the forest biodiversity programme metso 2008 –2016

The Forest Biodiversity Programme METSO

2008 –2016

Ministry of the Environment / Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry20101

The Forest Biodiversity Programme METSO

2008 –2016


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


METSO Programme Elements1. Ecological site selection criteria;

significant wooded habitats, particularly significant structural features

2. Restoration and nature management of habitats in protected areas

3. Development of Finland’s network of protected areas

4. Safeguarding biodiversity in privately-owned forests; nature management plans, subsidies for natural values in commercially managed forests, changes in forest legislation

5. Cooperation network6. 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. Communications11. Improving the knowledge base12. Developing monitoring,

information systems and statistics13. Inventories of habitats and

species14. Monitoring and evaluation of the

Programme

Presentation / Author22.04.20234

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


Herb-rich forests


Forests adjacent to springs and pools


Sunlit slopes on sandy esker ridges


Wooded heritage biotopes


Wooded habitats on calcium-rich bedrock and ultra-alkaline soil


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


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.


Permanent protection

Privately owned forests may be permanently protected through the METSO Programme in three ways

1) 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

3) 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


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


Temporary protection

1) 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.

2) 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.


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


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


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



• 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



• 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.


THANK YOU!


http://www.metsonpolku.fi/metso/www/en/index

the forest biodiversity programme metso 2008 –2016

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