Finnish State enterprise Metsähallitus logging endangered species protected by law
(Press release October 26th 2005) Finnish State forestry enterprise Metsahallitus has been logging old-growth forests for over two weeks in the Kessi forests of Inari, North Lapland. The logging area is located in restricted Finnish-Russian border zone. Finnish Association for Nature Conservation (FANC) applied for a permit in May to run inventories in the area. The permission was refused by the Finnish frontier guard, based on a statement by Metsahallitus. This month, after most of the logging has been done, FANC was allowed to go into the area. Several threatened species were found from the logging sites. Two of the species are extremely rare and under strict legal protection.
The fungi species under special protection found in the area are strictly protected by the Finnish Nature Conservation Act, and regional environment centre should make a delianation of their habitat before any logging. "Even strictly protected threatened species fall outside of protection in State forests. Metsahallitus does not map threatened species before logging even in their obvious habitats, old-growth forests. Threatened species are not found except in random occasions or by environmental NGOs. Now inventories by NGOs were not even allowed. Metsahallitus is under guidance of the Ministry for Environment. Why does the ministry allow the continued breaking of the law?", asks forest specialist Sini Harkki from FANC.
The habitat of the species protected by law, Antrodia crassa, was found from a forest logged during the last two weeks. The other species under strict protection, Sceletocutis jelicii, was located in a planned logging site, the logging going on 20 metres away. "Antrodia crassa is a truly rare endangered species that cannot survive in a managed forest. It requires areas that have been in a natural state for a long time", says Special Researcher, docent Heikki Kotiranta. "Dry pine forests, such as the forests in Kessi, are very rare in Europe. The species that have adapted themselves to these conditions are not likely to find suitable habitats elsewhere. All of the forests in the area that have not been logged yet, should be left outside of logging", he continues.
The Kessi forest is one of the largest wilderness areas and old-growth forests in Europe. Part of the Kessi forests are included in the protected Vatsari Wilderness area, but a third of Kessi's old-growth forests have been designated for industrial logging. There are logging plans for the Wilderness protection area as well.
"Kessi is a genuine wilderness also on a European scale. The logging cannot be needed in any way, and it must be stopped immediately", says head of Nature Conservation Unit Ilpo Kuronen from FANC.
For more information, please contact:
Forest specialist Sini Harkki, Finnish Association for Nature Conservation, tel. +358-50-5821107, harkki@sll.fi
For photos from Kessi and other current logging in the Sami homeland, please see www.pefcwatch.org
