Martti Varmola
The forests in Fennoscandia (Norway, Sweden, Finland, the Kola
Peninsula) extend further north than anywhere else in the world. Thanks
to the nearness of the Gulf Stream, the conditions for forest growth are
reasonable even in Finnish Lapland where one-third of Finland's land
area, 16% of the country's timber resource and 10% of its annual
increment are to be found.
Forest growth in Lapland is a slow process. Given the equivalent land
area, forest growth there amounts to a mere fifth of what it is in southern
Finland. Thanks to larger holdings and the marked presence of State
forestry in the region, forestry in Lapland has been practised with
efficiency.
Forests are of great importance to Lapland. Forestry industry accounts
for 50% of the region's industrial production and 70% of its export
earnings. Other important forest uses besides traditional forestry are
conservation, reindeer husbandry, collecting of wild berries and
mushrooms, hunting, and tourism.
The region's forests are also targets of intensive research. Wood
production studies have, during the past few decades, been joined by
studies emphasising other themes, especially forest health and multi-
purpose forestry studies.
The present-day vegetation of Finland - and of Lapland - is the result of
development since the end of the most recent glaciation (i.e. the Würm
glacial stage) ca. 10 000 years ago. Birch, a pioneer tree species to this
day, was quick to colonise the land revealed by the receding ice. During
the boreal stage, ca. 6 800-5 500 B.C., the region's forests developed into
mixed woods dominated by Scots pine but with an abundant admixture
of broadleaved species. With climates warmer and more humid than the
present one, the Atlantic climatic interval prevailed from ca. 5 500 B.C.
to 2 000 B.C. In those times, the timber line, for instance, was located as
much as 200 m higher up the fell sides than at present and
paludification of forest land became more commonplace. Norway spruce
arrived in Finnish Lapland from the east as recently as ca. 4 000 years
ago and commenced to invade sites from pine.
The climate in Lapland has changed so little during the past 2 000
years that it has not decisively influenced the distribution of tree species.
Short-term variation has, however, taken place. Cool summers, the crop-
failure years of the 1860s, and especially the exceptionally warm years of
the 1930s, when promising results were obtained concerning forest
regeneration in the timber-line regions, are all examples of this
variability.
Finland falls within the coniferous forest zone encircling the Earth. Part
of Finland also lies within the boreal zone. Climatically, this zone
corresponds to the cool zone (Dfc according to the Köppen-Geiger-Pohl
scheme), where the mean temperature of one to three summer months
exceeds +10° C. North of the boreal zone is the Arctic-Alpine region,
which belongs to the Earth's tundra vegetation zone. It comprises the
tundra north of the timber line and the alpine areas above montane
timber lines.
The southern part of Lapland belongs to the hemi-boreal zone, whose northern
boundary follows the northern boundary of the Pohjanmaa- Kainuu vegetation region
in Finland. Most of Lapland belongs to the northern boreal zone; within Finland,
this zone may be subdivided into the vegetation regions of Peräpohjola and Metsä-Lappi
(Fig. 12). North of the coniferous timber
line lies the subalpine-subarctic birch forest zone. In Finnish Lapland, the
two northernmost municipalities, Enontekiö and Utsjoki, cover most of this zone.
The region referred to as Pohjanmaa-Kainuu (or the Province of Oulu)
is the transition zone between southern and northern Finland. Southern
and northern flora and vegetation types meet here. Of the tree species,
alder (Alnus glutinosa) is at its northern limit in the northern parts of this
region. The southern limit to the abundant occurrence of dwarf birch
(Betula nana) follows the region's southern boundary.
In the north, the Peräpohjola zone extends to the spruce timber line.
Grove-like, lush forests are very rare there. The so-called thick-moss type
(Hylocomium-Myrtillus type) is the characteristic forest type in
Peräpohjola and Norway spruce forms climax stands with an admixture
of downy birch (Betula pubescens). Such forests have in many places
been converted into plantations of Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris). There is
an abundance of lichen-rich stands of pine.
The main tree species in the Metsä-Lappi (or Forest Lapland) zone is
Scots pine. Birch occurs as an admixture among the pine; on more fertile
sites, birch may be the main tree species.
