Muddus

Muddus National Park, Muttos in Lule Sami, was established in 1941 in Swedish Lapland, in the municipality of Jokkmokk, and protects some 493 km². Unlike the neighbouring alpine parks, Muddus is an area of forest and mire on relatively flat ground.

Its principal value is the primeval forest: ancient pinewoods that have never been felled, with individuals several centuries old and abundant dead wood standing and fallen, a type of forest practically vanished from the rest of Scandinavia after centuries of forestry. Between the wooded stands lie enormous mires, which occupy close to half the park's area and hold a notable wetland birdlife, with breeding cranes and wildfowl.

The Muddus River crosses the park and has cut the Muddusdalen canyon, one of the deepest in the country, with walls more than a hundred metres high, and forms the Muddusfallet waterfall. The fauna includes brown bear, elk, lynx and white-tailed eagle. In 1967 Muddus received the Council of Europe's European Diploma of Protected Areas alongside Sarek and Padjelanta, renewed every five years since, and in 1996 it became part of the Laponian Area inscribed on the World Heritage List.