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Press
release January 8, 2002
The
Forest and Park Service changes policy
Old-growth
forests will be logged, under police protection if necessary
The
government-owned Forest and Park Service's (FPS) old-growth forest
loggings in Hämeenvaara, Taivalkoski, continue. Today several police
patrols arrived, as requested by the FPS, to safeguard the successful
destruction of endangered forest nature.
In
the 1990s the Forest and Park Service stated through its CEO, Eero
Tilli, that it will not "log forests under police protection". Recent
events show that the Service has changed its policy.
Security
guidelines are also wavering. According to earlier instructions
by the Forest and Park Service, harvesters must cease logging if
they are approached to within a certain safety limit, i.e. if an
accident risk exists. The
Hämeenvaara loggings are to be continued regardless of the activists
camped in the area.
Hämeenvaara
loggings interrupted for the sixth time within a year
Last
morning, a group of activists from the Finnish Nature League set
camp in the Forest and Park Service's logging area. Finnish Nature
League has previously protested against loggings in the area in
September. The government has, in connection with the decision regarding
the protection of old-growth forests, required that the Forest and
Park Service protect the ecological values of Hämeenvaara.
The
Forest and Park Service's loggings in the old-growth forests of
Northern Finland are continually destroying valuable old-growth
forest habitats, which are already too scarce according to all ecological
assessments. The oversized profit target of the FPSs does not allow
for any flexibility, not even for loggings in forests especially
valuable for endangered species, tourism or refreshment usage.
More
information from Hämeenvaara:
Olli
Manninen tel. +358-50-5940 429, +358-40-7642 577
More
information and pictures of the area:
http://www.luontoliitto.fi/forest/reports/01/hameenvaara/index.html
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