Around 1,500 trees are now being planted on Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences land in Krusenberg south of Uppsala. The project forms part of forest tree breeding research to achieve faster growth and greater resilience to climate change.
This year 800 trees have been planted, and the work is expected to take several years to complete. The aim is to develop trees with desirable traits that better withstand extreme weather and changing temperatures.
"One can say that we are conducting tree breeding," said Mats Berlin, a researcher in forest tree breeding at Skogforsk.
Forests help capture carbon dioxide and can be used for energy and sawn timber, according to Berlin. The project is carried out in cooperation with SLU and seeks to create stronger forests for the future.