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Primeval Pine Forest As Fuel For Norwegian Armed Forces?

 

Old and valuable pine forest in East Finnmark is not protected against logging. The Norwegian Association for the Conservation of Nature demands that the protected areas be greatly expanded, but the landowner believes that they are taking good care of nature.

The Norwegian Association for the Conservation of Nature will double Øvre Pasvik National Park to secure the primeval forest against logging. The photo is from Båtvatnet, a few kilometers north of the national park. Photo: Helene Lind Jensen

Primeval forest is actually being cut down under the auspices of the landowner FeFo and for use as pellets by the Armed Forces. It is completely wild,

says Truls Gulowsen, leader of the Norwegian Association for the Conservation of Nature

Local environmental activists look with horror at the timber that is piled up right next to the protected areas in Pasvik. They point to large pine trees that they believe are old and worthy of protection.

Timber grove after logging at Elgryggen in Pasvik. Timber groves with large trees, such as this one at Elgryggen in Pasvik, raise fears that forest worth protecting is being cut down. Photo: Per E. Motrøen / Forum for nature and outdoor life Finnmark

The Norwegian Association for the Conservation of Nature strongly doubts that landowner Finnmarkseiendommen (FeFo) has an overview of the natural values ​​where logging is taking place.

The company believes that they do.

All forest is assessed and environmentally registered, says Kate Persen, head of industry at FeFo.

She says that FeFo has offered to protect an additional 48 square kilometers of old forest, and that no logging will take place in these areas.

But that is far less than the Norwegian Association for the Conservation of Nature wants – and the protection process has been at a standstill for years.

Large protected areas

Pasvikdalen is the narrow wedge of Finnmark that stretches south from Kirkenes, down between Russia and Finland. Here are the largest continuous areas of primeval forest in Norway. Source:  geo365.no

Parts of the forest are already protected as a national park and nature reserve. But that is not enough, says the Norwegian Nature Conservation Association.

Approximately doubling the size of the national park will be necessary to absorb the most important areas of primeval forest in Pasvik, says Gulowsen.

In that case, that would mean 60 square kilometers more with protection.

Logging in the area is described as thinning. The Norwegian Nature Conservation Association believes that the timber they have observed right next to the protected areas tells a completely different story.

Our people have reacted to piles of tree trunks. These are solid pine trunks, says Anne Greve of the Norwegian Nature Conservation Association in Sør-Varanger.

Timber at the entrance to the national park in Pasvik.  The Norwegian Forestry Association believes that the tree rings show that the oldest of these trees are 300 years old or more. They were cut down at Skogfoss, where the forest is not protected. According to the survey, the forest here is only 122 years old. Photo: Siri Tollefsen, Norwegian Forestry Association

The trees in the photo taken by the Norwegian Forestry Association were cut down at Skogfoss, not in areas that are protected or proposed to be protected, FeFo informs NRK.

That is a small consolation, says Greve:

It illustrates precisely what we are concerned about: That the really old and valuable pine trees outside the current protection boundaries are being cut down.

So, whether it happens routinely or by accident, it is quite conceivable that primeval forests and primeval forest areas are affected by logging, says Gulowsen.

If the landowner claims that they are not logging and do not want to log in the old-growth forest, that is only good, he believes:

Then there should be no problem in expanding the protection.

Truls Gulowsen believes that the national park in Pasvik must be approximately doubled in size in order for the most important old-growth forest to be safe. Photo: Eivind Molde

In Finnmark, 10 percent of the productive forest is protected. This is well above the national average.

Gulowsen says that there will still be large forests that can be managed and create jobs even if more of Pasvik is protected.

We protect all the stave churches we have left, because they are incredibly valuable cultural monuments. The same applies to all the primeval forest. Less than 1 percent of the forest in Norway is primeval forest.

Slow protection process

Anne Greve from the Nature Conservation Association in Sør-Varanger says that they are most concerned with speeding up the process of voluntary protection.

It has been going on for seven or eight years, she says.

FeFo submitted an offer to protect more forest in 2017. There they are clear that they accept more protection, but only if they can also lift the protection of parts of the national park and nature reserve.

Lars Monsen is wearing an orange and black jacket and a black cap. He is sitting leaning against a tree in a forest while reading a map and turns to the camera and smiles. A pond can be seen in the background. TV viewers can now experience the primeval forest in Pasvik through Lars Monsen's new series from Norway's national parks. Photo: Håvard Jenssen / NRK

At the same time, FeFo has made demands for the protection regulations, including that more driving should be allowed – also on bare ground.

We think that is a bad idea, says Greve.

The Norwegian Nature Conservation Association reviewed the proposal from FeFo. They proposed several expansions of the protected areas and a completely new reserve.

The old forest is home to over 25,000 different species, and many of them are red-listed and rare. And it is precisely the large, continuous habitat that will ensure that we preserve the species, says Greve.

According to a report from NINA, Finnmark has 49 forest-dwelling species of particularly great national interest. Only 6 of them are captured in forest conservation areas.

Kate Persen says landowner FeFo has a comprehensive plan to secure the natural values ​​associated with the old forest in Pasvik. Photo: Jan Henrik Hætta / FeFo

FeFo: Setter of valuable nature

Kate Persen from FeFo believes the criticism is based on a thin foundation.

 I think it is a bit sad that we should be portrayed as cutting down primeval forest for wood chips.

FeFo extracts both sawn timber and firewood in Pasvik, but according to Persen, this happens in areas that were previously clear-cut – largely by the Germans during the war.

Persen has sent maps of the so-called thinning logging to NRK. None of the logging areas marked are within the areas where the Norwegian Forest Conservation Association has demanded additional protection.

We have an updated forestry plan. All forests are assessed and environmentally registered, with an overview of environmental values ​​and habitat types.

Persen says that most of the older forest that is not protected by the state is still restricted in one way or another. For example, it is set aside as key biotopes, selected habitat types and game reserves.

This means in practice that there are very few areas in the old forest where we actually want to conduct forestry, says Persen.

She believes they have good control over what is actually cut down.

We inspect areas before and after logging. The contractor has instructions and maps of the areas. In addition, we have permission from the municipality, which also sees us in the maps.

Primeval forest at Båtvatnet in Pasvik. This old-growth forest at Båtvatnet in Pasvik is not currently protected, and the area is also not part of the offer from FeFo for voluntary protection. Photo: Helene Lind Jensen

Offering 48 square kilometers

Kate Persen hopes that the process around voluntary protection in Pasvik will pick up speed again during this year.

Although FeFo will discontinue parts of the current protection, this is a large net increase, both of Øvre Pasvik National Park and Store Sametti – Skjelvatnet Nature Reserve.

According to Persen, the offer is for a net increase of 48 square kilometers.

The areas that are proposed to be taken out consist largely of younger forest, areas adjacent to the forest road network and established massifs, says Persen.

Endangered species in disputed area

The nature managers who mapped the area in 2017 believe the matter is significantly more complicated.

Great natural values ​​were documented in the areas that FeFo wanted to release. It would be very disappointing if the management authorities do not plan for these to have consequences for future forest management in Pasvik, says Geir Gaarder. He is a senior advisor for biodiversity at Miljøfaglig Utredning AS.

He emphasizes that their report was about the forest. But in Pasvik, the entirety of old-growth forest and wetlands is important.

There are great values ​​associated with bogs and swamp forests here, including several nationally rare and endangered bird species. An example is the willow sparrow. This species is now almost extinct in Southern Norway, and perhaps has its only Norwegian viable population in Pasvik, says Gaarder.

Source: NRK (in Norwegian) 

28.01.2025