Snowchange
24/03/2024
Louhineva, a major peatlands complex in Western Finland, Protected
Louhineva located in the lake Kuivasjärvi basin, Parkano, Finland, has been formally protected by the state agencies and Snowchange. Louhineva was restored between 2019-2024 and is a major ptarmigan habitat, southernmost in Finland.
Louhineva is one of the last rather preserved peatland complexes in Western Finland. It was slated for peat mining in 2000s but Snowchange was able to secure the site in 2019. Between 2019-24 the ditched parts of the peatland were restored.
In March 2024 the ELY Center, regional state authority and Snowchange have agreed to formally protect 82 hectares of Louhineva. This will secure habitat for ptarmigans, falcons, cranes and many other birds, assists in water protection and also supports keeping carbon on the ground. Local community needs, such as moose hunting will continue on the site.
Snowchange expresses their concern on the several wind power projects surrounding Louhineva. The site has electric wires in the center of the peatland that could not be protected as the state authorities expect the needs of the wind power generation to grow rapidly. Snowchange is concerned regarding the cumulative impacts of these projects and hopes that for its part Louhineva alleviates some of the pressure on the wildlife, habitats and interconnected, recovering landscapes of Kuivasjärvi.
Snowchange
03/03/2024
New Sub-Arctic Boreal Forest Joins from Sodankylä
A new major forest-peatland area has joined LRP. Takala Peatland and Forest is a mostly intact aapa mire peatland with an intact OGF forest. However some parts of the site have been logged in 2010s. It is an important site for local reindeer herding, as well as for Arctic waders and migratory birds.
The old growth forest on the site has many trees over 165 years old making it an important oasis of natural forest ecosystem. Takala Peatland and Forest supports the conservation targets of the nearby Näätävuoma-Sotkavuoma (FI1300604) Nature 2000, 10675 ha. The Näätävuoma-Sotkavuoma area is a large aapa swamp area.
The marsh interconnection is diverse: barren bogs, open meadows and lush meadows. In the surroundings of Raasujärvi and Teikkualammi, there are old hay fields as well as on the western edge of Näätävuoma. Kuusikko-Näätäselkä has a small gravel collection area.
There is a lot of decaying wood in the uncut forests of Näätäselkä. The area has over 200-year-old spruce trees and younger deciduous forests. There are a total of 2,370 ha of wooded bogs, about a fifth of the area, and 2,380 ha of marshes, a fifth of the total area. There are 3 ha of springs and spring marshes and about 100 ha of forest meadows. The Näätävuoma-Sotkavuoma area belongs to the aapas of southern Peräpohjola.
Takala Peatland and Forest has aapa mire plants as well as a good stock of juniper, dwarf birch, sedges. In the summer time it is an important Arctic bird nesting area.
Snowchange
24/01/2024
Kuumunsuo Peatland Opens 2024
Kuumunsuo peatland and forest complex is the first significant site to be added to the LRP in 2024. It supports efforts to protect habitat for wild forest reindeer.
Kuumunsuo is 44 hectare site of peatlands and OGF forests, including 169 years old timber forest. It is close to Jonkerinsalo EU Nature site of close to 4000 hectares. Site protects and enables habitat for a range of species and has outstanding biodiversity values.
Snowchange
13/12/2023
Arctic Report Card and Snowchange, End to 2023
2023 ends with a Snowchange collaboration with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration - USA on the Arctic Report Card. Warmest summer on record, but also highlights to the rewilding programme.
NOAA’s 2023 Arctic Report Card documents new records showing that human-caused warming of the air, ocean and land is affecting people, ecosystems and communities across the Arctic region, which is heating up faster than any other part of the world.
Summer surface air temperatures during 2023 were the warmest ever observed in the Arctic, while the highest point on Greenland’s ice sheet experienced melting for only the fifth time in the 34-year record. Overall, it was the Arctic’s sixth-warmest year on record. Sea ice extent continued to decline, with the last 17 Septembers now registering as the lowest on record. These records followed two years when unprecedented high abundance of sockeye salmon in western Alaska’s Bristol Bay contrasted with record-low Chinook and chum salmon that led to fishery closures on the Yukon River and other Bering Sea tributaries.
“The overriding message from this year’s report card is that the time for action is now,” said Rick Spinrad, Ph.D., NOAA administrator. “NOAA and our federal partners have ramped up our support and collaboration with state, tribal and local communities to help build climate resilience. At the same time, we as a nation and global community must dramatically reduce greenhouse gas emissions that are driving these changes.”
Over the last two decades, the Finnish nonprofit Snowchange Cooperative has restored dozens of sites, positively influencing 128,000 acres (52,000 hectares) of peatlands and forest damaged by decades of industrial harvesting and forest management.
The restoration demonstrates a globally relevant climate solution that increases carbon storage, preventing greenhouse gas emissions from entering the atmosphere. The restored peatlands are also restoring water quality and bringing back fish and birds, a vital food source and draw for ecotourism.
The annual Arctic Report Card, now in its 18th year, is the work of 82 authors from 13 countries. It includes a section titled Vital Signs, that updates eight measures of physical and biological changes, four chapters on emerging issues and a special report on the 2023 summer of extreme wildfires.
Please also check out New York Times article and video about the ARC.
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Snowchange
29/11/2023
Home of the Bean Geese, Valkeasuo Peatland and Advancements over 1000 hectares Crown the Rewilding Autumn
The autumn work of Landscape Rewilding Programme draws close. Over 1000 hectares of restored landscapes including strict protected areas in the order of 500 hectares have expanded the rewilding targets considerably.