Tunturi-Lappi (or Fell Lapland) is a transition zone between the boreal and
arctic zones. This is a zone dominated by mountain (fell) birch; stands of Scots
pine occur only in the larger river valleys. The flora in stands of mountain
birch resembles that of the coniferous forest zone. The most extensive treeless
fell-top areas are to be found in the Muotka fells (Inari), Pais fells (Utsjoki)
and the North-western Arm (Enontekiö) (Fig.
13).
Several of the Lapland Forest Damage Project's sample plot lines cross
over two forest vegetation zones. Sample plots along Line #1 fall within
the Pohjanmaa-Kainuu and Peräpohjola zones. In the Russian territory
the conditions on the sample plots show greater similarity with Metsä-
Lappi than Peräpohjola. Due to variation in topography and local
pollution sources (the towns of Kemi and Kemijärvi), Line #1 poses some
problems. Line #2 is very representative of the east-west gradient.
Sample plots on the Finnish side of the border along this line fall mainly
within the Peräpohjola zone. Lines #3 and #4 pass through Metsä-Lappi
while the northernmost Lines #5 and #6 mainly pass north of the pine
timber line within the Tunturi-Lappi birch forest zone.
Contrary to the situation elsewhere in the Northern Hemisphere, it is Scots
pine (not spruce or larch) which is the northern timber line species in Fennoscandia
(inc. parts of the Kola Peninsula) (Fig. 12).
Much favoured explanations for this phenomenon include distribution history
of trees and climatic reasons. Edaphic factors have also been put forward.
The spruce timber line passes via Pallas-Ounas fells (in Enontekiö) to Ivalojoki
river (Inari) and then on to the Saariselkä fells (Figs. 12,
13 and 14).
Single spruces and clumps of spruces may, however, be encountered north of this
line.
The pine timber line passes via the Enontekiö fell area to the Muotka fells
and then along the northern shore of Lake Inarijärvi to Näätämöjoki river (Figs.
12 and 13).
North of this line, regular stands of pine are to be found only in the Utsjoki
and Kevojoki river valleys, around Lake Pulmankijärvi, and along the shores
of fjords on the Arctic Ocean. Mountain birch occurs almost throughout Tunturi-Lappi.
In the fells of the Inari region, as well as in some places to the south, but
especially in the North-west Arm region of Finland, the climate becomes so extreme
that mountain birch, too, has to give way to the treeless wastes. Aspen will
sometimes grow among the mountain birch. When it does, it often occurs as vegetatively
arisen clones, extending into the Utsjoki river valley.
The present-day distribution of tree species is primarily the result of
climatic factors. In addition to the temperature conditions during the
growing season, critical temperatures significantly differing from the
average temperature and wintertime winds also contribute to the
formation of the timber line.
Topography determines the abruptness of the timber line. Conifers and
birch appear to use the protection of depressions in creeping up the more
gentle slopes. On steep slopes the timber line is very distinct.
The soil also has an influence on where the timber line occurs,
especially in the case of spruce. In the northernmost Lapland, the soils
are so deficient in nutrients that spruce cannot survive there. On the
other hand, it may be that spruce has still not reached the peak of its
distribution - after all, it arrived in what is now called Finland
considerably later than pine. Biotic factors are also involved at the local
level in the formation of the timber line. In 1965-1966, mountain birch
over an area of ca. 500 000 ha in northern Norway, Sweden and Finland
was damaged to varying degree by an epidemic of autumnal moths
(Oporinia autumnata). At Kaunispää, in the Saariselkä fells of Finnish
Lapland, pine sawflies (Neodiprion sertifer) kill pines on upland sites.
The spread of the settlement of the country by Finns was accompanied by intensification
of forest use. The swidden (also referred to as shifting cultivation or slash-and-burn)
practice in agriculture, very common in southern Finland, was adopted as far
north as Rovaniemi in the 1800s. Its common application, however, went no further
than Kuusamo (Fig. 15). Farming in Lapland
was mainly based on using the natural meadows along the banks of rivers and
some clearing of arable land. Wasteful from the viewpoint of forestry, tar distilling
was not practised in Lapland. In the Province of Oulu the situation was quite
the opposite. There tar distilling was so popular in the 18th and 19th centuries
that, in its peak times, the consumption of pine is estimated to have risen
to ca. 3/4 of the present-day level in wood consumption. The northernmost tar
distilling places were in the Iijoki river valley.
