About the National Targeted Forest Damage Inventory

An annual monitoring of major damage outbreaks in Swedish forests is carried out through the objective surveys of the National Forest Inventory. Although this provides continuous monitoring of the most important damage symptoms, it often lacks the capacity to adequately follow up on regional outbreaks.

With more damage outbreaks expected as a consequence of climate change, there is an increasing need for high-precision regional information. To make forest damage monitoring more efficient, the NRS (National Targeted Forest Damage Inventory) has been introduced, featuring customized surveys directed at outbreaks of specific damaging agents.

The NRS is conducted in collaboration between SLU, the Swedish Forest Agency (SKS), and the forest sector. The inventory is action-oriented, with a specific focus determined prior to each field season. By carrying out the inventory at an appropriate time and within a limited area, the ability to provide meaningful and relevant information on current damaging agents is improved. The objective of each targeted inventory may vary from year to year, depending on which types of damage are most relevant at the time and where there is an expressed need for information.

Previous inventories include surveys of  Scots pine blister rust (Cronartium pini) in young pine forests in northern Norrland (2007, 2008, and 2012); spruce bark beetle (Ips typographus) outbreaks in Götaland (2006 and 2007); ash dieback (Hymenoscyphus fraxineus) in Götaland (2009 and 2010); spruce bark beetle damage in Västernorrland County (2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, and 2016). In 2020, surveys were conducted on elm occurrence on Gotland and on damage caused by spruce bark beetles in Götaland and Svealand. Follow-up inventories of spruce bark beetle attacks were carried out in Götaland and Svealand in the autumns of 2021, 2022, 2023, and 2024. During the summer of 2022, an inventory of young forest conditions in Norrland was also conducted.

To the NRS homepage