As an Icelandic forest farmer myself, I am very happy that you guys chose our country to plant trees in! Me and my family have to deal with these gravely, mossy plains as well unfortunately. To fight against the gravel we make our own dirt by recycling food waste. And we fertilize the land by using old manure from our barn, grass that we cut from our garden, and the dirt that we make. It's going pretty good there are some patches of new grass and other plants coming out of the gravel! I am very grateful that you are planting our trees back that our vikings took down! Thank you so much! 🌲🌱
Thank you for the kind words Oz. Your comment made me really really happy. We have had quite a few messages from people from Iceland welcoming us and being excited about the project. You as a forester makes it even more exciting. Also, thank you for the tips :) In which part of the country do you work? - Cheers, Duarte
@@MossyEarth Hey Duarte! I am in the western region of the island. It's called "Dalasýsla" I live 15 minutes away from a small town called "Búđardalur". it's 1 hour north of Akranes. No worries mate happy to help!
Iceland holds a special place in my heart ever since i participated in a similar project in 1991, at the age of 17. We were a small group of norwegians and icelanders together planting a huge amount of threes just outside of Djupivogur on the southeast coast of Iceland. We even got to meet the Icelandic president at the time, Vigdis Finnbogadottir, as she highly appreciated the project. Since then i always wanted to go back to see how "my" threes had fared. So in 2014 i brought my daughter with me to Iceland to find out. We set out from Reykjavik with Djupivogur and the threes as our main destination. I remember the anticipation and excitement i felt when we closed up on Djupivogur. And there....lo and behold, the small threes we planted back in 1991 had turned into a beautiful and big forest. An amazing moment, as if i had just discovered the golden city of El-dorado.
Such a cool and ambitious project! Hope that we'll be able to see a significant change in less than 1750 years because I don't think I can stay alive for that long 😅
@@MossyEarth what a misleading video... *Iceland is not a very cold place at all* Average temperature is 0°C across the whole island due to worm oceanic tides. Siberia is a very cold place...
@@user-qw4jy1oy9r Not only warm oceanic currents (a branch of the North Atlantic Drift), but also (and mainly) South-Western air masses. Coastal areas in the West and South remain above freezing all winter with more rain than snow. All these areas, lowlands and Eastern lowlands (they warmer summers) should be forested. The island looks like tundra, but this biome should only be found in highlands and near glaciers.
As a person that lives in Iceland and always found it tragic how much of the forest has been lost i have personally planted 30 or so trees up in Húsavík which has grown insanely big compared to how it was 20 year's ago now you can visibly see the trees for 2000 meters in all directions and every year in summer they plant around 300 trees not alot but considering the town's pupulation of 2200 ish is impressive And i know a few towns are doing the same with growing trees everywhere they can
Thanks for helping to replant trees. I was in Iceland last month and it was an amazing experience. I didn't get to the north of the island (unfortunately) but I've been watching videos since I returned home. The small towns around Iceland are truly lovely and I'm impressed with the swimming and community centres, etc. provided for the locals. It was also interesting to see where trees were and how large and thick some are.
So interesting how most people would have no idea what the landscape has looked like in the past and hence what it could look like in the future. Hopefully this also invites people to look at ecosystems around them and start questioning things. Well done everyone!
The world of rewilding has certainly opened my eyes when looking at the landscape. Sometimes it makes it look sad such as the countryside which now looks more desolate to me. And then sometimes I see a lot of potential or restoration happening which is really exciting. - Cheers, Duarte
As an Icelander I never knew that there used to be forests here when the vikings came and I first read about it when I studied the Icelandic sagas in school and I could not believe it. This open landscape is what I know, my mom and dad know, my grandparents know, my great grandparents know. The thing is that only certain parts of Iceland are fit for forests and even then the weather is so harsh sometimes that large parts of forests could die out.
I visited Iceland in September of 1994 and spent a few days there. One thing I remember is the severe lack of trees. Acres and acres of moss covered rocks.
Молодцы молодежь! как приятно, глаза ясные,улыбки натуральные, и вы сами!некомпьюные! и светлая цель! удачи, здоровья, исполнения желаний! спасибо за доставленное удовольствие!у нас в поселке искусственный бор,50лет назад его посадили старшеклассники!в все обитатели бора,от рыжего муравья до неясыти!думали ли они? мечтали ли об этом?! даже если нет,я очень благодарна!здорово!❤😊
I find It inspiring that this project is sponsored by the Icelandic forest service itself: government support Is crucial, and more countries should do that! Do they also collaborate with other organizations in different areas? Also I find amazing that you are bringing back forests more than 1000 years after they were removed. Very Happy to be a member!!!!