The human influence on the forests of Lapland remained moderate
right up to the turn of the century. In southern and central Finland this
was not so. The greatest impact was caused by forest fires, although
these were usually confined to small areas due to the humid climate and
the plentiful occurrence of peatland. To quote Claës W. Gylden, who was
invited to make an assessment of Finland's forest resource, Lapland in
the 1850s had "more than enough forests".
Finland's first steam-powered sawmill, the Kestilä sawmill, was granted
its charter to begin operating at the mouth of the Iijoki river in 1857.
This signalled the beginning of industrial consumption of wood in
Lapland. In the course of the "Big Reallocation" of land in the mid-1800s,
most of Lapland's forests went to the Crown. The Forest Service, the
predecessor of today's Forest and Park Service, was created for the
purpose of administering these lands. The mapping and inventorying of
Lapland's forest resource began. The annual coupe system of area-based
felling was adhered to in government forestry.
The principal felling method applied was diameter-limit felling, or culling
for sawtimber. Although attempts were made by the Forest Service in government
forestry as early as 1907 to shift over to forest management by stands, diameter-limit
felling remained the sole method in public and private forestry right up to
the early 1920s. Sawtimber- sized pine was the prime target. Forest regeneration
was not practised and consequently the resulting stands became understocked.
Exports of sawngoods were at their peak and wood was floated to the mills along
the Tornionjoki and Kemijoki rivers. In the 1920s and 1930s, timber floating
was also practised in northernmost Lapland, along the Paatsjoki river to the
shores of the Arctic Ocean (Fig. 13).
Aimed especially at preventing a southward shift in the timber line and
at imposing restrictions on the forestry practised in northernmost
Lapland, the Protection Forest Act was passed in 1922. Some three
million hectares of forest were set aside to act as a barrier against the
tundra. The Private Forestry Act of 1928 provided means of steering and
supervising private forestry. These Acts heralded the beginning of an era
of systematic forestry in Lapland as well. Up to World War II, the forestry
practised was mainly based on the felling of sawtimber-sized trees and
confidence in natural forest regeneration.
World War II and the subsequent territorial losses, reparations bills,
reconstruction and resettlement caused a major change in the way that
forestry was practised in Lapland as well. Immense logging operations
were set up in remote wildernesses and unprecedented amounts of
timber were felled. The reparations bills were paid for largely with timber
from Lapland.
Expansion in forestry was not possible without some major changes
being made regarding the logging methods applied. Diameter-limit felling
was discarded in favour of active natural forest regeneration and
especially artificial forest regeneration (i.e. renewal by sowing and
planting). The primary policy adopted in exploiting the forest resource in
Lapland was one of speedy and extensive regeneration of mature forests.
This activity focused especially on the region's thick-moss (Hylocomium-
Myrtillus type) stands of spruce as these were believed to be initially
highly productive sites for forest growth. Clear felling and artificial
regeneration to pine (initially by sowing following prescribed burning)
became the standard solutions when dealing with these old stands of
spruce. Site preparation by scarifying was also applied.
Planting of pine and ploughing as an aid in regeneration became popular practices
in the 1960s (Fig. 16). This was also
the time when mechanisation of forestry work got underway. Chainsaws replaced
handsaws, forwarders replaced horses. The labourer with his hoe had to step
aside when site preparation machinery, scarifiers and ploughs, drawn by bulldozers
and forwarders, were brought to the forest. Drainage of peatlands for forestry
became a mechanised operation with ploughs and mechanised diggers replacing
manual work. The mechanisation of forestry work was "brought to conclusion"
in the early 1990s: multi- function forestry machinery, typically harvesters,
now carry out almost all of the timber harvesting in Lapland as well. The motor-manual
alternative is employed when carrying out first-thinning, planting and sowing
work in stony terrain inaccessible to mechanised systems. The 1950s and 1960s
were the golden era of timber floating (or river driving). In those years the
annual roundwood volumes of timber transported by water were in excess of three
million cubic metres. Road and rail transportation have subsequently taken over
from floating. River driving on the Tornionjoki river ended in 1971 and in 1991
it ended on the Lapland main route of the Kemijoki river.
Up to the 1920s, the consumption of wood by industry in Lapland was
based solely on the demand coming from sawmills. Lapland's oldest
large-scale forestry industry enterprise, Kemi Oy, was founded in 1893.
