Forests of Pokka-Pulju are intact virgin old-growth forests in their natural state. Over 500 occurrences of red-listed species have been found from the forests of Pokka-Pulju. Finnish government started industrial logging in this pristine area in February 2007. An area of 100 hectares was logged during February-March 2007. In the autumn 2007 the next logging in the area is just about to begin. Intact forest landscape is destroyed for the needs of Finnish pulp and paper industry.

Photos in this page are taken in the planned logging sites on 27 October, 2007. The logging in the area was carried out between November 2007-January 2008.

According to a customer bulletin of Stora Enso, dated 17 October 2007, about "developments in Forest Lapland": "Field planning is always conducted before any logging in order to safeguard valuable sites.". According to Stora Enso, "Last spring when this dispute was previously topical, Stora Enso asked Metsähallitus to carry out a thorough analysis of ecological conditions before continuing loggings. Metsähallitus has duly provided the requested material.".

The quality of the "field planning" and "thorough ecological analysis" by Metsähallitus can be clearly seen in the case of logging in Pokka-Pulju. After finding out about the logging plan in Pokka-Pulju, Greenpeace commissioned a field survey on the planned logging sites. 30 occurrences of 8 different red-listed species (bracket fungi and lichens) were found on the logging sites during a one-day field survey. The forest is old-growth forest in natural state without any signs of previous industrial logging.

Lemmenjoki National Park, Pulju wilderness protection area and unprotected forests of Pokka-Pulju together form a roadless area of over 3294 km2. The threatened part of the area, Pokka-Pulju is 130 km2 of old-growth forests, mires and treeless hills. Pokka-Pulju is part of Intact Forest Landscapes- maps published by Greenpeace in 2005. Read more about Intact Forest Landscapes

Wood logged by Metsähallitus from the Northern Finnish old-growth forests is sold to Botnia (owned by UPM and M-Real) and Stora Enso.

According to 250 Finnish scientists and researchers, logging in this and other old-growth forest areas in Northern Finland is unsustanable and in conflict with international agreements on biodiversity protection. Read more at http://www.forestinfo.fi/forestlapland/researchersletter.htm

More photos from Finnish forests in Greenpeace Finland @ Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/greenpeacefinland

forestinfo.fi/forestlapland 
(c) Greenpeace Nordic, Finnish Nature League, Finnish Association for Nature Conservation 2006-2007