Hey Dora! Thanks for your comment! The Iceland Forest Service have been great to work with. They're the only organization we work with in Iceland, but we have local partners we work with all across the globe. Supporting local organizations is often the most effective way for us to make a difference to all these ecosystems. Very happy to have you as a member! - Cheers, Hannah
The Icelandic forest service has an incentive for farmers and landowners to dedicate land for forests for a set amount of years, where the government supplies saplings for low or no cost, and pays 95% of the contracted work for pruning the forest where the landowner is the first option for the contract.
Österreichischer Alpenverein had tree planting projects outside Wien back in the 90s to prevent erosion, to keep the groundwater levels stable to save the Schwartzkiefer in the area. I was there working several seasons, and it was rewarding, interesting and good for the environment. Alpenverein arrange summer camps for families, kids and teens to join environmental projects. They pay for food and housing, and sightseeing and interesting events are also included. I wish more countries had similar things going on. When I was in school back in the 70s and 80s, schools took part in planting trees in Norway. Activities like that is long gone....
@Dora Luise On one side, I agree with you. On the other side, I really don't get why the Icelandics still let their sheep run free. If they would keep their sheep and goats only in special areas (moving from place to place but always kept behind a fence) nature would support renaturating by itself. Letting sheep go on eating saplings and grass will make things even worse. *This* should be the first step. otherwise an Icelandic Forest Service sounds a bit .. funny to me.
My great-grandparents started planting trees on our property on a mountainside just outside of Reykjavik starting in the 1930s. Very rare to see such a mature forest in Iceland. A beautiful mix of birch, rowan, cottonwood/aspens, spruce, pine, larch, maple, sycamore. With the sheep gone from the area and global warming, it's been amazing watching it start to really take off over the last 20 years. Of course it's nothing like forests in other countries, but these are difficult conditions. The heavy wet snow this winter snapped a number of trees in half and stripped the branches. The most dangerous thing for mature trees in Iceland though is Icelanders. They value direct sunlight over tree shade. Question -- why do you have to till the moss? Birch and willow seem to grow just fine in the mossy landscape here.
This is a wonderful story about how your great-grandparents starting to plant trees in the 1930s. I heard at one point there were 2 million sheep (not that long ago) and they took over a lot of the land; plus < 1% of the land is suitable for agriculture. I was in Iceland last month and it was an incredible experience. I can understand why early settlers cut down the trees but I'm saddened to hear so many Icelanders are cutting down trees for direct sunlight. I've seen videos where people have planted trees around their home/property as wind and snow breaks. I can see that being useful but I don't think the trees needs to be too close to the house.
We were stationed in Iceland (Keflavik NAS) in the early 1980s, and had a son born there, so I've always kind of followed what is going on there since then. I consider it to have been a privilege to have lived in Iceland, to learn about a place so different from regular American culture. I am so happy to learn about the reforestation project there! Those of us returning to the States with toddlers had to teach them what trees were. I will make a donation to the cause. I'm scared for Iceland right now because of all the chaos caused by the tectonic plates. However, I am glad to see how much they are allowing tourism now and hope that will help ease some of the financial burden from all the upheaval going on. Good wishes for Iceland and the reforestation project!
Iceland would have been quite a different but still incredible experience in the early '80s. Lucky for you to have had this experience. I love the story about teaching your kids what trees were when you returned to the US. I was just in Iceland last month. It was an incredible experience and it was interesting to see where there were trees ( and in some places surprisingly large) and where it was barren. We didn't make it to the north like to Akureyi, but I've been watching Just Icelandic RU-vid videos. I'm so impressed with how attractive the small towns are and how many good sized trees there are in these areas.
I have always loved Iceland, such a unique place on earth. I had for a time really studied it's ecology and really wondered what it would be like if all those birch trees were still standing. What a wonder world it must have been. Good to see you people are working on bringing this back!
