The Finnish Natural Heritage Foundation inherited a valuable testamentary donation from Vieremä, a municipality located in Northern Savonia, Finland. Mr. Veikko Savolainen, who died last spring, left to the foundation a large forest estate. The Puroniitty nature reserve covers whopping 105 hectares in size and the property has now been protected for the generations to come.
“The forest, which consists mainly of middle-aged trees, has been influenced by the forest industry, but amazingly there are treasures to be found. The most valuable part of the area is a floodplain created by beaver activity. On site there is an old beaver dam and a wilderness called Haapakorpi bordering it. The soaking wet landscape has been operating as a foundation for a lot of decaying wood”, says Ari-Pekka Auvinen, a conservation expert at the Natural Heritage Foundation.
Veikko Savolainen, a childless man who donated the Puroniitty area to the Finnish Natural Heritage Foundation, worked during his life as a salesman and as a store manager in the city of Iisalmi, Finland. He was a passionate nature lover, fisherman and a wanderer enjoying most of the Lapland´s tundra. Veikko was also known to have been in contact with the founder of the Finnish Natural Heritage Foundation, Pentti Linkola.
The Finnish Natural Heritage Foundation masters currently three nature reserves in Northern Savonia: Käpyranta in Tervo was acquired via several land purchase deals between year´s 2009 to 2014. Kiuruvesi Ylpässuo deal was secured at the end of last year, honoring the tenth anniversary of the University of Eastern Finland.
The Natural Heritage Foundation is actively seeking new nature reserves in Northern Savonia and collecting tips on potential areas to be investigated further.
Puroniitty
Photo: Ari-Pekka Auvinen
