Luidja alder forest

Luidja alder forest may seem like an average black alder forest to everyday passers-by as you can find these trees elsewhere in Hiiumaa marshes and stream banks. But in fact this is an area which has more than a hundred year history in experimenting with fixating unique dunes. The alder forest was first established due to the need to protect the beach road of Luidja and the nearby fields and meadows from blowing sands. The alder forest was established by Karl Friedrich Vilhelm Ahrens (1855-1938) who was born in Germany in Meclenburg-Schwerin. He studied forestry in Rostock and Greifsvald. Ahrens established the alder forest in order to fixate the sand dunes in 1901-1903.