Thank you Drapho! Really appreciate your kind words. For us native species and biodiversity are THE priority and not just a side mission :) - Cheers, Duarte
I mean, there are some forests in Iceland. Like Hallormsstaðaskógur, which covers 740 hectars, most of which is native birch forest. The landscape there presumably looks very similar to what Iceland looked like before human habitation.
Really interesting reforestation project, I love that we aren't just doing it for carbon capture but that we're thinking about it in the bigger picture of restoring natural ecosystems. Good job Hannah with finding this.
Marvelous! You might be interested in something my brother-in-law did. A coal company in Alabama was required to restore to forest a large area covered with the tailings from mining. It was proving expensive and destructive as they felt forced to buy topsoil to cover the tailings. Then my brother-in-laws noticed that the problem wasn't the lack of soil. Trees were beginning to move into the edges of that tailing where there was forest shading. The problem was that the blackness made the area too hot for trees to grow. Shade that and trees could grow there and slowly restore the soil.
I must say, it has been an absolute pleasure working with the Icelandic Forest Service. It is a forestry service with ambition which is rare.. :) - Cheers, Duarte
I can't wait to see how you and other amazing people will help restore Iceland to the former ecosystem of the past. Hopefully, this will just be the start of helping ecosystems thrive and save species. Even if it takes 1750 years, I will be glad. But if I don't live that long, (which I probably won't) I can hope that a big change will happen and help people recognize that they can help. :)
What I like most about this is the fact that y'all are planting Birch, Tea Leaf Willow, Rowan and Aspen, which are native trees that used to dominate Iceland's forests. As you note in this video, this will benefit other flora and fauna that are native, too, to the island. More reforesting projects in the world should take this approach.
I agree. However I heard when the Vikings first settled there over 1000 years ago, about 25% of the land was covered in trees. Plus with < 1 % of the land currently suitable for agriculture the country desperately needs a lot more trees. We don't need to worry about the island loosing a lot of it's bare magnificent landscape; however a sizeable amount of the landscape has been negatively affected from volcanos and lava and tree cutting.
Your channel deserves so much more attention! We have been to Iceland and it just seems so natural that the island and its ecosystem is without trees. Very surprised to learn that Iceland once had so much area covered in forests. Only goes to show what a massive negative impact we humans have had on nature... keep up the excellent work guys!
The fact that most Icelandic reforesting projects are planting non-natives is very sad - glad you can be there to do the right thing and hopefully inspire others!
Yes. I hadn't thought about how with climate changing different species would be needed. I was in Iceland a month ago. It was an incredible experience.
I've never been to Iceland but all the footage I've ever seen, the desolate treeless landscape stood out to me. I did not know it had forests in the past, but if it had forests before, it can do again! This is a worthwhile project.
What time of year were you there? I was there last month (June) and most everything was a beautiful green. Watch Just Icelandic videos on RU-vid and you will see video footage of the entire island at various times of the year.
I'm thrilled to see so many eco restoration projects re-greening the Earth, reversing sometimes thousands of years of unsustainable land use such as overgrazing, giving local people the most immediate benefits of stopping erosion, reversing desertification and so on, and benefitting us all with carbon capture. I think projects like this may make a huge difference in the long run when it comes to climate driven migration (and the violence, hunger, and disease that can accompany it) and finding ways to feed the world in sustainable ways.
@@notashroom Yes and when the forest is mature it is a perfect grazing area again aswell. Keeping erosion in check and also keeping the balance up with natural pruning so it doesn't get to thick with coppice shoots or brushwood. A win win I'd say in the long run.
@@martinjohnsson1525 it's almost funny how the more we learn about our world, the more we find that some ancient peoples often labeled "primitive" were more advanced than modern society at land and resource management. It would be funny, if the consequences of our deviations weren't so tragic.
Cool project! I want to mention that I have heard that more recent theories point out that the effects of sheep and goats were previously underappreciated in how much deforestation they caused. Since they had no natural predators, they were left to roam free, grazing on every small tree and their roots. This wouldn't just mean preventing natural regrowth of a deforested area, but also a slow deforestation over centuries with no one noticing. With fewer and fewer new trees, eventually the older trees die and the forest disappears. To assume Vikings were the primary factor is to assume 40-50k people chopped 25-40.000km2 of forests in a couple of centuries without taking into account newer trees. A 1000km2 of forest is a lot to chop with simple axes basic tools. Not to say that it didn't play a part, its just that if the vikings were this potent at cutting down trees, there wouldn't be many trees left in Norway and Sweden :p I just like pointing this out whenever I hear of people saying that the vikings chopped everything down, they are still responsible for it anyway :)
you guys are quickly becoming one of my favorite youtube channel about nature & wild life in general. I really love how meticulous you guys plan and just the love of nature that you have. I'll make sure donate to you guys once I graduated college and got a stable job.
