Akanvaara, bought in 2000, is the first area acquired by the Finnish Natural Heritage Foundation for conservation. The area covers 25 hectares, 22 hectares of which is woodland. About 75 years ago, the forest growing on the Akanvaara slope was a pasture-forest, but since then, it has been allowed to grow thicker in peace; down in the low-lying areas, there are small areas of older, completely uncut woodland. The forest is dominated by thousands of white-sided birches with some sturdy pine trees fit for being turned into logs as well as some handsome aspens in small numbers. There are only a few large, thick spruces growing here and there, in addition to the two smallish sapling stands of spruces growing at the edge of the lower forest.

The forest ground is covered by tall ferns, which gives the bright scene an impression of abundance and exuberance. As a curiosity, there are about a dozen large aspens growing scattered there with the base bark or the bark from the waste down to the base or even lower being peeled by a bear in the year the forest was acquired. These mighty aspens are now standing dead or withering away. Bears as well as wolves belong to the basic fauna of the region.