Nature management of commercial forests
Nature management measures are carried out in state-owned managed forests based on landscape ecological planning and the principles of Metsähallitus’s Environmental Guidelines to Practical Forest Management.
Metsähallitus already has a wide range of measures to choose from with which to advance the biodiversity of managed forests. The increased amount of information available on forest species and habitats has revealed new or developable measures for furthering the nature management of commercial forests.
Metsähallitus will increase special fellings such as small-scale regeneration, selective cutting and retention tree fellings in areas where forestry is restricted. Positive results have been attained from prescribed burning for nature management purposes and plans exist to increase them over the next few years.
Other biodiversity increasing methods for 2009–2016 are the grouping of retention trees in new ways, especially near conservation areas, as well as the management of wetland habitats and xerothermic habitats. Metsähallitus is also conducting an investigation of the conservation status of spruce swamps and eutrophic fens and how it could be improved on state-owned land.