In the 18th and the 19th centuries, the northwestern Jutland district of Thy was experiencing desertification, with driving North Sea winds blowing migrating dunes ever further inland, covering once-fertile agricultural land. The Danish government devised a strategy of planting forests on the shifting sands to halt their progress — a strategy which eventually worked, after some (ultimately picturesque) trial and error.
One of the earliest such plantations was undertaken in 1816 and was named after Lauritz Thagaard, Denmark’s official “sand drift commissioner.” The project saw the introduction of Commons spruce, birch, Scotch pine, alder, European aspen, and willow trees to the area. However, the relentless winds, damp salt air, frosts, and local sheep eager to munch tender saplings made for tough going for the nascent forest.
A plantation keeper was introduced in 1817 to look after the young trees, and dykes and ditches were constructed to protect them from the unforgiving climate, but it was all in vain; the project was abandoned in 1842. Though a failure, the lessons learned led to the more successful Tvorup dune plantations of the 1850s, which saw a hardier mountain pines take root and carpet the inhospitable dunes in a stable evergreen forest.
It wasn’t only the land conservation project that was eventually a success, however. Many birch and spruce trees from Thagaard’s Plantation managed to survive and eventually thrive, growing slowly but surely and becoming gnarly and crooked from the prevailing winds. Now, the nearly 200-year-old birch and fir trees form a unique, unexpected, and uncanny forest on the dune-filled Danish coast. Remnants of the keeper’s cottage can also still be seen, as well as a restaurant that served visitors in the last 19th century. There are easily accessible 450m and 2km walking routes.
Know Before You Go
Access from the the rest area just north of the crossing Tvorupvej/Bøgsted Rendevej and Kystvejen. There is a parking spot at the adres Kystvejen 20.
Katika karne ya 18 na 19, wilaya ya kaskazini magharibi ya Jutland ya Thy ilikuwa ikikabiliwa na jangwa, na upepo wa Bahari ya Kaskazini ukipiga vilima vya kusafiri zaidi na zaidi ndani ya nchi, ikifunika ardhi ya kilimo iliyokuwa na rutuba. Serikali ya Denmark ilibuni mkakati wa kupanda misitu kwenye mchanga unaohama ili kuzuia maendeleo yao - mkakati ambao hatimaye ulifanya kazi, baada ya majaribio na makosa (mwishowe ya kupendeza). Mimea ya kwanza ya mchanga ilijengwa mnamo 1816 na jina lake lilitokana na Lauritz Thagard, kamishna wa Denmark, ambaye alianzisha mimea ya mchanga, mchanga, mchanga wa Scotch, mchanga wa Ulaya, na mti wa willow. Hata hivyo, upepo mkali, hewa yenye unyevunyevu na chumvi, baridi kali, na kondoo wa eneo hilo waliokuwa na hamu ya kula miche mirefu, zilifanya iwe vigumu kuingia katika msitu huo. Mlinzi wa shamba alianzishwa mwaka wa 1817 ili kutunza miti hiyo midogo, na mabwawa na mitaro ilijengwa ili kuilinda kutokana na hali ya hewa mbaya, lakini yote yalikuwa ya bure; mradi huo uliachwa mwaka wa 1842. Ingawa ilikuwa kushindwa, masomo yaliyopatikana yalisababisha mashamba ya Tvorup ya dune ya mafanikio zaidi ya miaka ya 1850, ambayo iliona misonobari ya mlima yenye nguvu zaidi ikichukua mizizi na kuficha vilima visivyo na wageni katika msitu thabiti wa kijani kibichi. Hata hivyo, si mradi wa kuhifadhi ardhi tu uliofanikiwa hatimaye. Miti mingi ya birch na spruce kutoka Thagaard's Plantation iliweza kuishi na hatimaye kusitawi, ikikua polepole lakini kwa hakika na kuwa gnarly na crooked kutoka upepo uliopo. Sasa, miti ya birch na ya msonobari yenye umri wa miaka 200 hivi hufanyiza msitu wa pekee, usiotazamiwa, na wenye kuvutia kwenye pwani ya Denmark iliyojaa vilima vya mchanga. Mabaki ya nyumba ya mlinzi bado yanaweza kuonekana, pamoja na mkahawa ambao ulihudumia wageni katika karne ya 19 iliyopita. Kuna njia za kutembea za mita 450 na kilomita mbili zinazopatikana kwa urahisi. Kabla ya Wewe Go Kufikia kutoka eneo mapumziko tu kaskazini ya kuvuka Tvorupvej / Bøgsted Rendevej na Kystvejen. Kuna nafasi ya maegesho katika Kystvejen 20.