Suomeksi På svenska Sámegillii Contact Us
Suomeksi På svenska Sámegillii Contact Us
Suomeksi På svenska Sámegillii Contact Us
  • Metsähallitus
    News Releases
    Contact Us
    • Search for people
    • Senior Management
    • Forestry
    • Parks & Wildlife Finland
    • Property Development Unit
    Careers
    Organisation
    • Key figures
    • Person-years
    • Strategy and values
    • Board of directors
    • Management and administration system
    • Laws and administration
    • History
    Metsähallitus Code of Conduct
    Whistleblowing channel
    Responsibility
    • Responsibility Policy
    • Environmental Policy
    • Ecological Responsibility
    • Social Responsibility
    • Cultural Responsibility
    • Financial Responsibility
    We know the Arctic
    Cooperation
    • Research Cooperation
    • International Cooperation
    • Cooperation with Learning Institutions
    • Volunteer Work
    • Sponsorship
    • Seminars
    Publications
    • Annual Reports
    Logo
    News Releases
    Contact Us
    • Search for people
    • Senior Management
    • Forestry
    • Parks & Wildlife Finland
    • Property Development Unit
    Careers
    Organisation
    • Key figures
    • Person-years
    • Strategy and values
    • Board of directors
    • Management and administration system
    • Laws and administration
    • History
    Metsähallitus Code of Conduct
    Whistleblowing channel
    Responsibility
    • Responsibility Policy
    • Environmental Policy
    • Ecological Responsibility
    • Social Responsibility
    • Cultural Responsibility
    • Financial Responsibility
    We know the Arctic
    Cooperation
    • Research Cooperation
    • International Cooperation
    • Cooperation with Learning Institutions
    • Volunteer Work
    • Sponsorship
    • Seminars
    Publications
    • Annual Reports
    Logo
  • Lands and Waters
    Areas and maps
    • Northern Lapland
    • Eastern and Western Lapland
    • Ostrobothnia
    • Kainuu
    • Eastern Finland
    • Western Finland
    • Public Water Areas
    Maps for various purposes
    Geographic information system
    • Information sources
    Cultural Heritage
    • Cultural Heritage Sites
    • Sámi Culture
    • Cultural Heritage in Multiple-use Forests
    • Stamps of protected areas
    Multiple-use Forests
    • Forest Land
    • Responsible use of forests
    Protected Areas
    • Natura 2000 Sites
    • National Parks
    • National Hiking Areas
    • Wilderness Areas
    • Other Protected Areas
    • Number and Size of Protected Areas
    • Management Effectiveness Evaluation
    • State of the Parks Reporting
    Land-use planning
    • Natural resource planning
    • Management and land-use planning
    • Operational planning
    • Special regional features
    Areas and maps
    • Northern Lapland
    • Eastern and Western Lapland
    • Ostrobothnia
    • Kainuu
    • Eastern Finland
    • Western Finland
    • Public Water Areas
    Maps for various purposes
    Geographic information system
    • Information sources
    Cultural Heritage
    • Cultural Heritage Sites
    • Sámi Culture
    • Cultural Heritage in Multiple-use Forests
    • Stamps of protected areas
    Multiple-use Forests
    • Forest Land
    • Responsible use of forests
    Protected Areas
    • Natura 2000 Sites
    • National Parks
    • National Hiking Areas
    • Wilderness Areas
    • Other Protected Areas
    • Number and Size of Protected Areas
    • Management Effectiveness Evaluation
    • State of the Parks Reporting
    Land-use planning
    • Natural resource planning
    • Management and land-use planning
    • Operational planning
    • Special regional features
  • Business Activities
    Forestry
    • State-owned forestry company
    • Multiple-use Forests
    • Life in Multiple-use Forests
    • Wood Sales and Deliveries
    • Contract Work and Procurement
    Property Development
    • For Businesses and investors
    • Extraction
    • Wind Power
    Siemen Forelia Oy
    Forestry
    • State-owned forestry company
    • Multiple-use Forests
    • Life in Multiple-use Forests
    • Wood Sales and Deliveries
    • Contract Work and Procurement
    Property Development
    • For Businesses and investors
    • Extraction
    • Wind Power
    Siemen Forelia Oy
  • Outdoor Recreation
    Hiking
    Hunting and fishing
    Well-Being from Nature
    • Ecosystem Services
    • Health Benefits from Nature
    • Economic Benefits from Nature
    Notification of an organized event
    Permits for Research and Photography
    • Permits for Film Productions
    Nature Tourism
    • Sustainable Nature Tourism
    • Visitation numbers
    Hiking
    Hunting and fishing
    Well-Being from Nature
    • Ecosystem Services
    • Health Benefits from Nature
    • Economic Benefits from Nature
    Notification of an organized event
    Permits for Research and Photography
    • Permits for Film Productions
    Nature Tourism
    • Sustainable Nature Tourism
    • Visitation numbers
  • Nature Conservation
    Network of Protected Areas
    • Natura 2000 Network
    • International Classifications
    • International Agreements on Nature Conservation
    • Certified Protected Areas
    Management and Use of Protected Areas
    Species and Habitats
    • Species Conservation
    • Monitoring of Habitats
    • Habitat Restoration
    Network of Protected Areas
    • Natura 2000 Network
    • International Classifications
    • International Agreements on Nature Conservation
    • Certified Protected Areas
    Management and Use of Protected Areas
    Species and Habitats
    • Species Conservation
    • Monitoring of Habitats
    • Habitat Restoration
  • Projects

