The Konttikangas area in Siikajoki, acquired in the spring of 2005, covers 49,6 hectares. Half of it is woodland, and the other half consists of an undrained swamp. In 2011 we acquired over 40-hectare bog area Karjoneva next to Konttikangas. Karjoneva was a former peat-mining area belonging to a larger 300-hectare bog area. After the deal, the Konttikangas-Karjoneva area is made up of 92 hectares.

A dominating part of the Konttikangas forest is made up of dry pine heath. The landscape is beautiful with the pines growing thick and the unspoiled forest having no tree stumps on the ground, which is growing greener than green, unbroken, strong stands of lingonberry and bilberry. There are certain kinds of wounds on some of the trees indicating that there was a forest fire there a long time ago affecting the current appearance of the forest.

Konttikangas includes a couple of hectares of spruce-dominated forest with tall and thick trees. There are large trunks lying on the ground, and there is an atmosphere of an unspoiled natural forest in the shade of some of the trees.

The Konttikangas area also includes an old wide birch wood and a strip of tall conifers separated by a small parcel of meadow. The land surrounding the conservation area has quite intentionally been modified for the use of economic life: there are wide fields, cut forests, and a peat bog for the use of power plants. Several natural species will thus welcome the Konttikangas area as their home.

Half of the Konttikangas area is made up of forest, the other half being an undrained swamp. From 2012 the Karjoneva bog area has been restored by raising the surface of the water and by spreading peat moss in the area. The environment is suitable for waders, and there have been observations about the endangered species of ruffs and the arctic species of Curlew Sandpipers.

It is important to conserve these swamps that have not been dug by excavators because over half of the Finnish swamps have been drained for the use of forest economy. Just like forests, swamps are part of our endangered natural heritage. There are, for instance, several butterfly species that have become rare living in swamp regions.