Fulufjället National Park

Lore & Background

The park was inaugurated in September 2002 by King Carl XVI Gustaf at a ceremony attended by a few thousand spectators. It became one of the initial PAN Parks, an international project combining preservation with tourism. The park's name derives from the mountain Fulufjället, whose etymology is uncertain; Harry Ståhl suggests the first part comes from Old Swedish 'fala' meaning 'pale' or 'dim', possibly linked to the city of Falun or the river Fulan.

The Fulufjället massif is a high plateau deeply gouged by rivers flowing into the Dalälven. Its geography features lichen, bare mountains, and valleys with dense old-growth forest. The heaths of brush, grass, and lichens are unique in the Scandinavian Mountains due to the absence of grazing reindeers. The park hosts brown bears, Eurasian lynx, and the Siberian jay as its symbol. Notable sights include Njupeskär, Sweden's largest waterfall, and Old Tjikko, one of the world's oldest trees.

The massif is composed mainly of Dalecarlian sandstone, formed 900 million years ago near the equator, and veined with diabase from the Oslo Rift. The landscape was shaped by tectonic uplift starting about 60 million years ago and subsequent erosion, with minimal glacial erosion during the Quaternary.

Reader's Guide

Fulufjället National Park represents a significant addition to Sweden's protected areas, being one of its most recent national parks. Its establishment in 2002 marked a commitment to preserving a unique geological and ecological region. The park's sandstone bedrock, distinct from typical Swedish granite and gneiss, and its diabase veins create a substrate that supports unusual vegetation. The absence of reindeer grazing has allowed heath communities to thrive, making the area ecologically distinct within the Scandinavian Mountains.

The park's inclusion in the PAN Parks initiative highlights its role in balancing conservation with tourism. Njupeskär waterfall and Old Tjikko attract visitors, while the park's remote location—400 km from Stockholm—preserves its wilderness character. The extreme rainfall event of August 1997, which set a Swedish record, demonstrates the area's climatic variability and its capacity for dramatic natural change. Fulufjället also contributes to international conservation by adjoining Norway's Fulufjellet National Park, creating a transboundary protected area.

Did You Know?

• The park contains Sweden's highest waterfall, Njupeskär, with a total height of 93 m and a free fall of 70 m.
• Old Tjikko, one of the world's oldest trees, grows within the park.
• The park experienced Sweden's highest recorded 24-hour rainfall on 30–31 August 1997, with 276 mm collected at Rösjöarna.
• The park's heaths are unique in the Scandinavian Mountains due to the absence of grazing reindeers.

A European First in Protected Landscapes

Sweden holds a distinctive place in the history of conservation, having become the first nation on the European continent to formally establish national parks. In 1909, the Riksdag passed legislation that paved the way for nine parks to open their gates to the public. That pioneering moment set a precedent that would unfold over more than a century. Between 1918 and 1962, seven additional parks were added to the roster, followed by a wave of thirteen more between 1982 and 2009. The most recent addition, Åsnen National Park, was inaugurated in 2018. By 2020, the national system had grown to encompass thirty parks spanning a combined 743,238 hectares—roughly 1,836,580 acres—of protected Swedish terrain. This gradual, law-driven expansion reflects a long-term commitment to preserving the country's natural heritage for generations to come.

Governance and the Mandate of Protection

Every Swedish national park falls under the stewardship of the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency, known in Swedish as Naturvårdsverket, and is ultimately owned by the state. This centralized governance structure ensures a consistent approach to conservation across the entire network. The agency's mandate is clear: each park must showcase a landscape type that is genuinely unique within the country, and it must be safeguarded effectively. Beyond mere preservation, the parks serve as living laboratories for scientific research, welcoming spaces for public recreation, and destinations for responsible tourism—all while ensuring that natural ecosystems remain undamaged. This balanced framework means that Fulufjället and its sister parks are not frozen relics but active landscapes where human engagement and ecological integrity must coexist in careful equilibrium.

A Landscape Defined by Mountains and Forest

The physical character of Sweden's national parks is overwhelmingly alpine. Mountain terrain accounts for approximately ninety percent of the combined area across all thirty parks, a statistic driven largely by the vast northern reserves. Sarek and Padjelanta, for instance, each stretch across roughly 200,000 hectares—nearly 490,000 acres—of rugged highland wilderness. Many of these northern parks form part of the Laponian area, a UNESCO World Heritage Site celebrated for its pristine natural landscape and its role as habitat for the Sami people, whose traditional reindeer herding has shaped the region for millennia. In stark contrast, the parks at Sweden's southern edge—Söderåsen, Dalby Söderskog, and Stenshuvud—are dominated by broadleaf woodland, together covering only about 2,000 hectares. This north-south divide illustrates the extraordinary range of ecosystems the national park system is designed to represent.

International Recognition and the Road Ahead

Fulufjället National Park's membership in PAN Parks places it within a broader European conservation framework. This network was established by the World Wildlife Fund with the aim of strengthening long-term conservation strategies and improving the management of tourism across European national parks. Being part of such an international body signals that Fulufjället meets rigorous standards for protection and sustainable use that extend well beyond Swedish borders. Meanwhile, the domestic pipeline for new parks continues to evolve. In 2008, following investigations and consultations with the relevant counties, the Environmental Protection Agency published a plan to create thirteen additional national parks. Seven of these were slated for establishment between 2009 and 2013, with Kosterhavet National Park taking the lead in September 2009. The timing for the remaining six parks, however, remains undetermined, leaving the future shape of Sweden's protected-area network still in flux.