    The major projects of Metsähallitus include planning of management of wide areas and developing  nature conservation and nature tourism.
    The management plans are regularly updated together with the public and stakeholders.

    Metsähallitus´s Parks & Wildlife Finland unit benefits from financing from the European Union and takes part in several co-operation projects.

    Projects by Area
    • 1 Southern Finland
    • 2 Western Finland
    • 3 Eastern Finland
    • 4 Ostrobotnia and Kainuu
    • 5 Lapland
    • 6 National
    All Projects
    • Metsähallitus
      +
      • News Releases
      • Contact Us
        +
        • Search for people
        • Senior Management
        • Forestry
        • Parks & Wildlife Finland
          +
          • Senior Management
          • Lakeland
          • Coastal and Metropolitan Area
          • Ostrobothnia–Kainuu
          • Lapland
          • Communications and Marketing
        • Property Development Unit
      • Careers
      • Organisation
        +
        • Key figures
        • Person-years
        • Strategy and values
        • Board of directors
        • Management and administration system
        • Laws and administration
        • History
          +
          • The Development of Forestry
          • Nature Conservation and Recreational Services
      • Metsähallitus Code of Conduct
      • Whistleblowing channel
      • Responsibility
        +
        • Responsibility Policy
        • Environmental Policy
        • Ecological Responsibility
        • Social Responsibility
        • Cultural Responsibility
        • Financial Responsibility
      • We know the Arctic
      • Cooperation
        +
        • Research Cooperation
        • International Cooperation
          +
          • Transboundary Cooperation
        • Cooperation with Learning Institutions
        • Volunteer Work
        • Sponsorship
        • Seminars
          +
          • Eustafor Conference 2015
            +
            • Programme and presentations
            • Articles
      • Publications
        +
        • Annual Reports
      • Logo
    • Lands and Waters
      +
      • Areas and maps
        +
        • Northern Lapland
        • Eastern and Western Lapland
        • Ostrobothnia
        • Kainuu
        • Eastern Finland
        • Western Finland
        • Public Water Areas
      • Maps for various purposes
      • Geographic information system
        +
        • Information sources
      • Cultural Heritage
        +
        • Cultural Heritage Sites
          +
          • World Heritage Sites
        • Sámi Culture
        • Cultural Heritage in Multiple-use Forests
        • Stamps of protected areas
      • Multiple-use Forests
        +
        • Forest Land
        • Responsible use of forests
      • Protected Areas
        +
        • Natura 2000 Sites
        • National Parks
          +
          • Protected Areas History
        • National Hiking Areas
        • Wilderness Areas
        • Other Protected Areas
          +
          • Strict Nature Reserves
          • Mire Reserves
          • Herb-rich Forest Reserves
          • Seal Reserves
          • Old-growth Forest Reserves
        • Number and Size of Protected Areas
        • Management Effectiveness Evaluation
        • State of the Parks Reporting
      • Land-use planning
        +
        • Natural resource planning
        • Management and land-use planning
        • Operational planning
        • Special regional features
    • Business Activities
      +
      • Forestry
        +
        • State-owned forestry company
        • Multiple-use Forests
          +
          • Planning of Operations
            +
            • Information system
            • Participatory Planning
            • Planning in Forestry
          • Forest Management
            +
