Höljans naturreservat, Naturreservat

A rushing river surrounded by old natural forests and wet meadows with a rich flora.

The enclosure extends from the Norwegian border in the north down to Klarälven in the south. The watercourse has a drop of about 200 meters along the 17-kilometer stretch from the national border to the confluence with Hynnan just before Klarälven.

The immediate environment of the watercourse varies, from steep slopes down to the river to wider calm flowing sections where the watercourse is bordered by birch groves and wet meadows. The forest in the edge zones and adjacent areas consists largely of forest affected by modern forestry, but there are also older forests with high natural values.

The watercourse and the surrounding landscape have been used by man for a long time and within the reserve there is a registered ancient monument after a coal bed and traces of the rafting that took place in the watercourse. Rafting continued until the 1960s but was not stopped until 1993. The negative impact of the rafting that took place has to some extent been counteracted by the efforts that have been made where the watercourse has been restored in several rounds to approach a more original appearance and function.

The watercourse is interesting for sport fishing and a snowmobile trail crosses the watercourse at Knappbron just south of Mogruvan.

Animals and plants

The river serves as a spawning and nursery area for the Lake Vänern migrating clear river salmon. Höljan is the county's most important watercourse, after Klarälven, for the endangered Clear River salmon, as the proportion of spawning and nursery areas covers virtually the entire watercourse on the Swedish side. The watercourse goes from foaming rapids surrounded by rocks, shallow stretches of stream, to shallower stretches where the surrounding area consists to some extent of meadows that are maintained by the ice masses released during the spring flood and which "clear" the shore zone. These meadows are periodically flooded and have developed into natural wet meadows with a rich flora and species favored by the management, such as buttercup and hay meadow.

There are also wetlands, swamp forests and other wet environments within the management area.