Asa research station

The research infrastructure has two main locations. The Asa research station with 12 employees together with the research areas Asa experimental forest and Asa high-yield experimental forest (Asa HYEF) is located 37 km N of Växjö, in the village of Asa. Together the two research areas cover 2 700 ha of forest land reaching from 165 to 285 m.a.s.l. The nearest community is Lammhult, 15 km west of Asa.

The second location is Aneboda experimental area (170 ha). It is located 30 km NNW of Växjö and 4 km SW of Lammhult within the Fiolen nature reserve and consists of wetlands and coniferous forests (Natura 2000).

The research areas within SITES Asa represent a range from intensively managed to semi-natural forests. The annual mean temperature is +6.4°C and precipitation is 728 mm (452 mm during the growing season). The length of the growing season (i.e the period when the daily mean air temperature generally stays above +5˚C) is on average 194 days.

Asa Experimental Forests

Approximately 80 percent of the entire area is forested. Half of this consists of spruce a quarter of the forest consists of mixed coniferous forest of spruce and pine. The remaining quarter is made up of pine and deciduous stands. The land is owned by the state forest company Sveaskog.

Aneboda research area

In the central parts of Aneboda, Norway spruce forests of semi-natural character and rich in stones and bolds dominate. Bogs sparsely covered with Scots pine as well as wetlands are also within the area. In the peripheral parts of the reserve, clear-cuts and young stands of Norway spruce are found. Management should successively turn the latter into mixed stands of different ages mimicking a more natural state. The county administration board in Växjö administrates the natural reserve, while it has a mixed ownership (the state and private landowners).