The Finnish Natural Heritage Foundation has bought an old forest at Nuutajärvi in Urjala which will be called Hiidenkivenkorpi. The 12-hectare forest is covered in trees throughout, as it has not been touched for a hundred years, other than to clear windthrows. 

“Despite its name ‘korpi’, the forest is not biologically speaking a spruce bog, but it does match the colloquial meaning of the word, which is an old and particularly dense spruce forest,” explains Anneli Jussila, Conservation Director for the Finnish Natural Heritage Foundation.


Tradition has it that Hiidenkivenkorpi was once the location of a prehistoric settlement. At the edge of the forest there is an Ice Age erratic boulder, which is locally known as Rojukivi. The old Finnish names for boulders like Rojukivi is hiidenkivi, which refers to the belief that only giants could move the enormous boulders.

The forest has a peaceful location along a small road. Järvenpää, a deserted group of buildings, is located at the edge of the forest and was lived in from 1922 until many years after the wars. The forest was sold to the Foundation by Riitta Saarinen, who wanted the area to be protected – after all, her family had guarded it carefully for a hundred years.

In Hiidenkivenkorpi, hikers can experience the prehistoric atmosphere of a genuine old coniferous forest as the wind sways the tall spruces. The Finnish Natural Heritage Foundation will ensure that Hiidenkivenkorpi remains this peaceful for generations to come.

Hiidenkivenkorpi is the Finnish Natural Heritage Foundation’s fifth conservation area in Urjala. The Foundation’s other local conservation areas are Pyssykangas, Haapalaakso, Metsänpeitto and Saittovuori.

“There still seem to be dense forests to protect in Southern Pirkanmaa. The Foundation is always in need of donations to enable us to protect these wonderful natural areas and save them from felling,” Conservation Director Anneli Jussila emphasises.  

(Photo: Mari Helkiö)