            • A New Tree Generation
            • Special Fellings
            • Maintenance of Forest Roads
              +
              • Winter and Ice Roads
          • Forestry's stakeholders
            +
            • Research and Development
          • Forestry and the Environment
            +
            • Climate Smart Forestry
            • Promoting Biodiversity
            • Game Animals
            • Variety of Landscapes
            • Water Protection
        • Life in Multiple-use Forests
          +
          • Forest Roads
        • Wood Sales and Deliveries
          +
          • Forest certification
            +
            • Regional certification
          • Selling Wood to the Forest Industry
            +
            • Harvesting and Delivery
            • Forest biomass
            • Contact Information
        • Contract Work and Procurement
          +
          • Contracting Policies
          • Tenders
          • Outsourcing in Finnish Forestry
      • Property Development
        +
        • For Businesses and investors
          +
          • Ruka Valley
          • Syöte - southern fell
          • Saariselkä in far north
          • Spectacular Ylläs
          • Hossa - different and untamed
          • Pistohiekka beach - The blue pearl of Saimaa
        • Extraction
        • Wind Power
      • Siemen Forelia Oy
    • Outdoor Recreation
      +
      • Hiking
      • Hunting and fishing
      • Well-Being from Nature
        +
        • Ecosystem Services
        • Health Benefits from Nature
          +
          • Health Benefits from National Parks
          • Health Benefits of Fishing and Hunting
        • Economic Benefits from Nature
          +
          • Economic Benefits of National Parks
          • Economic Benefits of Hunting and Fishing Services
      • Notification of an organized event
      • Permits for Research and Photography
        +
        • Permits for Film Productions
      • Nature Tourism
        +
        • Sustainable Nature Tourism
        • Visitation numbers
    • Nature Conservation
      +
      • Network of Protected Areas
        +
        • Natura 2000 Network
        • International Classifications
        • International Agreements on Nature Conservation
        • Certified Protected Areas
      • Management and Use of Protected Areas
      • Species and Habitats
        +
        • Species Conservation
          +
          • Species Monitoring
          • Species Under Special Protection
          • Threatened Plants
          • Threatened Animals
        • Monitoring of Habitats
          +
          • Valuable Habitats
          • Collection of Data on Habitats
          • Marine Habitats
        • Habitat Restoration
          +
          • Forest Restoration
            +
            • Threatened Forest Species
            • Restoration Methods
            • Planning and Monitoring
          • Mire Restoration
            +
            • Country of Mires
            • Mire Resources
            • Threatened Mire Species
          • Finnish Board on Ecological Restoration
            +
            • FBER Steering Group
            • FBER Forest Group
            • FBER Grassland Group
            • FBER Peatland Group
    • Projects
  • metsa.fi/english/
  • Etusivu/
  • Projects/
  • Light and Fire LIFE/
All projects
Project's menu

Light and Fire LIFE

  • Forest restoration
  • Restoration of sunlit habitats
  • Restoration of Baltic sandy beaches
  • Habitat restoration of Pulsatilla patens
  • Camps for volunteers
  • Management planning
  • LIFE Nordic Platform Meeting in Punkaharju 11.-13.6.2018
  • Fire for Life Workshop 2017

Light & Fire LIFE

Suomeksi | På svenska

Controlled burning helps forest nature. Photo by Ari Lahtinen.

Controlled burning helps species who need forest fires. Photo by Ari Lahtinen, Parks & Wildlife Finland.

