Pelimetsä (‘The Game Forest’), a project established in the Finnish game sector, made a significant donation for the Finnish Natural Heritage Foundation, which used the money to purchase and protect 134 hectares of diverse forest.

Pelimetsä is a conservation project shared by Finnish game developers with 29 influential people and companies behind the project. The donated sum – almost 500 000 euros – is the largest single donation the Finnish Natural Heritage Foundation has ever received.

“We wanted to come together and achieve something positive and lasting as well as create a course of action that would be easy for others to join later”, says Jani Kahrama, one of the influential people in the field as well as one of the leaders of the Pelimetsä project.

The Finnish Natural Heritage Foundation used the donation for the purchase of two fine areas in different parts of Finland. Utterinvuori is a forest of 54 hectares on a mountain top in Hauho, in the vicinity of Hämeenlinna. Utterinvuori, which is 50 metres higher than Lake Iso-Roine nearby, has not been exposed to cuttings, which makes it an exceptional site in the Häme region. The other area, the primeval forest of Tsiuttajoki, is located north of Lake Inari in the wilds of Lapland close to an unbroken pine forest. This is a place of real ancient pines, and it has an area of 80 hectares.

“It’s great to be able to protect two such widespread and unique areas. We appreciate every donation at the Finnish Natural Heritage Foundation, and we use the donations entirely to purchase and preserve conservation areas as well as activity that follows suit”, says Anneli Jussila, the executive director of the Finnish Natural Heritage Foundation.

The Pelimetsä project, which started on the initiative of private people working in the game sector, will continue as part of the activities of the Finnish Natural Heritage Foundation and the Finnish Game Developers’ Association, and new objects will be selected for conservation as soon as new donors show up.

Utterinvuori on a map
Tsiuttajoki on a map
Pelimetsä

Photo Ari-Pekka Auvinen