Road building on Hossa Hiking Area, November 29th

Metsähallitus (The Finnish Forest and Park Service) is planning to log forests on Hossa Hiking Area, which fulfill the criteria of old-growth Western taiga forests. These forests should be protected according to the Natura 2000 Habitats Directive.

The building of a winter road to the logging site has already started. The Finnish Nature League has appealed to Metsähallitus to stop the road building and to the environmental authorities to investigate the Natura values of the stands marked for logging.

Many of the forests on Hossa Hiking Area are in natural state. According to species surveys, this is one of the most valuable areas in Finland for polypore species characteristic to old pine-dominated forests.

Hossa Hiking Area is one out of nine national hiking areas in Finland. The main purpose of national hiking areas is recreational use, but fellings are still permitted. Finnish environmental organizations have repeatedly proposed to turn the hiking areas into national parks or protected areas, due to their high potential for biodiversity conservation.

Give feedback to Metsähallitus! Write a few sentences to express your concern about these loggings. 

- Metsähallitus’ electronic feedback form (write your comment, name and contact details in the main box)

- Metsähallitus on Facebook

- Hossa Hiking Area on Facebook

More information:

The map of Hossa Hiking Area

Hossa Hiking Area on Outdoor.fi

The location of stands marked for loggings in GoogleMaps