Videos

Why and how to take care of esker nature?

Our Light & Fire LIFE video shows how fire helps to protect nature on eskers and how we can save one of  our treasures, the rare Pulsatilla patens flower. (Choose English subtitles: Settings / Asetukset > Subtitles / Tekstitykset > English / Englanti)

 

Have a look at our video about the voluntary work!

The volunteers are recruited by WWF Finland to help on restoration camps, here removing trees and bushes on the Island of Örö in the Archipelago National Park.

 

Voluntary workers at a Light & Fire LIFE project camp in 2015. Photo Tapani Mikkola.

Photos by Tapani Mikkola, Parks&Wildlife Finland.

Light & Fire LIFE Project 2014–2020

Light & Fire LIFE Project aims to protect the biodiversity of coastal meadows, dunes, eskers, heaths and other sunlit environments. The methods include environmental management-related burning, clearing of trees, the translocation of endangered species and removal of alien species. For the first time in Finland, a single project will take care of land owned by the state as well as by private landowners and companies.

The Light & Fire LIFE project will carry out work in 69 Natura 2000 areas all over Finland to benefit habitats created through heat or fire and the species which make their home in such environments.  Fire will once again spread through these areas, though in a controlled manner, to protect the environment's endangered and dwindling species, such as Pulsatilla patens and Thymus serpyllum.

These species will also be reintroduced to favourable growth sites. Bushes, trees, lake reeds and alien species such as Rosa rugosa on the other hand, shall be removed in order to return the original level of heat and light.

Environmental education is also an important goal for the project. Camps for children, young people and adults will be organised in the archipelago and along the coast, Project sites will also be imaged using technology, allowing us to travel through time and see how nature thrives as a result of environmental management. 

The Light & Fire project is one of the LIFE Nature projects financed by the European Union.  Half of the project's EUR 4.06 million budget is received from the EU. The project is coordinated by Metsähallitus, Parks & Wildlife Finland. Project partners include HAMK University of Applied Sciences, the North Savo Centre for Economic Development, Transport and the Environment, The Finnish Forest Centre, UPM and WWF Finland. The project was launched on 1 August 2014 and will continue until 31 July 2020.

What are sunlit environments?

The flora and fauna in sunlit environments have adapted to dryness, high levels of radiation from the sun, high temperatures and sharp fluctuations in temperature, as well as sparse sources of food.

Previously, these environments were primarily created as a result of forest fires. Nowadays forest fires are dealt with very efficiently, meaning that sunlit environments are very seldom created naturally, and those that are, quickly succumb to overgrowth. Several demanding species of plants and insects which suffer in other environments thrive in sunlit environments. Only some of these environments which are home to valuable species are protected.

Learn more about the areas covered by Light & Fire LIFE  (PDF, 2314 kB)

Restoration trail

A nature trail has been extended and provided with new information for hikers and schoolchildren in Komio nature reserve by the project.

The information stands tell about the restoration work to help esker nature and include QR-codes. Further information on restoration of forests and management of sunlit habitats is available (in Finnish) by scanning the code with the mobile device equipped with a QR reader application.

International co-operation to exchange knowledge

Co-operation and exchange of knowledge is crucial in developing cost efficient restoration methods. Experts from Light&Fire LIFE visited Swedish LIFE Taiga Project (www.lifetaiga.se) to learn their experiences of restoration burnings in March 2016.

The close co-operation continued as the projects organized a joint workshop to develop use of fire in restoration of Natura 2000 areas. The event brought together experts from 8 European countries in April 2017:

LIFE needs fire – experts from 8 countries searched for tools to enhance the use of prescribed burnings in Natura 2000 area management

In recent years ecological research has lifted up the importance of the use of fire in ecological restoration and habitat management in boreal forests. However, natural fires are nowadays practically absent from forests and the controlled use of fire as a tool to improve quality of N2000 areas has not increased as wished. An international workshop was arranged in Lammi, Finland to enhance the use of prescribed fire in restoration of Natura 2000 areas.

