In March
2001, the Finnish state forestry enterprise started clearcutting valuable
old-growth forest in Susijärvi, Taivalkoski, northeastern Finland.
Susijärvi
is one of the Finnish old-growth forests that environmental NGOs have
listed as most valuable. The Finnish state forestry enterprise Metsahallitus,
Forest and Park Service (FPS) has began to fragment the Susijärvi
forest 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.
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.
The forests
of Susijärvi are also recreationally valuable. A popular hiking
track passes through the forests that are being logged.
This
forest has been certified according to the Pan-European
Forest Certification Scheme PEFC as are 95% of Finnish forests. PEFC
has been claimed to be a proof of sustainable forest management but
the on going destruction of the last Finnish old-growth forests shows
that PEFC is nothing but a widely spread greenwashing scheme.
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.