NABU Climate Fund in Germany, that is part of Nature And Biodiversity Conservation Union (the oldest and largest environment association in Germany) provided direct, substantial and breakthrough funding for the Valkeasuo peatland complex. Valkeasuo is a nationally relevant bird habitat and important climate stabilisation area. It is one of the nesting areas of the Bean Goose in Eastern Finland. In total 456 hectares of Valkeasuo will be restored in 2024, representing national level relevance.
In other Koitajoki locations, thanks to the Endangered Seascapes and Landscapes Programme, Kaitoinsuo, Rahesuo, Haravasuo and other peatlands in close vicinity of Valkeasuo were restored, in the order of 850 hectares. Out of these, over 200 hectares were strictly protected legally.
In the Sámi forest areas over 150 hectares were added to the Landscape Rewilding Programme, including some of the timberline forests. Some of the sites have never been logged. These Indigenous cultural landscapes together with the Skolt Sámi restoration efforts in lake Sevettijärvi and in the North Sámi forest of Altto-oja continued.
A 70-hectare Altto-oja forest which was partially logged in 1990s but that also contains remaining old-growth forests, was added to the Landscape Rewilding Programme in 2023 with joint management. This protects the remaining primary forest segments. Using oral histories, Indigenous knowledge (cultural indicators of good ecological quality and maintenance of key species such as aspen), and science, Snowchange and the Sámi inventoried the logged areas and developed targets for forest comeback, guided by the Sámi use of the landscape for reindeer herding and non-timber forest products. Altto-oja forest is emerging as a valuable example for how affected Sámi forests can be restored using science and Indigenous knowledge.
All in all over 1000 hectares of sites advanced the Landscape Rewilding Programme in the Autumn.
Snowchange
24/11/2023
Two-year Rewilding Effort Ends in Lake Kuivasjärvi, Parkano
Landscape Rewilding Programme and Pro Kuivasjärvi association have completed their 2 year mission to restore and rewilding the lake's northern and northwestern catchment areas.
This 36,000 € effort was partially sponsored by the Pirkanmaa Center of the Environment, Transport and Commerce. The specific actions included
- Further rewilding of the Louhisuo peatland
- Water management measures to control the loading from the Alkkia peat mining complex
- Renewal of a three hectare wetland in the uppermost catchment
- Stream Kärppäluoma hydrological rapids restoration.
Pro Kuivasjärvi association reflects the potential 2024 actions over the winter.
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Snowchange
30/10/2023
YLE reports on the Onkamo Lake Restoration
National broadcaster YLE reports on the Snowchange efforts to restore lake Onkamo area.
National news on the Onkamo restoration have been published today. See link below.
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Snowchange
04/09/2023
Karvasuo, a major peatland complex opens the rewilding Autumn
Karvasuo is a major peatland – old growth forest complex located close to the City of Seinäjoki in Western Finland. It adds close to 300 hectares to the Landscape Rewilding Programme with an aim of 1200 hectares to be restored and protected over the next few years.
Karvasuo is a large unprotected peatland complex. It has many rare and vulnerable species, including lynx, otter, casebearing moths as well as other butterflies and dragonflies and rare plant species.
Snowchange is working to restore and protect up to 1200 hectares around Karvasuo over the next years. Major funding for the initiative comes from the NABU Climate Fund in Germany, that is part of Nature And Biodiversity Conservation Union (the oldest and largest environment association in Germany).
Karvasuo has been on the list of wishes from the local villages to be protected for decades. It is slated to be fully protected this year in the national HELMI Programme.
Snowchange
18/07/2023
Skolt Sámi Rewilding Work Featured in a Science Paper
Snowchange work with the Skolt Sámi is featured in a new peer-reviewed science article. The article discusses species on the move because of climate change and the human responses to this phenomena.
Global understanding of climate change has developed strongly in the last decades, particularly (and unfortunately) as observable impacts of climate change have increased. However, climate mitigation and adaptation efforts have not progressed at the level or scale that one might expect given this growing knowledge of climate change. A major obstacle to mitigation and adaptation is getting people to understand and relate to climate change – and be able to develop the attitudes and behaviours to take action. Our paper highlights that more effective approaches to engage people on climate change effects are urgently needed. We show that human values, trust networks, and place attachment are critical elements in developing effective and inclusive engagement on climate change.
We place our focus on ‘species-on-the-move’. Plant and animal species around the world are already shifting their distributions in response to climate change. These species-on-the-move impact ecosystem structure and function, food security, human health, livelihoods, culture and even the climate itself through feedbacks to the climate system.
In our paper, we outline how species-on-the-move also present an opportunity to engage people with climate change – specifically, by linking to human values, and connections with the places in which we live, in locally relevant yet globally coherent ways. We highlight how species-on-the-move offer emotional pathways for people to connect with the complex issue of climate change in profound ways that have the potential to engender interest and climate action.
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Snowchange
10/07/2023
Snowchange Supports Sissola in Koitajoki
Snowchange and the Sissola Family Heritage Association have signed a cooperative agreement. Snowchange will provide support to maintain the buildings and cultural heritage of Sissola located in Lake Megrijärvi in Koitajoki.
Sissola buildings at Lake Megrijärvi are the only standing rune singer houses in their original location in Finnish Karelia. They were built in the early 1800s. Simana Sissonen built the houses and he is considered to be one of the most skillful rune singers.
Collaborative efforts in Sissola are central to the aims of the rewilding efforts in Koitajoki, as the cultural heritage is such a central place in the activities.
Head of the Sissola Family Heritage Association Jaakko Hamunen thanks Snowchange for the work the organisation does and the support the Cooperative provides will ensure the survival of Sissola and its heritage to future generations.