@@MossyEarth I think that started it yes. Greenland Trees is the major player and is based out of Greenland (durh) and the Netherlands, as it’s a branch of Dasht. Unsure if Mossy Earth has done work or consulted them before. It’s similar to the Iceland case in many way but also has a different aspect regarding the future and how woodland/ herding is tied to the non-European people that have lived there.
No Icelandic professional gets a job here in forestry. Only volunteers from foreign countries. Thank you for your good work. Good to have free workers for all our forestry needs...
I like the fact that you are taking real, concrete steps to address climate change that involve working with local people and offering something of value to them and to their culture.
I've always wondered what the original forests were like. I think people don't take enough time to think about what species were on the island and what species would have been there if humans hadn't arrived. In particular, a really cool plant that's relatively rare that could be grown there is Greenland Mountain Ash, but almost no one talks about it outside of Greenland.
I don't understand how this channel doesn't have more subs. Amazing production quality and one of the most educative nature content I've seen in RU-vid.
Yes, 1 month ago we were at 1000 subs and it took us 1 year to get to that. So this has been an explosion :) The algorithm picked up two of our videos and then people started watching all the others and subbing and it has been amazing :) - Cheers, Duarte
I had a similar idea for tree planting initiatives across my country. I live in Canada. Our winters are brutal across almost the whole country. Across Iceland, you should reach out to volunteers who would be interested in raising saplings in people's homes, inside businesses, and inside public spaces like schools, community centres, etc. If they are raised indoors during 1 winter, then they might be able to grow big enough to be planted outside in these areas without the risk of being grazed on by animals.
This video couldn't have shown up at a better time I've been thinking about the possibility of rewilding Iceland in the last week and to learn that people have already started feels so good. Though I'm surprised that the native flora doesn't have a greater amount of evergreens, I had imagined it to be more like Norway/Sweden/Finland.
It is really interesting though. The cause for that were several glaciations which wiped out most species of trees. I will quote the Icelandic forest service here "Fossil evidence indicates that Iceland was generally forested during the mid to late Tertiary (5-15 million years ago), with tree genera including Sequoia, Magnolia, Sassafras, Pterocarya and many others, indicating that the climate was warm-temperate. Beech (Fagus sp.) forests were very common for a time. By the late Pliocene, shortly before the onset of Pleistocene glaciations, boreal-type forests of pine, spruce, birch and alder predominated, indicative of a cooler climate. The fossil evidence for these forests is found in West and East Iceland but the forests, in their time, grew in the central volcanic belt, where they were preserved and fossilised between layers of lava. Tectonic movement has since brought them to where they are now, the oldest being farthest east and west. With succeeding glaciations, the Icelandic flora became ever more species-poor. Pines survived the first few glacial periods up to about 1.1 million years ago and fossil evidence of alder is found during interglacials to about 500,000 years ago. The only forest forming tree species to return to the present interglacial is downy birch (Betula pubescens). Other native tree species found in Icelandic forests are rowan (Sorbus aucuparia), which is uncommon, and the extremely rare aspen (Populus tremula) found naturally in only 6 locations, along with abundant tea-leaved willow (Salix phylicifolia), which is usually a shrub but occasionally reaches tree size. In fact, all of these species more often grow as shrubs rather than trees in Iceland and none of them ever get very big, roughly 15 meters in height being the maximum for the birch, rowan and aspen." - Cheers, Duarte
@@MossyEarth It's actually very similar here in western Norway too, while most of Western Norway has evergreen trees today, such as Sitka spruce from Canada, these are now considered a problem, their needles make the soil sour, and they kill any other trees trying to grow. Western Norway was more like Iceland, leafy, but just like in Iceland we cut a lot of it down 1000 and 500 years ago.