The company originated from the stock of shares of a large, private
company which had started as a sawmilling enterprise. In 1919, Kemi Oy
built Lapland's first pulp mill in Kemi. The second such mill went into
operation in 1927.
Lapland's biggest forestry industry enterprise, Veitsiluoto Oy, came
into being when Parliament, in 1919, approved a bill for the founding of a
new sawmill on the coast of the Gulf of Bothnia. The sawmill was built in
Kemi in 1922, and the sulphite pulp mill went on-stream in 1930. Thus
was formed a firm base for the large-scale utilisation of wood in Lapland.
The next significant expansion of forestry industry was the founding of
Kemijärvi Oy in 1965. Three years later this cellulose plant was merged
with Veitsiluoto Oy. The Kemijärvi plant meant a considerable increase in
the demand for timber from north-eastern Lapland.
The stages in the development of forestry industry in Lapland are
typical for Finland's integrated industry: the water-driven sawmills along
the Kemijoki river were replaced by steam-driven mills and these in turn
gave way to companies mainly active in the chemical forestry industry
sector. Nowadays, forestry industry production emphasises printing and
fine paper grades, cartonboard, cellulose, sawngoods and products
serving the building industry.
Prior to the 1920s, estimates concerning Lapland's forest resource were mainly
based on calculations made in conjunction with the mapping of government lands.
It was not until the 1st national forest inventory (NFI- 1), led by academician
Yrjö Ilvessalo and with the field work carried out during the years 1921-1924,
that the first reliable information on Lapland's forests became available. The
then area of Lapland, demarcated in accordance with the main watersheds, was
found to contain a total wood volume of 343 mill. m3 on forest land; this gave
an average per hectare volume of 43 m3. The proportion of pine-dominated forests
of the area of productive forest land was at its greatest within the Arctic
Ocean watershed area (76%). The proportion of pine-dominated stands in the areas
adjacent to the Tornionjoki, Muonionjoki and the Kemijoki rivers was 53%, whereas
within the eastern Tuntsajoki and Oulankajoki watersheds it was only 34% (Fig.
13). The proportion of peatlands was at its maximum within the Kemijoki
watershed, namely 47.3% of the total land area. In the then Lapland, the proportion
of peatlands averaged at 38%. A mere 24% of these were productive forest land.
In 1936-1938, just before World War II, Yrjö Ilvessalo supervised the
2nd national forest inventory (NFI-2) over the then territory of Finland.
The results of the inventory revealed that the country's forest resource
had decreased by ca. 25 mill. m3. In other words, wood harvesting had
clearly exceeded growth.
The results of the NFI-3 (conducted in 1952-1953) showed, to
everyone's surprise, that Lapland's forest resource had now increased.
The total volume recorded was 310 mill. m3. This was most probably due
to the exceptionally warm climatic period and reduced harvesting during
the war years. This contributed to a policy of significantly increased
felling of timber in Lapland.
The fourth national forest inventory, the NFI-4 (1962-1963), led by
Yrjö Ilvessalo, was the last one based on the method of systematic line
survey. The effect of increased felling showed up clearly in the results.
The volume of the growing stock had reduced by 40 mill. m3 in the space
of fifteen years. The fall was most marked in the case of pine volumes.
Forest growth had also decreased despite the creation of extensive
regeneration areas.
Scots pine is the leading tree species in Lapland. It accounts for 60%
of the region's total growing stock volume. In the three northernmost
municipalities of Utsjoki, Enontekiö and Inari, pine accounts for 93% of
the area of forestland and scrubland combined. Birch dominates the so-
called wasteland category of forestry land in the fell areas; these are of
little value from the viewpoint of forestry. Elsewhere in Lapland, the
proportion of pine falls slightly as one moves eastward. On combining
forestland and scrubland in the jurisdiction of the Lapland Forestry
Board, pine is the dominant species on 70% of the area. The
corresponding figure for the Koillis-Suomi Forestry Board (north-eastern
Finland) is 65%.
According to the results of the NFI-7, 40.8% of northern Finland's total
land area consists of peatlands; i.e. about as much as at the time of the
NFI-1 for the corresponding land area. In Pohjanmaa-Kainuu (i.e. the
Province of Oulu) roughly half of the peatland area has been drained but
in Lapland only 23%. Due to drainage for forestry, the proportion of
productive forest land in the total peatland area in northern Finland has
risen to 37%. In Lapland this figure is 25%.
