Finnish
forests have been used for centuries, but the most significant changes
in their character occurred with the advent of industrial forestry
after World War II. Intensive forest management together with the
construction of forestry roads and drainage by extensive ditching
have altered forests and bogs drastically. Together they have
also caused a biodiversity crisis to species unable to adapt to
the altered conditions; in Finland forests hold more threatened
species than any other habitat type. Less than five percent of Finnish
forests remain in a natural or semi-natural state, most of them on
state land in eastern and northern Finland. About half of these old-growth
forests have been protected. Especially in southern Finland nearly
all forests have been significantly altered by forest management and
seldom offer suitable habitat for species requiring natural forest
conditions such as high levels of dead wood or relatively unfragmented
forest cover. As much as a fifth of Finnish forest species are
dependent on dead wood for food or shelter.
Approximately
4,1 per cent of Finnish forest land has been protected from logging.
"Forest land" is defined as land attaining tree growth of
one cubic metre per hectare or more annually. Most of these protected
forests are situated in poorly productive areas in northernmost Finland.
In southern Finland all forest types need more protection, while in
northern Finland gaps in the protection network concern mainly old-growth
forests important to species diversity, as well as some important
for cultural heritage and livelihoods such as reindeer herding. In
northern Finland the forest protection network could still be improved
with natural or semi-natural old-growth forests, whereas in southern
Finland protection will need to be accompanied by widespread restoration
works of habitats already heavily affected by forestry.
Even
a well-planned forest protection area network needs to be supplemented
by measures within the surrounding commercial forests. Such measures
were initiated in Finland in the 1990s. The Nature Conservation and
Forest Act were reformed in 1997, the latter now defining seven types
of forest key habitats to be preserved when carrying out timber removal.
Some habitats worthy of inclusion were left out, however, and the
law does not encourage retaining sufficient buffer zones around the
key habitats (the average forest key habitat in Finland averages considerably
less than one hectare in size). Also, a great number of forest key
habitats are still cut or damaged during logging operations. Forest
management guidelines have also been modernised to include e.g. recommendations
on leaving retention trees when clearcutting, but recent research
has questioned the ecological efficacy of these measures.
[Excerpt
from an NGO-publication Palaako elävä metsä?]