I’m from Russia, Novgorod and I’m really addicted to Scandinavian culture, the sagas and skalds and brave warriors and rough lands, respect and love to my brother and sisters may we drink and live together in peace 🇷🇺❤️
What a wonderful project..........keeping on keeping on people..........people power works..........they are regreening the Sahara a bit at a time.........perseverance is the key.........blessings to you all. ❤️❤️😁😁
I absolutely love mossy earth and what you guys are doing. Ever since I was a little kid I hoped to be apart of an organization like this. I’d love to be out there with you guys reforesting the land. I wish I was. You guys are doing an amazing job, keep up the good work!!
Man, this is so inspiring to me to see you guys working on so many projects that have HUGE impacts on not only the local environments but also the world. It's a shame you guys don't have more subscribers and peopling seeing this but I think you will get there one day. Really makes me wonder if I could do similar things (on a much smaller scale of course, maybe just helping plant native trees and get rid of invasive ones) in the future. Keep on doing what you guys are because it's so important and inspires so many people already. Where I live we suffer from the invasive Bradford Pear Tree and it can grow in many soil conditions (the worst and the best) while reaching 15 feet in just 8-10 years. Because of its rapid growth, it beats out most of the native trees while spreading its seeds all over through birds eating its pears. I would recommend looking them up if you don't know what they are because they are a major ecological problem here in the US.
I hope in your next video about this project you'll explain more about the impact of the moss on the Icelandic ecosystem and why it requires tilling, which I've learned elsewhere is usually better avoided in order to avoid disrupting the soil microorganisms and the mycelium network. Obviously there are going to be exceptions to any "usually", and it sounds like this is one, so I will be interested to learn more. Thanks for what you're doing for the benefit of all of us!
I’m not environmentalist by any stretch of the imagination and I only just found your channel but I quite like your approach it seems very practical, very obtainable.
Very cool project! Really cool to understand what the forest cover was only a thousand years ago, and understand how the current rate of afforestation will take to get near to that... 1750 years 😱
I went to Iceland once as a teen. We had a very nice guide showing us around and she told us a lot about the reforestation efforts. They had many problems in the beginning, mistakenly getting Siberian dwarf pine, and saplings from Scandinavia bringing pests that ate what had been planted. She proudly showed us "Iceland's only forest" that to me who comes from forest central in Sweden seemed very tiny.
Planting a diversity of native trees is exactly how it should be done. Excellent! Too many afforestation projects plant non-native or commercial species.
I'm Currently retired and have dreamed of visiting Iceland with an option to live there if I could find employment. To participate in a project would be the ultimate dream job! I'm accustomed to working outdoors and live in an area of expanding suburbs. I suffer from the constant scene of seeing trees cut down. If there are any available avenues to finding actual work on this project please let me know!
My girlfriend wants to go there to work as doctor for a year so maybe I will end up finding a way to create a project in greenland too :) - Cheers, Duarte
I've been living in this country for the last 3-4 years and love it so much i'm applying for the Agricultural School of Iceland (situated a few minutes away from the valley you'll be working in) in order to learn more about its natural history. Can't wait to hear more about this project! Even volunteer if you'll have me?
What an amazing place to live! Our next update should be towards the end of July once planting is done. So keep an eye out for that :) - Cheers, Duarte
Would have to check with Hannah and the IFS on how they are running things as we normally plant only with local professional planters. Really appreciate the offer though :) I will try to add a reply here. Are you based nearby? - Cheers, Duarte
@@MossyEarth I'm based in the Westfjords, but it's a small country and it's just 3-4 hours to the valley. I'm afraid i cannot help with hosting at that time, but it may be a good idea to check with the school i'm talking about for accomodation (lbhi.is). It's basically down the valley! I'd love to get the experience planting as i'm personally interested in icelandic nature and have been growing trees from clippings in my free time, but i understand entirely if it can't happen 👌 i'll go check on the place when i'm enrolled at the school 😜
Icelanders are incredible. Been in Iceland in 2019 and was amazed how green and densely forested it actually is, at least Reykjavík and Suðurland. Nearly every apt building or a country house has a small grove in its backyard, farms and fields are sheltered by trees and reforestation is strongly supported by the government for many decades. It was pleasure to see siberian larch has been acclimatized so well there that it forced Icelanders to start their own timber industry. That nation never ceases to amaze me
I'm really looking forward to seeing how this project progresses, Iceland is a beautiful country but it could definitely use some of those forests back!
