LahjoitaTowards the end of the autumn, the foundation has managed to purchase three new areas for conservation in North Karelia. The foundation now owns seven areas in this region. The places were found and the deal was made with the help of local nature lovers.
The new areas are Ängelmä in Juuka, Yövilkanpuro in the village of Ahmovaara in the vicinity of the Koli hill, and Tikkapiilo by the Vuonislahti bay on the other side of Lake Pielinen. They are part of the My Gift to the 100-Year-Old campaign, which means that the state will protect its land to the same extent.
Ängelmä is located by the Juukajoki river and bordered by two other conservation areas, which maintains the diversity of the exuberant riverbank. It includes an undrained swamp with dead trees as well as a coniferous swamp that is flooded in the spring down by the river. The flora is rich, especially in the flooding forest, which is also a home for the yellow meadow-rue, a plant that gave the place its name. The area covers four hectares, but together with the sections next to it, the place creates a valuable preserved area of approximately ten hectares.
Yövilkanpuro can be found in the village of Ahmovaara in the vicinity of the Koli hill. The eastern slopes include a spruce forest of more than 100 years. The area spreads out like a fan towards the Savijärvenjoki river with about four hundred metres of its bank being part of the new conservation area. The name is derived from the brook running through the place as a minor cascade as well as the widespread member of the beautiful orchid family. It appears from the exuberant terrain that the ground was once burned: many places include February daphne, Arctic rose, cudweed, northern buckler fern, and Selkirk’s violet. The geological features of the Koli region also contribute to the luxuriance.
Yövilkanpuro also covers four hectares, but it seems larger because of its luxuriance and terrain forms. It includes various types of nature: an exuberant grove with plenty of decayed wood, a heath, a coniferous swamp, a pine swamp, and an open bog down by the river. A large predatory bird has its nest in the forest.
Tikkapiilo, the third area, is a forest of 18 hectares by the Vuonislahti bay on the eastern shore of Jauhiainen. It is the easternmost of the foundation’s conservation areas. A significant part of the finance was given by a nature lover from the Häme region. The place has everything: a grand pine forest, a thick spruce forest, large aspens with some of the young ones being formed into groups, an open swamp, a long and unbroken shoreline, and an island behind the swamp as well as a birch forest that is getting old close to the farm where there used to be fields – a place that is being turned by volunteers into a paradise for woodpeckers by favouring deciduous trees.
Iiris Horneij, the woman who sold the place, was delighted by the decision: ”It feels great to leave my mother’s legacy for conservation. It’s a beautiful place with good conditions for all kinds of animals. The swampy sections create good nesting sites for water birds.”
More information:
Anneli Jussila, executive director, Finnish Natural Heritage Foundation
[email protected]
Tel +358 40 5863950