The majority of Finland's conservation areas are located in Lapland (Fig.
18). The foremost areas set aside to protect specific forest ecosystems
are judicial reserves: strict nature reserves, national parks and wilderness
areas. In addition to these, the Forest and Park Service has set aside old-growth
forests and nature-management forests through internal decisions. The Service
has also placed some upland forests outside the sphere of normal wood production.
Forestland and scrubland within the sphere of normal forestry amount to ca.
5.2 mill. ha of Lapland's total of 9.6 mill. ha; the rest comprises scrubland
in terms of wood production capacity and areas set aside for conservation. It
has been estimated that the growing stock set aside for conservation reasons
has reduced the maximum sustainable allowable cut in Lapland by more than 1
mill. m3 per year.
The sample plots serving the Lapland Forest Damage Project were established
on pine-dominated dryish and dry heathland forest sites. The proportion of these
forest types is at its maximum in the northern part of the Lapland Forestry
Board's jurisdiction, where they amount to 72% of the area of forestland on
mineral soil sites. Elsewhere within the said jurisdiction their proportion
is 62%. The corresponding figure for the Koillis-Suomi Forestry Board jurisdiction
(eastern northern Finland) is 49%. The majority of these heathland soils carry
pine-dominated forests and thus the sample plots represent the most typical
forest cover in Lapland in terms of tree-species composition (Fig.
19).
The launching of forest research in Lapland is connected to the Forest
Service's (the predecessor of the present-day Forest and Park Service)
interest in the forests placed in its care - in their structure, how to
manage and regenerate them. August Renvall, the Service's District
Forester at Utsjoki, was the author of the first scientific work, his
doctoral dissertation, dealing with forest research in Lapland. Published
in 1912, his thesis addressed the subject of flowering, cone and seed
production of Scots pine "on the polar timber line", a subject which
continues to have relevance. Renvall also carried out forest regeneration
trials north of the timber line.
Besides Renvall, Professor Olli Heikinheimo, soon to be appointed
head of the Experimental Forest Institute (today's METLA for short),
deserves a special mention. He published significant studies in the 1910s
and 1920s on the forest use in Lapland: on the silviculture to be applied
in the northern Finland's spruce forests, the snow-damage areas of
Finland and the forests of these areas, and on Finland's timber-line
forests and their future use.
Yrjö Ilvessalo, the innovator and leader of national forest inventories in
Finland, studied the structure of Lapland's forests in the 1930s in his
work titled "Growth of natural-normal stands in North-Suomi (Finland)".
This work continues to hold its position as a basic study on the
development of untouched forests in Lapland.
An extensive network of experimental areas (today's research areas) was set
up and placed under the jurisdiction of the then Experimental Forest Institute
(predecessor of today's METLA): Kivalo in 1924, Laanila in 1925, Petsamo in
1927, Kilpisjärvi in 1940 and Pallasjärvi in 1945 (Fig.
13). The Kivalo area stands out among these as a place which provided forestry
in Lapland with particularly useful information on forest regeneration, the
cultivation of exotic tree species, forest fertilisation, and drainage.
In 1950 Professor Risto Sarvas published his study on the regeneration
of selection-felling forests in private, non-industrial ownership in
Peräpohjola. The results presented in the study had a major impact on
the development of methods employed in connection with natural
regeneration in Lapland as well. Selection felling was discarded in favour
of the seed-tree and shelterwood systems.
The results obtained from the regeneration experiments established by
Heikinheimo in the 1920s and 1930s were particularly useful in
indicating the good growth achieved with pine on regeneration sites of
the spruce-dominated, thick-moss (Hylocomium-Myrtillus) type. Professor
Gustaf Sirén's doctoral dissertation, published in 1955, is a thorough
treatment of the development and ecology of northern Finland's spruce
forests on sites classified to be of the thick-moss (Hylocomium-Myrtillus)
type. Sirén's view was that these forests were deteriorated secondary
stands of the Myrtillus type, and that artificial regeneration would be the
way to make the sites productive once again. Sirén, too, was in favour of
prescribed burning and regeneration to pine through sowing.
