Activists
of the Nature League protest old-growth logging on site in Suomussalmi
and Taivalkoski today
Suomussalmi,
Taivalkoski, Finland. The Finnish Nature League protests old-growth
forest logging in Finnish state forests today in Saarijärvi, Suomussalmi
and Susijärvi, Taivalkoski. Both forests are in Finnish environmental
NGOs' list of most valuable old-growth forests.
The
Saarijärvi forest is a 20 hectare heath in the middle of a
peatland in natural state and it will be logged entirely by the
Forest and Park Service.
Simultaneously
the Forest and Park Service is logging another old-growth forest
in Susijärvi, Taivalkoski. The forest will be fragmented with tens
of hectares of clearcuts. Forests that are described as "classic,
first class old-growth forest" in FPS inventory reports are being
logged. The Susijärvi forest hosts several old-growth forest indicator
species.
Nature
League demands the state to stop old-growth logging
Only
4,9% of Finnish forests are natural-state or natural-like old-growth
forests. About half of these have been protected. Researchers consider
that protecting these forests would be a necessary step in order
to prevent an extinction wave of forest species. "The proportion
of old-growth forests is already insufficient in Finland, and indeed
none of them should be logged anymore.", says professor of ecology
for the University of Helsinki, Mr. Ilkka Hanski.
Nature
League condemns the irresponsible practices of the Forest and Park
Service in state forests. "It is unacceptable that the FPS systematically
logs old-growth forests and simultaneously claims that their planning
system preserves biodiversity", says Sini Harkki, forest campaigner
for Nature League.
"The
state must decrease the FPS's profit targets or the now on going
wave of old-growth destruction will continue to advance. This would
be a loss that cannot be compensated for."
Finnish
old-growth logging is PEFC -certified