Anything goes? PEFC certified Finnish forestry: new case studies

>>> Susijärvi, Taivalkoski

Finding: old-growth forest logging allowed. Known habitats of endangered species clearcutted.

45 hectares of clearcuts in Susijärvi area began in February 2001. According to inventories of the Forest Service, the area is an exceptionally valuable old-growth forest. According to a report by experts from University of Helsinki, the forest hosts several species of old-growth forest indicating and endangered lichens.

The area had been proposed to be included in the Natura 2000 -protection network by the Forest Service and the regional Environment Centre. Susijärvi was included in the Protection Program for Old-Growth Forests in Northern Finland as an area whose ecological value should be preserved by the Forest Service.

StoraEnso is the most probable buyer of the wood, although the company's environmental policy states that wood is not bought from areas that have been planned to be protected or that have been defined as valuable old-growth forests.

>>> back