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.
This
winter pasture is situated along the shores of Lake Inari. Muddusjärvi
reindeer herding co-operative as well as the predecessor of the Sámi
Parliament appealed already in 1995 to the FPS to save the area. Despite
this, the Forest and Park Service has continued to log the area to
date. Now the planned logging and road construction to the heart of
the forests is on hold due to found occurences of several threatened
species.
Forest
and Park Service has not announced its plans for the future, but in
the light of the past cases, it is unlikely that the occurences of
threatened species would stop the logging from taking place. The latest
logging took place in the Spring of 2000 in the eastern corner of
the area.
Source
of information: The Finnish Nature League, interviews and field
trips
Probable
buyers of the timber: Metsäliitto, StoraEnso, Vapo Timber
