"The Railway Stretch at Trösken"

This coming issue will be published in a new format during spring 1997. Insectifera will then be issued as a separate insect journal by the Gästrikland Entomological Society with a separate subscription fee of 99 kr. Subscription to this journal will then take place separately and will not be tied to membership in the society. We are making this division for practical reasons, as the number of new members who only wish to receive the journal has increased so much and so rapidly that publication has become unmanageable with our current resources. With the low membership fee of 30 kr, which we are reluctant to raise, the society's finances cannot support publishing a journal for such a large number of members. The latest edition was 250 copies at a cost of approximately 11,000 kr for printing and postage. No honorariums have been paid to anyone. The journal will probably henceforth be printed in a limited edition, preferably 99 copies for both environmental and practical reasons.

Those interested in subscribing should therefore use the enclosed payment card now. First come, first served....

Our intention is to publish an interesting Insectifera in spring each year with a report of what has happened during the preceding year. The manuscript deadline will henceforth be February 1st. Set aside the Christmas and New Year holidays and January to compile what you have found in the fields during the past year. We on the board believe this will work well. As editor, I am naturally eager to receive manuscripts continuously throughout the year.

Regarding the 1996 membership fee, we are not charging any fee for 1996 for this journal since the 1995 payment covered 2 copies of Insectifera. Only one issue, admittedly a substantial one, came out in 1995.

"The Railway Line at Trösken"

The society's major concern in recent years has been attempting to prevent the construction of a 7 km long railway embankment through the calcareous and extraordinarily species-rich wetlands south of Lake Trösken, 1 mile southeast of Gävle City. At a meeting shortly before Easter 1996, Banverket, the County Authorities in Gävle and Uppsala, and the affected municipalities of Gävle and Älvkarleby decided to prioritize the cost calculation for the modified alternative 1, which mainly follows the old route. This was naturally gratifying, although none of us nature conservationists dare to rejoice until construction work according to UA1 has begun. The decision on which alternative will finally be chosen will probably not be made until summer 1997 after the public has had the opportunity to comment.

The society is therefore maintaining high inventory activity in the area even during 1996. The EU Commission has received information about our inventory work, and the working group on environmental matters in Brussels is prepared to support us if needed. This is particularly important for the protection of the threatened Scarce Swallowtail butterfly, which according to the railway route UA5 has its only northern location, which is also one of the best in the country.

As chairman of the Gästrikland Entomological Society, I wish to express my warm thanks to all who have helped provide information about the fauna in the area. I also wish to thank the Swedish Entomological Society, with Markus Forslund at the helm, for their letter appealing for protection of the area to Banverket, the relevant municipalities, and county authorities.

Banverket's new director Monica Andersson has in a committed manner promised to try to solve the railway routing question in the best way possible. The Nature Conservation Board and the World Wildlife Fund have also, through committed letters to the relevant decision-makers, demonstrated the area's unique natural values. Our society has also received great appreciation for the inventory work we have conducted, which was reported in the previous issue of this journal. Several political parties have also engaged in this nature conservation matter. The question then becomes whether it was the natural values that ultimately determined which alternative would be chosen. Probably the economic arguments favor alternative 1, that is, a modification of the current route.

Those of us who have worked intensively on this issue for several years can now only hope that the proposed solution UA1 really comes to pass. Personally, I feel the issue has taken on disproportionately large dimensions for me, with angry telephone calls, opinion pieces where butterflies are set against people, etc. I can only once again thank Clas, Erik, Solbritt, Johan, Per-Olof, Rås, Åsah, and Krister for encouraging support!

The turmoil surrounding the railway, as well as my civilian job which has also been somewhat affected by this, have meant that I have never felt so burned out. Not even six weeks on Öland have been able to restore my strength. The inventory work during 1996 along the UA5 alternative has however continued in full throughout the summer, and as this is being written in August, has resulted in several new species for Gästrikland in Grinduga!

We also interpret Gävle Municipality's environmental award to the Gästrikland Entomological Society this jubilee year as an encouragement of the society's work.

1996 - A milestone year for Gävle. Gävle is celebrating its 550th anniversary in 1996.

The nature friends in Gävle, now SNF-Gävle, were founded exactly 50 years ago, on May 28, 1946. For the editor, this jubilee naturally leads thoughts to the society's founder. Among the 6 people who founded the society in 1946 was our dear Ragnar Östlund, the first explorer of the butterfly fauna of our Gästrikland.

Among the founders was also lecturer Hultberg at Borgareskolan in Gävle. By chance, I and my best friend Clas Källander, in 1961 ended up in the same junior secondary class with Hultberg as our biology teacher. Quite soon the biology room with its natural history collections became our breathing space and constant refuge in the deteriorating school environment. Lecturer Hultberg also belonged to that category of teachers who appreciated students who could excel in specialized areas even over an old lecturer.

From the first year's 45 members, not many remain today. As far as I have been able to find, only Gävle's "great scholar" Anna-Lisa Hillbom and Maja-Greta Christiernsson remain from the membership in spring 1947. Maja-Greta was married to the late Forester and butterfly expert Yngve Christiernsson, in whose memory the 1995 Insectifera was dedicated.

Yngve was also chairman of the society for many years and the one who particularly awakened my interest in all our earth's fantastic butterfly fauna. Perhaps I can in some future issue of Insectifera tell of the society's insect activities from the rich material I have received from Yngve Christiernsson and Ragnar Östlund.

1995's Butterfly Inventory

Johan Höjer has made the first proper compilation of butterfly activity in Gästrikland during a year. The hope is that this compilation, like Clas' reports on butterflies in Gästrikland, will become a standing feature in future yearbooks. I myself will probably devote the future to our earth's entire butterfly fauna with, it is hoped, readable contributions in future issues of Insectifera. As editor, I am also grateful for contributions to our journal. The publication becomes what we all make of it.

Göran Sjöberg