The Environment Bonus donated by Partioaitta to the Finnish Natural Heritage Foundation, a total of 55,313 euros, was allocated to the Keidas forest, which will be named after Partioaitta.

This site of approximately fifty-two hectares is located in the Lassila region of Noormarkku in Pori. The northern section includes half of the swampy shore of Vähä Särkijärvi, a beautiful lake to be found there. The middle part is made up of a half-open dwarf shrub pine bog coloured by heather and surrounded by old heath forests. The treestand of the heaths is dominated by spruces, the majority of the trees having already reached the age of a hundred years. There are aspens growing among the spruces as well as old pines appearing on the edges of a few rocks that have come out of the ground. Decayed wood, which is important to the various species, has formed in great amounts in the oldest spruce stands.

Early in the spring, we can hear the curlew, the green sandpiper, the crossbills, the tits, and the cranes, to mention a few. At the end of the summer, those sleeping in a tent were able to hear the passionate displays of the pygmy owl. The name of Keidas is derived from Vähäjärvenkeidas, a name to be found on the map.

What is especially significant from the perspective of nature conservation is the manner in which the Keidas forest is connected to other conservation sites: in the south, we find the Pitkäsuo conservation area of over 500 hectares, a site extraordinarily intact in southern Finland, the place being owned by the state for the purpose of being protected in its entirety soon. The ditches found on the edges of the Pitkäsuo area have been blocked. The Keidas area will very likely be restored in the same way by the Finnish Natural Heritage Foundation.

Photo Ari-Pekka Auvinen