Oct 02, 2014. /Lesprom Network/. Metsähallitus will place 150 commercial forest sites under permanent protection. These forests, totalling 14,780 hectares, include some 1,500 hectares of non-productive land and water areas. The area's size corresponds to that of the City of Lahti, Finland. Most of the new protected areas are located to the south of the Oulu-Kuhmo line, but some extend as far as Southern Lapland, as as the company said in the press release received by Lesprom Network. The protection decision is based on the Government Programme of Prime Minister Jyrki Katainen's Cabinet, stating that the expansion of METSO conservation areas on land owned by the state, municipalities and other public organisations will continue by means of allocating 20,000 hectares of new conservation areas. In spring 2014, it was agreed in the Government discussions on spending limits that Metsähallitus' share of this would amount to 13,000 hectares. “We will implement the decisions of the Government Programme and the Government discussions on spending limits by allocating more than 13,000 hectares to protected areas, regardless of the fact that the most valuable sites in state-owned commercial forests have already been excluded from active forestry by previous processes,” says Antti Otsamo, Development and Environment Manager at Metsähallitus forestry business unit.The sites to be conserved were selected based on cooperation between experts in Metsähallitus' forestry business unit and Natural Heritage Services, using Metsähallitus' geographic information system, terrain inventories, Zonation analyses and proposals for protected areas made by environmental organisations. The aim was to select continuous sites that are important in terms of their biodiversity. “Most of the new sites are located in the vicinity of current protected areas. In time, this will enhance the connectivity of the protected areas. Positive impacts on biodiversity can be expected but these will completely be realized in the long term, not immediately,” says Jussi Päivinen, Project Manager.If bought or sold, the value of the areas now to be protected would total more than Euro 50 million. “However, in accordance with a decision by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Policy, the transfer will be gratuitous: the areas will be transferred away from forestry resources without compensation,” Otsamo says.
“In future, the METSO Programme should focus on sites offered voluntarily by other forest owners and considered valuable in terms of the biodiversity of southern Finland, since it will not be easy to find sites to protect on state lands in a way that would rapidly improve biodiversity,” says Otsamo.
Metsähallitus is a state enterprise that administers more than 12 million hectares of state-owned land and water areas.
Metsähallitus will place 150 commercial forest sites under permanent protection. These forests, totalling 14,780 hectares, include some 1,500 hectares of non-productive land and water areas. The area's size corresponds to that of the City of Lahti, Finland. Most of the new protected areas are located to the south of the Oulu-Kuhmo line, but some extend as far as Southern Lapland. If bought or sold, the value of the areas now to be protected would total more than Euro 50 million.
