Finding:
old-growth forest logging allowed and planned; violation of FFCS criterion
36: Safeguarding of the Sámi people?s traditional means of livelihood
and culture.
The Forest
and Park Service has logged the forests of Kessi for years despite
the opposition of the reindeer herders and other users of the area.
Currently the FPS is planning to log also in a part of Kessi that
has been included in the Wilderness Areas of the Wilderness Act (Vätsäri
Wilderness Area).
In the
autumn of 2000 the FPS started a road construction towards the easternmost
parts of the area without giving the herders proper notice. These
forests have been described even in the inventories of the FPS itself
as being entirely in their natural state. Also without any prior notice,
another access road was constructed to the western part of the Kessi
area, which is a winter pasture of the reindeer.
In addition,
soil scarification has been carried out - including areas rich with
ground lichen - without any preceding consultation with the herders.
Source
of information: The Finnish Nature League, interviews and field
trips
Probable
buyers of the timber: Metsäliitto, StoraEnso, Vapo Timber