The workshop showed that current practices and public opinion with respect to use of fire differ significantly between European countries. Fire has been a common tool for forestry in Sweden and Finland for centuries. Because of the long tradition, the use of prescribed fire in conservation area management is well-understood and accepted by the public. In contrast, legislation and negative public opinion limit the use of fire in e.g.  the Baltic countries and Poland.

The workshop showed clearly that fire is needed to maintain the diversity in boreal forests. Good examples from Sweden and Finland show that prescribed use of fire e.g. in forest restoration is a safe and efficient way to mimic natural fires that are currently absent from boreal forests. In addition to maintaining valuable species and habitats, the use of prescribed fire benefits also people e.g. by providing possibilities to train for fighting uncontrolled fires.   

The workshop was organized by two LIFE+ projects: LIGHT & FIRE LIFE and LIFE Taiga which aim at improving the state of boreal forests by prescribed use of fire in Natura 2000 areas.

  • Presentations at the workshop are available in pdf format.

Nordic Platform Meeting 2018

The Nordic Platform Meeting gathered 69 participants from LIFE Nature projects in Nordic countries and the Integrated LIFE NAT projects in Nordic countries and in Lithuania. The Platform Meeting took place on 11–13 June 2018, in beautiful Punkaharju, southeast Finland.

  • agenda and presentations

Further information:

Project Manager Sanna-Kaisa Rautio, tel. +358 206 39 5009;  sanna-kaisa.rautio (at) metsa.fi

The project has received funding from the LIFE Programme of the European Union. The material reflects the views by the authors, and the European Commission or the EASME is not responsible for any use that may be made of the information it contains.

 

Last modified 06.11.2019
Print
Share this page
All Programs
Suomeksi På svenska Sámegillii
Contact us Feedback Cookies and Terms of Use Privacy Statement
Metsähallitus
+
  • News Releases
  • Contact Us
  • Careers
  • Organisation
  • Metsähallitus Code of Conduct
  • Whistleblowing channel
  • Responsibility
  • We know the Arctic
  • Cooperation
  • Publications
  • Logo
Lands and Waters
+
  • Areas and maps
  • Maps for various purposes
  • Geographic information system
  • Cultural Heritage
  • Multiple-use Forests
  • Protected Areas
  • Land-use planning
Business Activities
+
  • Forestry
  • Property Development
  • Siemen Forelia Oy
  • News Releases
  • Publications
  • Projects
  • Contact Us
Outdoor Recreation
+
  • Hiking
  • Hunting and fishing
  • Well-Being from Nature
  • Notification of an organized event
  • Permits for Research and Photography
  • Nature Tourism
Nature Conservation
+
  • Network of Protected Areas
  • Management and Use of Protected Areas
  • Species and Habitats
Follow Us (In Finnish)
Follow Us in Facebook Follow Us in Twitter RSS News Feeds
© Metsähallitus 2019
Suomeksi På svenska Sámegillii
Contact us Feedback Cookies and Terms of Use Privacy Statement
Metsähallitus
+
  • News Releases
  • Contact Us
  • Careers
  • Organisation
  • Metsähallitus Code of Conduct
  • Whistleblowing channel
  • Responsibility
  • We know the Arctic
  • Cooperation
  • Publications
  • Logo
Lands and Waters
+
  • Areas and maps
  • Maps for various purposes
  • Geographic information system
  • Cultural Heritage
  • Multiple-use Forests
  • Protected Areas
  • Land-use planning
Business Activities
+
  • Forestry
  • Property Development
  • Siemen Forelia Oy
Outdoor Recreation
+
  • Hiking
  • Hunting and fishing
  • Well-Being from Nature
  • Notification of an organized event
  • Permits for Research and Photography
  • Nature Tourism
Nature Conservation
+
  • Network of Protected Areas
  • Management and Use of Protected Areas
  • Species and Habitats
Follow Us (In Finnish)
Follow Us in Facebook Follow Us in Twitter RSS News Feeds
  • News Releases
  • Publications
  • Projects
  • Contact Us
Follow Us (In Finnish)
Follow Us in Facebook Follow Us in Twitter RSS News Feeds
© Metsähallitus 2019