1 • 2002

Ecological Planning of State Owned forest in Finland

Forestry seminar August 28, 2003

Petri Heinonen

2 • 2002

Lands and waters administered by Metsähallitus

WATERS 3.3 mill. hectares

LANDS 9.0 mill. hectares: 27 % of the total land area

38%45%

17%

Forest land in managed forests

3.4 mill. hectares;17 % of the productive forest land

Conservation areas, wilderness reserves and other areas

4.1 mill. hectares

Scrub and non-productive land1.5 mill. hectares

3 • 2002

Metsähallitus applies functional planning systems

Natural resource planning

Operational planning

Landscape ecological planning

Special planningParticipation

• Stakeholders participate in planning

4 • 2002

Landscape Ecological Planning

• The development of the method was started in 1993 together with Finnish Environment Institute, Pilot plan of Vuokki in 1994 and large-scale launching of the project in 1995.

Objectives• To ensure the survival of an area's natural species over the long term• To ensure the multiple use of forests: game habitats, scenery, hiking routes, other

recreational use and forestry• To reinforce area’s protected area network by valuable nature habitats in production

forests• To harmonise ecological, economical and socio-cultural objectives

General Principles• Planning area 20 000 - 100 000 hectares• Plans were drawn in cooperative projects by specialists representing forestry, nature

conservation and recreational use of forests• Stakeholders and local inhabitants are invited to participate

5 • 2002

The Data Collection in the LEP

Field inventorySpecies

Dead and decaying wood other structural features

GIS• Tree data• Site• Water condition• Key biotopes• Threatened species• Game• Other livelihoods• Protected areas• Other special areas

Other sources of data• Base maps• Aerial photos• Land-use planning• Mapping of nature values• Other inventories• Register of threatened sp.• Special plans

Participatory planning• Working groups• Local inhabitants• National group of

specialists

6 • 2002

Landscape Ecological Plan

Key BiotopesThreatened species

Protected area networkEcological connection Game areas

Restoration

Biodiversity enhancement

areas

Scenic forestsCultural values

Special areas for other livelihoods

Targets for proportion of old-growth forests, broadleaved trees and broadleaved dominated forests and for prescribed burning

Landscape Ecological Plan

7 • 2002

Landscape Ecological Planning Project

• All in all 112 Lanscape Ecological Plans were drawn

• The plans cover 6,4 mill. hectares of state lands• The treeless tundra of Northern Lapland is not covered

• The project took 160 person years of labour• 20 person years of labour by professional biologists• Majority of the labour was field work

• Total project costs 7,6 mill. €

• An open process: more than 6000 persons beyond Metsähallitus participated in the planning process one way or another.

• 221 Public Hearings totalling 4420 persons

• 115 Stakeholder Group Meetings totalling 873 various parties

• 100 other occasions totalling 943 persons

8 • 2002

The Results of LEP

Special areas were defined in the commercial and recreational forests of the state as follows:

• All in all 168 000 hectares of Valuable Nature Habitats (WKH) of which• 101 300 hectares on productive forest lands

• All in all 181 000 hectares of Ecological Connections of which• 87 000 hectares on productive forest lands and of these

• 28 000 hectares spruce dominated; the nature values of these will be preserved permanently

• 6883 occurrences of threatened and other remarkable species were found

• 129 500 hectares of productive forest land was left permanently beyond forestry

• Forestry was limited on 240 000 hectares of productive forest land• Scenic forests• Cultural areas• Game areas

The Net Ecological Investment 24 mill. €/a

9 • 2002

Evaluation of Landscape Ecological Planning

General Statement

• ”Landscape-ecological planning of Metsähallitus represents a remarkable development towards ecologically, economically and socio-culturally sustainable forestry.”

A Holistic Multidimensional Evaluation

Evaluation was implemented by Helsinki Consulting Group Oy Ltd 1.6.2000 - 31.5.2001.

Team Leader: Prof. Jari Niemelä University of Helsinki, Faculty of Science, Department of ecology and systematics.

• Team of 10 members representing multiple scientific expertise

• ”Implementation of the landscape-ecological plans will have significant positive impacts on preservation of biodiversity and maintenance of species.”

• ”There are, however, some deficiencies and problems related to the scientific basis and application of the planning system, and therefore further development is necessary.”

• ”Metsähallitus has put the landscape-ecological planning system into practice fairly efficiently and quickly.”