Agreed! I think that this is one of those times where it really makes sense to reforest an area. I also love birch forests so I think that will be a nice bonus as well :) - Cheers, Duarte
I love trees and I am so pleased to see this happening. You definitely have a new subscriber. Best wishes for all of your reforestation efforts around the world, as well as any non-tree projects you are working on.
Greetings from Switzerland. This is the first video I've watched from you and I'm a member now. I like the cold regions and the flood plains of Europa. I want to go to such regions at some point. So far I haven't been to many of them. I have visited the Knivskjellodden in Norway during my exchange semester in Finland. But that's about it. And ever since Corona I haven't left Switzerland at all. But I guess hiking in the Alps is a good alternative. Thanks for the work you do.
You have my dream job, I love rewilding and creating films! If you're ever looking for someone in the UK who is passionate and truly wants to help push forward this mission, let me know :)
Hello my friend, shoot us an email on our website mossy.earth We might be looking for some help from filmmakers. In your email be sure to mention the name of this channel you are commenting with so I can put two and two together and please mention its for Duarte. - Cheers, Duarte :)
I just like how you guys respond to many comments and give answers, your videos are great and I hope the channel can grow and u can make money for the projects
What an amazing project as a person of Nordic decent this is a spectacular program to restore the land that over a millenia has been long forgotten. Interestingly the UK has a very similar condition but they are ahead by decades. The unfortunate truth is that in many places deforestation is a problem with some tree species extinct or close to extinction our forests are a cornucopia of life that all of us need to spend a bit more effort in reversing this trend where ever you live on this beautiful world.
I like that you reintroduce native species, in my area of northern Norway we have a large problem with planted (now blacklisted and deeply hated) sitka pine, it leaves the ground a desert as nearly no native species thrive thereunder little light penetrates to the ground.
Sitka spruce is useful for forestry and is planted in Iceland. Should not be hated. It has it's place. Native birch is crooked and does little for forestry use.
@@MrKorton Sitka spruce is useful for humans for timber, but if you want to have forest full of life then you HAVE to plant native trees. It has been shown time and time again that forests full of non-native trees simply do not have the biodiversity and abundance of native forests. I'm not saying that Iceland shouldn't plant forests for timber and commercial production but lets not sugar coat the negative ecological effects that non-native plantations have on wildlife. Just look at similar landscapes to Iceland in areas of upland Scotland and Norway where sitka spruce plantations (among other trees) are effectively devoid of life when compared to surrounding woodland/moorland.
@@bradleywoods3742 Well we plant both native and foreign trees and that's the best way. Native birch is pathetic for timber production but has aesthetic and ecological and historical value. Btw the life is in the canopy for the conifers, not the understory. No need for demonizing this tree and it's usefulness. Like I said, it has it's place. Just don't go under them if you don't like the scene ;) P.s. crossbills and goldcrest and more birds would never survive if it wasn't for the introduced conifers. Redwings and ravens nest in them. They also provide shelter for non-migratory birds against winter storms. Etc
Great work Hannah! And a very informative video Duarte, it really gives the wider context to why interventions like these are needed. I bet you didn’t envisage clearing tonnes of moss when you started Mossy Earth!
I'm so glad this video came up recommended. I just came back from visiting, and it's great to have more information about how exactly reforestation is being handled. I bet the outcome is going to be beautiful 20-30 years down the road.
What a great project! I read about the evolution of ecosystems in Iceland, Scandinavia and Greenland in Jared Diamond's book Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed.
when i visited recently, i found the locals big topic was if the sheep should remain free roaming the island, or if they should be controlled where they can go, so that reforestation can happen. I heard both sides. one boils down to tradition, the other side says its time to move on for the ecosystem. I found it very interesting, but the belief is that the sheep eat the sprouts before trees can develop. cool video
No animal husbandry is a huge thing in Iceland just like it always has been. But in most places the sheep roam free where forests can't really grow because it is too cold during the winter. Also the thing is that if we can't keep sheep, horses, cows etc then a large part of the population would be out of a job and our food safety would be hugely impacted. Personally as an Icelander I dislike forests as they scare the shit out of me and the open landscape is the Iceland I know but I do recognize the need for some forests and I welcome that a large part of the island will be forested especially the south east as it is almost entirely just sand.
I only have been in Iceland once, and was told there used to be forests in some of the areas we visited, so good to learn that my thoughts back then are actually put in place.
