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Orsolya Haarberg

At Muddus National Park in Sweden, bogs link together pockets of coniferous forests. Also known as peatlands, these wetlands store immense amounts of carbon dioxide that is dangerous when released into the atmosphere.

Southwest of Copenhagen, Denmark • The tangible benefits—food, wood, carbon storage—are not the only ones. Immersing oneself in woods, or “forest bathing,” has been shown by scientists to reduce mental and physical stress. At Camp Adventure, visitors ascend a spiraling 150-foot-high boardwalk to get a fresh perspective on trees—and perhaps on life.

Hölstein, near Basel, Switzerland • How exactly do trees die of thirst? As part of a 20-year project to answer such questions, University of Basel plant ecologist Ansgar Kahmen and technician Lucio Rizzelli regularly ride into the canopy of a research forest. Here they’re measuring the water vapor that a Norway spruce sheds through its needles.

In this spot in Romania’s Carpathian Mountains, the tree line is marked with Norway spruces, which are sculpted in winter by the forces of wind and snow.

Near Haarberg’s home in Vågå, Norway, the autumn colours of the tree line, formed by the mountain birch forest, are already at their peak by the middle of September.

In Rondane, Norway, mountain birch and Scots pine forests are distinctly separated along a sudden change in the gradient of the slope.

At the beginning of November in Italy’s Abruzzo region, naked beeches emerge like grey skeletons against the yellow maples and rusty-red forest floor.

One of Europe’s first national parks, the Swedish Stora Sjöfallet was established in 1909. It gives refuge to ancient Scots pine forests that have been the homelands of Indigenous Sami people for thousands of years.

October snow covers the ground beneath a mixed boreal forest amid the intricate patterns of string bogs in Sweden’s Muddus National Park.

In a snowy forest within Sweden’s Muddus National Park, sunlight casts the tops of spruces in a red glow, while the shadows become a frigid blue.