10 • 2002

Development of Landscape Ecological Planning

Monitoring

of impactsRecreation

Nature TourismNatural livelihoods

Protection of Habitats

and Natural Dynamics

Participatory

Planning

Environmental Code of Forestry

ResearchDevelopmentCooperation

Instructions for LEP

Systems

• GIS• Cutting Budget• Reporting• Monitoring of

Activities

Other Projects

• PP at operational level

• BD enhancement• Prescribed burning• Restoration• Other

Kainuu Project

Combining

•NRMP’s and

•LEP

11 • 2002

Participatory Planning by Metsähallitus

Publichearings

Participants Commentsgiven

Number ofstakeholder groups

Working groupmeetings

Kainuu 12 600 1600 60 20West-Finland 19 520 2090 43 34East-Lapland 31 630 1700 60 20West-Lapland 30 690 4800 70 26Ostrobotnia 24 440 500 35 11East-Finland 15 1350 2800 47 10North-Lapland 30 2100 5200 87 58Total 161 6330 18 690 402 179

Publichearings

Participants Working groupmeetings

No. of stakeholdergroups

Otheroccasions

Participants

Kainuu 45 1090 10 87 10 250West-Finland 29 670 29 171 7 108East-Lapland 42 515 15 107 10 149West-Lapland 42 542 14 100 30 71Ostrobotnia 25 510 13 92 2 13East-Finland 31 935 14 191 9 200North-Lapland 6 150 20 125 32 152Total 220 4412 115 873 100 943

Regional Natural Resources Management Plans

Landscape Ecological Plans

12 • 2002

Results of Landscape Ecological Planning: WKH

Ecologically Valuable Habitats

38260

0

5 000

10 000

15 000

20 000

25 000

30 000

35 000

40 000

45 000

Wate

r cours

e

Spring

Stream

Tarn Hill

Cliffs,

ravin

es, e

tc

Herb-r

ich fo

rests

Fertil

e swam

p

Swamp is

land

Floodin

g mea

dow

Infe

rtile

swam

p

Old-G

rowth

fore

st

Young succ

essio

n stand

Cultura

l habita

t

Other

13 • 2002

Results of Landscape Ecological Planning: Age-Classes

Age-Class Distributions

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

0-20 21-40 41-60 61-80 81-100 101-125 126-150 151-175 176-200 201-

%

Ecologically Valuable Habitats

Scenic & Cultural Forests

Commercial Forests

14 • 2002

Results of Landscape Ecological Planning: Site-Classes

Site-Class Distribution

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

Herb-Rich Grass-Herb Mesic Mesic-Dry Dry Site Very Poor Site

%

Commercial Forests

Ecologically Valuable Habitats

Scenic & Cultural Forests

15 • 2002

Results of Landscape Ecological Planning: endangered species

Number of locations of endangered species

0

500

1000

1500

2000

2500

Species protected by law Nationally endangered Regionally endangered Other important species

16 • 2002

Results of Landscape Ecological Planning: the magnitude

Strictly protected areas in Finland, 714 000 ha of productive forest land

0

50000

100000

150000

200000

250000

Strict

nature

rese

rves

National

parks

Prote

cted o

ld-gr

owth

fore

sts

Peatla

nd p

rote

ction

pro

gram

Prote

cted h

erb-

rich fo

rests

Areas a

cquir

ed fo

r pro

tecti

on

Specia

l pro

tecte

d are

as

Areas p

rote

cted

by d

ecisi

on o

f FRI

Areas p

rote

cted

by d

ecisi

on o

f Met

sähall

itus

Koitelai

nen

area

New are

as und

er N

atur

a 200

0

Prote

cted p

arts

of th

e wild

erne

ss a

reas

Prote

cted a

reas

on

priva

te la

nds

Ecolo

gicall

y valu

able

habita

ts

Ha

17 • 2002

Results of Landscape Ecological Planning: ecological investments

Metsähallitus' Ecological Investments Yr. 2001:24 mill. €

49 %

25 %

19 %

7 %

Ecologically valuable habitats

Areas subject to limited forestry

Retention trees, final fellings

Retention trees, thinnings

Retention Trees,Thinnings Ecologically valuable habitats, 12 mill, €

Other limitations on forestry, 6 mill. €Retention trees on final fellings, 4,5 mill. €

Retention trees on thinnings, 1,6 mill. €Retention Trees,Final Fellings

Areas subject tolimited forestry

Ecologically valuable habitats

18 • 2002

Results of Landscape Ecological Planning: Game

Capercaillie habitats in production forests, 65 000 ha

0

5000

10000

15000

20000

25000

30000

35000

40000

Capercaillie habitat, functioning Capercaillie habitat, subject todevelopment

Capercaillie habitat, to bechecked

Other land

Waste land

Scrub land

Forest land

19 • 2002

Game Areas - Capercaillie Leks

• Three different areas to be taken into account in forestry

1. The center of the Lek (breeding ground)

2. The Lek

• the territories of the cocks, c. 20 ha

3. The breeding region

• the day territories of the cocks, the radii of the area c. 1 km

• The Structure of the Stand in the Lek• Elderly or mature forest

• number of stems 500 - 900 s/ha

• visibility 30-90 m (at height of 1m)

• pine dominated

20 • 2002

Game Areas - Capercaillie LeksThe Logging Procedures• The center of the lek will be left untouched

• Regeneration areas 0,5-1,5 ha in maximum

• Maximum width of the regeneration area 50 m

• Intermediate cuttings 400 s/ha will be left in minimum

• trees less than 6 m height 30 % of the area of the lek in maximum

• Objective is to maintain diversity in the stand;

• fodder pines plus other sturdy pines and aspen

• lower vegetation (visibility max. 70 m)

• a buffer zone against open ground

• No forest roads or snow scooter trails through

the lek

• The upper picture visualizes the right treatment