The Forest Biodiversity Programme METSO 2008 –2016

1. The Forest Biodiversity Programme METSO 2008 –2016 Ministry of the Environment / Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry

2. The Forest Biodiversity Programme METSO 2008 –2016 Ministry of the Environment / Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry

3. METSO Programme aims to • Improve Finland’s network of protected areas • Continue and enhance the application of nature management methods in commercially managed forests • Improve the knowledge base on forest biodiversity conservation • Increase collaboration between forest and environmental organizations • Provide advice to forest owners • Train professional foresters Ministry of the Environment / Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry

4. METSO Programme Elements • Ecological site selection criteria; significant wooded habitats, particularly significant structural features • Restoration and nature management of habitats in protected areas • Development of Finland’s network of protected areas • Safeguarding biodiversity in privately-owned forests; nature management plans, subsidies for natural values in commercially managed forests, changes in forest legislation • Cooperation network • Natural values trading and related cooperation 7. Nature management measures in commercially managed State forests 8. Ensuring biodiversity in municipal recreation forests and State hiking areas 9. Advice to forest owners and training of forest professionals 10. Communications 11. Improving the knowledge base 12. Developing monitoring, information systems and statistics 13. Inventories of habitats and species 14. Monitoring and evaluation of the Programme Presentation / Author

5. Ecological shopping list • Herb-rich forests • Heathland forests with plenty of decaying wood • Forests adjacent to springs and pools • Wooded mires and wooded margins of open mires • Swampy woodlands and wooded flood meadows • Sunlit slopes on sandy esker ridges • Biodiversity sites along emergent coastlines • Wooded heritage biotopes • Wooded habitats on calcium-rich bedrock and ultra-alkaline soil • Wooded cliffs, bluffs and boulder fields important for biodiversity Ministry of the Environment / Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry

6. Herb-rich forests Ministry of the Environment / Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry

7. Forests adjacent to springs and pools Presentation / Author

8. Sunlit slopes on sandy esker ridges Presentation / Author

9. Wooded heritage biotopes Presentation / Author

10. Wooded habitats on calcium-rich bedrock and ultra-alkaline soil Presentation / Author

11. Features complementing the ecological shopping list • Decaying wood: decayed fallen trees, dead standing trees, stumps, snags, holed trees,windthrows • Large, old deciduous trees: aspens, birches, goat willows, rowans • Trees of southern broad-leaved species • Burnt wood from large trees • Features associated with herb-rich woodland, spruce mires, springs, high moisture levels, swampy terrain and fens • Influence of groundwater or calcium, nutrient-rich bedrock • Natural or easily restorable hydrological conditions • Diversity of tree species and ages, openness of the canopy layer Ministry of the Environment / Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry

12. METSO Programme enables forest owners to protect their forests • Permanent protection • Temporary protection • Nature management in forest habitats • Restoration Suitable forms of protection are agreed between landowners and the authorities on a site-by-site basis, according to natural values of the site and owners´ wishes. Ministry of the Environment / Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry

13. Permanent protection Privately owned forests may be permanently protected through the METSO Programme in three ways • Privately owned protection areas • may be set up through compensation agreements between the environmental authorities and landowners who wish to maintain their ownership and influence any future nature management work carried out in their forests 2)Forest areas suitable for protection may be sold to the State • Land exchanges • may be the best solution for forest owners who wish to see a particular ecologically valuable site protected, but also continue to practise forestry in another comparable forest area Ministry of the Environment / Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry

14. Compensation for permanent protection • Where forest owners agree to establish private protected areas on their land, they receive agreed sums of tax-free compensation corresponding to the financial losses they incur, based on the market value of the timber in the area to be protected • Where areas of forest are sold to the state, the prices paid are generally based on the market values of comparable local properties used for commercial forestry • Income from such land sales is tax free • Straightforward land exchanges may be agreed between forest owners and the State in areas where State-owned forests of comparable value are available to enable such exchanges Ministry of the Environment / Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry

15. Temporary protection • Environmental forestry subsidy agreements can be signed by the authorities and forest owners covering ten-year periods, as defined by the Act on the Financing of Sustainable Forestry. • Forests may also be temporarily protected under the Nature Conservation Act for different periods of up to twenty years through agreements between landowners and the environmental authorities. Ministry of the Environment / Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry

16. Nature management in forest habitats Nature management work involves measures to maintain, increase or restore valuable natural features in forest habitats. • Financed by KEMERA (Act on the Financing of Sustainable Forestry) • Methods include grazing, mowing and the removal of selected trees • Nature management schemes are planned together with landowners, who are not expected to cover any of the costs involved Ministry of the Environment / Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry

17. Compensation for temporary protection and nature management • Environmental forestry subsidy payments are based on the current local values of the quantities of timber immediately ready for harvesting • Subsidy payments are not taxable • Where forests are protected temporarily under the Nature Conservation Act, tax-free compensation is paid on a site-by-site basis according to the financial losses incurred by forest owners due to unrealised timber sales • The costs of nature management schemes are fully covered by subsidies paid out under the Act on the Financing of Sustainable Forestry • Forest owners benefit from such schemes by having the ecologically valuable features on their land managed without incurring any costs Ministry of the Environment / Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry

18. Boreal forest restoration under the METSO Programme • Since 2003 a total of 15 000 ha of forests have been restored • The positive effects of restoration activities on biodiversity have been evident • Herb-rich forest restoration has had a positive impact on the populations of white-backed woodpecker, which is a critically endangered bird species in Finland and also considered as an umbrella species Ministry of the Environment / Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry

19. Boreal forest restoration under the METSO Programme • The objective of the METSO Programme is to ensure that Finnish forests will continue to provide suitable habitats for red-listed and declining species • There are former commercial forests in many protected areas in Finland • The quality of these areas is improved by restoration • The most important methods of forest restoration are • controlled burning • adding the volume of dead and decaying wood • diversification of forest structure by making small openings for saplings of deciduous trees Ministry of the Environment / Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry

20. Boreal forest restoration under the METSO Programme • Controlled burning → has increased significantly the diversity of threatened saproxylic beetle and polypore species in restored sites • Increasing the volume of dead wood → has had an immediate positive effect on the number of saproxylic beetles and nationally rare beetle species. The more dead wood has been created, the stronger has the increase of species richness been. Ministry of the Environment / Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry

21. THANK YOU!

22. http://www.metsonpolku.fi/metso/www/en/index Presentation / Author