The 1950s were a period of rapid increase in the adoption of artificial
regeneration. A further-training seminar arranged by Finland's Society of
Professional Foresters in 1954 provided the setting for the formulation of
guidelines for the development of forestry in Lapland. With the
participation of respected, leading figures in Finnish forestry, the book
published following the seminar, "Lapin metsien mahdollisuudet" ("The
potential of Lapland's forests"), relying largely on research results,
presented a picture of great promise for forestry in the region. The
resolution proposed the expansion of forestry industry, increasing the
efficiency and effectiveness of forest management, improvement of timber
transportation, launching of forestry training courses aimed at the rural
population, and the establishing of a specific "Department of Northern
Finland" within the METLA. All these proposals have been realised.
In addition to the contributions of the METLA's research personnel, their
colleagues in the service of universities have carried out numerous studies
in the fields of biology, including studies connected to the forests of Lapland.
The first university to set up a research station in Lapland was the University
of Turku, whose Kevo Subarctic Research Station was established at Utsjoki in
1956 (Fig. 13). Initially, the research
work done at the station focused on the ecology of birch, especially of mountain
(fell) birch, and on matters connected to the timber line. An arboretum comprising
all the tree species that occur on the boreal timber line was established there
in the 1970s. In recent years, research at Kevo has been directed at experimentally
clarifying the impact of the Kola Peninsula emissions. The trials established
for this purpose have included mountain birch and pine, and the insects that
feed on them. The University of Helsinki's Kilpisjärvi Biological Station was
founded in 1964 (Fig. 13). It is located
in Finland's severest climatic conditions. The station's staff conduct eco-physiological
research and environmental research. Monitoring series going back to the 1940s
have earned the station fame. Forestry-related studies carried out at the station
include mountain birch, the timber line, and climate change and its impact on
tundra vegetation.
The University of Helsinki's Värriö Research Station was founded in 1967 (Fig.
13). The zoological studies of the early years have been supplemented with
studies involving the forestry sciences. Studies focusing on the gas-exchange
reactions of Scots pine in extreme boreal conditions have in recent years expanded
into the sphere of pollution studies in the Kola Peninsula: sensitive analysis
methods are being employed to determine the impact of different concentrations
of pollutants on the eco-physiology of Scots pine.
The Finnish Forest Research Institute (METLA) has two research stations in
Lapland, in Kolari and Rovaniemi (Fig. 13).
The METLA's Kolari Research Station was founded in 1964. The research conducted
there is currently mainly connected to forest tree breeding and peatland forestry.
Timber line issues are also currently addressed at the Kolari Research Station.
The origins of the METLA's Rovaniemi Research Station are interlinked with
the problems encountered in forest regeneration. Extensive failures in artificial
forest regeneration took place in Lapland in the late 1960s. The primary cause
behind the failures was found to be the Scleroderris canker (Gremmeniella abietina)
(Fig. 16).
Research work at Rovaniemi began in the spring of 1970 and focused
at first on clarifications aimed at ensuring the success of forest
regeneration, especially of artificial regeneration. Already in the 1970s,
the station's research activities came to include multi-purpose forestry,
wood production, forest inventories, business economics of forestry, and
forest soil science.
In the late 1980s, forest health studies were commenced at Rovaniemi.
This followed the reform in research strategy implemented within the
METLA, but most of all it was due to incidents of forest damage observed
in Lapland's forests and the involvement of the station in clarifying them.
Basic knowledge on the reaction of Lapland's forests to changes brought
about by human activity was lacking. Steps to eliminate these gaps in
knowledge began to be taken in the late 1980s. In recent years, more
than a quarter of the Rovaniemi Research Station's resources have been
directed into research delving into the impacts of airborne impurities and
other human-related effects.
Finnish Lapland offers a prime natural laboratory for the needs of
environmental research: the conditions for growth can be extreme harsh
and human activity influences the region's forests right up to the timber
line. Areas of extreme forest growth are readily accessible and significant
point sources of pollution are close at hand. Finnish Lapland and the
environmental research conducted there are also of great interest to
researchers abroad.
The character of environmental research has undergone changes. The
problems studied are so diverse that wide-ranging co-operation is
required among research institutes - both at home and abroad. The
increasing efficiency with which the natural resources of the Barents
region will be exploited in the future means that new challenges are in
store for this branch of scientific research.
