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WORLDWIDE
FOREST/BIODIVERSITY CAMPAIGN NEWS
Finland
has Fewer Old-Growth Forests than Believed
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Forest Networking a Project of Forests.org
http://forests.org/ -- Forest
Conservation Archives
http://forests.org/web/ -- Discuss Forest
Conservation
06/13/00
OVERVIEW
& COMMENTARY
Taiga
Rescue Network ( http://www.snf.se/TRN/index.shtml ) has
released
a new publication entitled "The Last of the Last" that
contains
maps of remaining old-growth forests of boreal Europe;
including
Norway, Sweden, Finland and North West Russia.
You can
download
the report and maps at:
http://www.snf.se/TRN/old_growth/last.shtml
Following
is press coverage of the report's findings for Finland,
where
there was found to be considerably less old-growth than
previously
thought. It is critical that these
remaining forests be
conserved
and allowed to regenerate and expand in order to maintain
the
region's biodiversity and ecosystems.
g.b.
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Title: Finland has fewer valuable old-growth
forests than believed
Source: Helsingin Sanomat
Status: Copyright 2000, contact source for permission
to reprint
Date: May 11, 2000
Byline: Kaarina J"rventaus
There
are fewer old-growth forests in Finland than previously
believed,
or so claims an extensive survey conducted by nature
protection
organisations.
After
years of hard work, Olli Turunen, former chairman of the Finnish
Nature
League, has prepared a map in which he has marked almost all of
Finland's
old-growth forests, a total of about 800,000 - 900,000
hectares.
Earlier figures had estimates of over one million hectares.
According
to the organisations, some of the most important forests are
not
protected. "Among the number one unprotected forests is the
J"m"svaara
Forest in Kuhmo, which has 3,000 hectares of old-growth
trees.
It is also probably the most valuable forest for its species,
and
that includes the protected areas", states Turunen.
Last
week the Taiga Rescue Network, an international network composed
of over
180 organisations, published maps of protected old-growth
forests
in Norway, Sweden, Finland and Northwest Russia. Finland's
old-growth
forests are an important global matter, says Turunen.
"Finland's
primary duty in this regard at the European Union is the
protection
of old-growth forests. Important decisions by EU standards
are
made there."
According
to Turunen, about 550,000 hectares or two-thirds of all old-
growth
forests in Finland are protected. The ecological area plan of
the
Forest and Park Service could secure an additional 100,000
hectares
for the future if it is properly carried out.
"Old-growth"
defined in a new way
Turunen
has defined old-growth forests in a different way from forest
researchers,
for example. He does not require an age limit of 140 or
150
years for tree stands, but instead that they have passed the age
of
maturity for felling. Also the requisite for the number of
decomposing
trees is more lax then the one used generally: 10 cubic
metres
a hectare is sufficient.
Some of
Turunen's criteria, on the other hand, are stricter than the
norm:
included are only forests that are over 10 hectares wide and
that
have not been clearcut in over 40 years.
Turunen's
definition stems from the study of the preferred forest type
or
habitat for the species that are disappearing from commercial
forests.
He has collected information from hundreds of on-site visits,
satellite
pictures and information from the Forest and Park Service.
Member
organisations of TRN plan on distributing maps of the old-
growth
forests to Central European businesses and consumers in order
to
discourage the purchasing of products from old-growth forests. The
Swedish
furniture giant IKEA announced that it would take the
information
from the maps into account in its acquisition of raw
material.
Ease
production demands and clearcutting goals
The
most important means of saving old-growth forests would be to ease
production
demands and clearcutting goals of the Forest and Park
Service,
says Esko Joutsamo, the Secretary General of the Finnish
Nature
League. "It is not right that even the remaining natural
forests
are used in order to fill the state coffers". Most of the
unprotected
old-growth forests are on land held by the (state-owned)
Forest
and Park Service.
Minister
of the Environment Satu Hassi agrees with Joutsamo. "Reducing
clearcutting
and production goals of the Forest and Park Service has
become
totally necessary from the point of view of nature protection",
said Ms
Hassi. "The amount of money in question and the protection
values
in question seem way out of proportion with each other", argues
Hassi.
Minister
of Agriculture and Forestry Kalevi Hemil" is not too thrilled
with
Hassi's comments. "The government has drawn up a protection
programme
for old-growth forests. According to the most recent
European
surveys, all the old-growth forests in Finland are
protected",
he said in a telephone interview. "The protection
solutions
for Northern and Eastern Finland are signed and sealed at
the
government level."
As it
happens, even Hemil" would like to see slightly leaner goals for
the
Forest and Park Service. "Now they are extremely tight. If
production
demands are eased, we wouldn't have to strive for quite
such a
high level of efficiency in forestry maintenance", he says. In
1996
the government decided to protect 350,000 hectares of old-growth
forest
mainly in Northern and Eastern Finland.
The
upshot of Hemil"'s remarks is nevertheless that the cabinet is not
going
to promise financing for new protection programmes in Northern
and
Eastern Finland. Future forest decisions will be affecting
Southern
Finland, Ostrobothnia, and Western Lapland. Hassi believes
that a
new financing package has to be found for them.
Nature conservationists
are hoping that when decisions are taken on
Southern
Finland a separate move will be made to protect the broken
forest
chain which goes from Kuhmo to Sy"te through Simo and Pello,
and
whose existence was revealed in the new survey.
FACTFILE:
the Home of Rare Species
? 42 % of Finland's extinct and endangered
animal and plant species
are
forest species.
? Many species need the habitat of old-growth
forests, rich with
dead
and decomposing trees.
? The nesting population of many bird species
living in old-growth
forests
has decreased by 50% over past decades, while other forest
bird
species have increased. A case in point is the Siberian jay
(Perisoreus
infaustus), whose numbers have diminished dramatically.
? The wood grouse population has decreased
70% since the 1950s.
This
bird species needs an extensive unbroken forest area as its
habitat;
the mere protection of mating areas is not sufficient.
? Old-growth coniferous forests in their
natural state can be
recognised
by their stout fir or pine trees. Old-growth deciduous
trees
can also be found among the group. Large standing dead trees and
fallen
trunks can usually be seen in old-growth forests. Signs of past
wildfires
are also visible. Shelf fungus, lichen and mosses are
common.
Birds of prey thrive in these forests.
? The old-growth deciduous forests are is
recognisable by their
large
birchs, aspens or alder trees, large goat willows (sallow, salix
caprea)
and rowans.
? There are standing and fallen dead trees.
Often signs of past
grazing
or cut-and-burn activities are visible. These forests provide
a home
for the threatened white-backed woodpecker and the flying
squirrel
(Pteromys volans).
Taiga
Rescue Network
See
also the page on the report mentioned in this article - The Last
of the
Last - which also contains maps to show the location and extent
of the
old-growth forests (they are in .pdf format). Vanishing Old-
growth
Forests in Finland and Russia - contains a number of
interesting
pages, including the reasons why we should be looking
after
these forests. For those interested in birds, an excellent
introduction
to the threatened species of Europe can be found from the
European
Union's pages. The white-backed woodpecker is on the list,
its
habitat threatened "by intensive forestry".
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