A recent uptick in moss-graffiti in the slopes of volcanic craters, caused by travellers who feel the urge to leave messages in the landscape by tearing out moss, has caused significant concern among conservationists and tour guides.
This type of vandalism has been a persistent problem in Iceland, since long before the recent explosion in tourism, but the large numbers of visitors has made it worse. Many travellers seem unaware of the fact that it takes moss decades to recover from even the smallest wounds. Many vandals might therefore not realize they are leaving a permanent scar in the landscape.
However, it is possible to repair these wounds, although it takes considerable work.
Instructional video on how to repair wounds
Earlier this week teams from the municipal geothermal power utility Orka Náttúrunnar repaired damages to the moss covered slopes of a volcanic crater, Litla Svínafell, near two of the utility's power plants. The repairs were remarkably successful as the before-and-after photos show.
To assist others, who would like to help in repairing these kinds of damages, the utility has now released an instructional video documenting the repairs to Litla Svínafell:
The video and subtitles are in Icelandic, but since we at Iceland Insider realize that our readers might want to learn this simple trick, we decided to translate the video.
- I'm going to teach you how to repair moss-graffiti
- It's very simple. You just need your hands.
- You begin by removing small tufts from the blanket near the location you are repairing
- And you need to even the moss out where you remove the small tufts.
- Then you just piece them together to cover the wound you wish to repair.
- The tufts should be roughly the size of your hand.
- You might have to lift up the edges of the moss blanket near the wound.
- And then you simply arrange the tufts close to one another
- By using tufts from the moss blanket near the wound you also help make the wound less visible.
- This will then take a few years to completely heal, perhaps 1-5 years.
- By that time the wound will have healed completely.
- The moss will stay at the place where you tuck it in, because if you assemble it tightly it should not blow away.
- All you need is to be careful and make sure the edges and moss you are inserting are level.
A recent uptick in moss-graffiti in the slopes of volcanic craters, caused by travellers who feel the urge to leave messages in the landscape by tearing out moss, has caused significant concern among conservationists and tour guides.
This type of vandalism has been a persistent problem in Iceland, since long before the recent explosion in tourism, but the large numbers of visitors has made it worse. Many travellers seem unaware of the fact that it takes moss decades to recover from even the smallest wounds. Many vandals might therefore not realize they are leaving a permanent scar in the landscape.
However, it is possible to repair these wounds, although it takes considerable work.
Instructional video on how to repair wounds
Earlier this week teams from the municipal geothermal power utility Orka Náttúrunnar repaired damages to the moss covered slopes of a volcanic crater, Litla Svínafell, near two of the utility's power plants. The repairs were remarkably successful as the before-and-after photos show.
To assist others, who would like to help in repairing these kinds of damages, the utility has now released an instructional video documenting the repairs to Litla Svínafell:
The video and subtitles are in Icelandic, but since we at Iceland Insider realize that our readers might want to learn this simple trick, we decided to translate the video.
- I'm going to teach you how to repair moss-graffiti
- It's very simple. You just need your hands.
- You begin by removing small tufts from the blanket near the location you are repairing
- And you need to even the moss out where you remove the small tufts.
- Then you just piece them together to cover the wound you wish to repair.
- The tufts should be roughly the size of your hand.
- You might have to lift up the edges of the moss blanket near the wound.
- And then you simply arrange the tufts close to one another
- By using tufts from the moss blanket near the wound you also help make the wound less visible.
- This will then take a few years to completely heal, perhaps 1-5 years.
- By that time the wound will have healed completely.
- The moss will stay at the place where you tuck it in, because if you assemble it tightly it should not blow away.
- All you need is to be careful and make sure the edges and moss you are inserting are level.
