When Suzi and I first visited Iceland more than half a century ago there were no trees.  It was heathland. Not barren, just treeless.  Icelanders told us that in the 9^th century, when settlers first arrived, the island had about 30% forest coverage.  Not big stately pines, but birch and alder.  There is some disagreement on that by historians and horticulturalists, but it is a common belief backed up by some written records.  The trees were cleared for building, firewood and agriculture. 

The next time we were in Iceland there were trees, but they were the subjects of jokes like, “What do you do if you get lost in an Icelandic Forest?  Stand up.”  The trees were short.  Today that joke does not make as much sense.

Iceland decided to reforest.  It began with the Alaska Lupine.  Our blue flower flourishes in Greenland.  Beginning in the late 40s there was a massive effort to plant the flower. Icelanders my age remember packets of seeds handed out at gas stations with the instructions to scatter them along the road, while on hikes, everywhere.  The Alaska Lupine helps fix nitrogen in the soil.  It helps build soil sets the stage for the next stage — trees.

Lupine did its job but has gotten out of hand.  It’s choking out native species, so the country is making efforts to control its growth.  One Icelander said while it used to be Alaskan Lupine, now they are calling it Russian Lupine.   it is invasive – like the Russians.  It was kind of him to say that.

But there just MAY be a partial natural fix.  Iceland has started planting trees.  Native alder and birch, but also Norway (red) Pine and our own Sitka Spruce.  In the Tongass National Forest, my home of Southeast Alaska, the Sitka Spruce is the barrier that keeps the lupine in check.  Lupine likes light, spruce provides shade.  The lupine thrives in meadows, along roadsides and riverbanks but the forest canopy stops its spread.  I don’t think Icelandic forests will ever be widespread enough to completely control the lupine, but they may help contain its spread once they can limit it in some areas.  For now, Iceland is feeling a little more like home, with our spruce and flowers.

Lupine and some bigger “friends” acting as a barrier.

Which brings me to parliaments.  The first Icelandic parliament, the Althing, Alþingi in Icelandic. met at Thingvellir (Þingvellir in Icelandic) in 930.  Thingvellir means “assembly field” and it was land that had been confiscated by the commonwealth from the owner who was found guilty of murder. It met annually at this site until 1798.  Now the Althing meets in Reykjavik.   It was the first parliament in the world.  Not a sitting but a standing parliament.  One chief and three farmers from each district met.  The law speaker recited law from Law Rock against a cliff of stone that reflected sound like a natural amphitheater and the delegates settled disputes and made laws.  The Althing was something of a cross between a legislature and a supreme court.

Thingvellir is the place where North America and Europe both meet and are being pushed apart.  It is at the meeting of the two continental plates, and it is where dynamic earth forces are separating them, at about 2 cm a year.  Since we first visited, the valley is about 4 feet wider.  In the space between the continents there is a large freshwater lake with plenty of fish.  It was a good place for a gathering, food, water and a natural sound projecting theater.  Not only were laws made but so were marriages and family alliances.  This, not Westminster, is the ground from which Westminster and all other parliaments sprung.

When we first visited, I was impressed by the historic importance but not by the place itself.  It was rainy, overcast, dark and there were no trees.  On a sunny day it looks completely different.  And there are trees now.  It is a National Park, founded in 1930 on the 1000^th anniversary of the first Althing.  But in the last 50 years paths and walkway between the fissures that separate the continental plates, along with a visitor’s center have been added, making it a place worth returning to.

Thingvellir, Þingvellir, National Park.