wild reindeer. Reindeer products were traded across Europe, but this trade declined in the 14th century.
In the Middle Ages, the area was often mapped because it was near the Sweden-Norway border, which was set in 1273. At that time, the mountain area was entirely Norwegian. However, in 1644, Sweden captured Särna during the Torstenson War. A treaty in 1645 did not clearly define the border, and it was not until 1751 that the current border was established. The area around the mountain was not settled until later. On the Norwegian side, there was at least one farm at Ljørdalen in 1528. The Swedish part was settled later, starting with temporary homes for seasonal grazing in the 18th century, such as at Mörkret. Small villages appeared in the early 19th century at places like Gördalen, Storbäcken, Storbron, Hägnåsen, Mörkret, Tjärnvallen, and Lillådalen. Many park trails date back to this time of seasonal grazing.
Until the 18th century, the area was used for hunting and grazing. Although the Røros mines needed large amounts of wood and coal, Fulufjället was not heavily logged because of its difficult transportation. Logging began in the late 19th century, with wood transported by rafting on the Görälven River after conflicts with Norway were resolved. Natural resources were not fully used in the most remote areas until later, and some parts were never exploited.
Other uses of the area included mining a type of sandstone in the Tangådalen valley.
The first protection of the area was in 1937, when 62.2 hectares (154 acres) around Njupeskär were classified as a crown reserve, a type of protected land in Sweden. In 1946, 365 hectares (900 acres) of forest near Göljån were also protected. Then, 350 hectares (860 acres) around Lövåsen were added to the protected areas. In 1960, the Njupeskär reserve was expanded to 342.2 hectares (846 acres). In 1964, the Njupeskär area became a natural park and grew to 525 hectares (1,300 acres), and later to 1,447 hectares (3,580 acres) in 1970. Meanwhile, most of Fulufjället received some protection, though it was not strong. In 1973, the entire area, totaling 38,060 hectares (94,000 acres), was designated a natural reserve. In 1990, reindeer herding was banned in the area.
In 1989, Fulufjället was included in Naturvårdsverket’s plan to create new national parks. Discussions with local authorities began the next year but faced opposition from residents. Supporters argued that the park would attract more tourists, especially from Europe, which was important because Särna had not developed winter tourism like Idre and Sälen. Opponents said European tourists might prefer the Alps over this remote mountain. They also worried about restrictions on snowmobiles, hunting, and fishing. The Älvdalen Municipality supported the locals’ concerns and opposed the park. Naturvårdsverket and Dalarna County changed their approach, asking locals how the mountain should be used. After surveys, locals began supporting the park in 1999, seeing it as an opportunity. The park was created in 2002, with the goal of preserving a unique natural area. It was the first national park in Sweden’s mountains since Padjelanta in 1962. The park was officially opened on September 17, 2002, by King Carl XVI Gustaf. It is part of the Natura 2000 Network and a Special Protection Area for birds. It also joined the PAN Parks network, which balances nature protection and tourism.
When the Swedish park was created, the Norwegian part had no formal protection and was not included in Norway’s 1992 plan for national parks. However, this led to calls for a Norwegian national park to protect the entire mountain area. In April 2012, the Fulufjellet National Park was established on the Norwegian side. One reason was the presence of brown bears, which are endangered in Norway.
Management and administration
The management of most Swedish national parks is shared between the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency and the administrative councils of Sweden's counties (Länsstyrelse). Naturvårdsverket is responsible for suggesting new national parks after working with county and municipal councils. The creation of these parks must be approved by the Riksdag, which is Sweden's parliament. After approval, the state purchases the land through Naturvårdsverket. Once purchased, the park is managed by the county, which for Fulufjället National Park is the administrative council of Dalarna.
The park is divided into four zones with different purposes to protect the area while allowing visitors. This is the first national park in Sweden to use this clear system of zones. Most of the park (60%) is in Zone 1, the no-access area. This is the park's most protected region and has very little tourism infrastructure. Zone 2 covers 14% of the park and is a low-activity area. Elk hunting is allowed here, but infrastructure remains limited. Zone 3 covers 25% of the park and is the high-activity area. This zone includes most of the tourism infrastructure, such as trails and cabins, and allows fishing. Zone 4 covers about 1% of the park and includes areas within 200 meters (660 feet) of major visitor spots, such as the park's entrances, the Njupeskär waterfall, and the Göljån valley. This area shows signs of a past flood.
Tourism
The park is the southernmost of Sweden's mountain parks and is closest to most people in the country. In 2003, the park had 53,000 visitors, with 80% arriving during the summer. This was a 40% increase compared to 2001, before the park became a national park. About one-third of the visitors came from outside Sweden, mostly from Germany. The main reason people visit is to see Njupeskär waterfall, which is the tallest in Sweden at 93 meters (305 feet). Of this height, 70 meters (230 feet) are a free fall. A storm in 1997 caused damage near the waterfall, and this site is also a popular attraction for tourists. The park's main entrance, which has parking, is located near these two sites. A visitor center is nearby. It displays information about the park's natural features and is where guided tours begin. The visitor center is also the starting point for many of the park's hiking trails, which total 140 kilometers (87 miles). One of these trails includes a section of the Södra Kungsleden (Sälen–Storlien), which is 350 kilometers (220 miles) long.
Most visitors take short hikes that last between 1 and 3 hours. However, some visitors, especially those from Germany, go on longer hikes that last several days. In winter, skiing is possible, but it is not very popular because there are few trails designed for skiing. Ice climbing is also done on Njupeskär. Fishing is allowed if visitors purchase a permit.
Fulufjället in popular culture
The children's song Mors lilla Olle by Alice Tegnér takes place in the forests of Fulufjället. The story is based on a true event that happened during the winter of 1850–1851. At that time, four children were playing in the forest. One of them, Jon, was one and a half years old. The children met a bear and its cub. Jon moved toward the bear, who gently touched him and gave him berries. When Jon’s mother arrived, she screamed, which caused the bears to run away. Jon believed the bears were large black dogs.
A KLM Boeing 777-300 airplane is named after Fulufjället National Park.