A Land and Forest Iceland consultant, Garðar Þorfinnsson, reports that a key autumn initiative involved bone meal application in these counties, prioritising three key aspects:

• Targeting areas with unsustainable vegetation.

• Employing the method of sowing birch in active reclamation sites, particularly crucial in challenging terrains where fertiliser application post-planting is essential.

• Establishing optimal conditions for birch planting.

According to Garðar, bone meal has demonstrated efficacy as a fertiliser in past Land and Forest Iceland projects, with an application rate of approximately 1.4 tons per hectare. This equates to roughly three years' worth of artificial fertiliser application, considering a chemical content of 25% nitrogen (N) and 2,6% phosphate (5% P₂O₅). The bone meal's nitrogen content is approximately 9%, resulting in a nitrogen application of 126 kilograms per hectare using this method.

Advantages of bone meal include a longer-lasting fertilising effect compared to artificial fertilisers and its contribution to the development of an organic topsoil layer conducive to vegetation establishment.

This autumn, Garðar reports that approximately 820 tons of meat flour were distributed across 566 hectares. Adding the nearly 150 tons distributed across 170 hectares last spring, the total distributed amounts to just over 1,067 tons across approximately 736 hectares. In select areas, birch seed was incorporated into the meat flour prior to distribution to accelerate the land reclamation process.