Niemenkangas is an island formed by regulation within Lake Vuokkijärvi in Suomussalmi. The lake is connected through the Emäjoki river with the Oulujoki river as one of its easternmost arms. It only takes approximately twenty kilometres to reach the eastern border from this place.

The connection with the Oulujoki river has had a major impact on the story of Lake Vuokkijärvi: the old pines of the shore were once burned into tar, and later in the 1960s, there were demands that the lake should be used as an equalising tank for waterpower. As a result of the deal made by the Finnish Natural Heritage Foundation in 2020, the impressive Niemenkangas area will remain intact in the future as well.

This area of twenty-three hectares includes 160 year-old pine stands, and there is a series of fireplaces from the Stone Age appeared from the sand on the sheltered shore.