READ MORE ABOUT SUSTAINABLE FORESTRY
Growing the seedlings of coniferous trees into proper log wood requires long-term work. At the Finnish Sipari estate, the forest management measures for different stands are planned in cooperation together with a Metsä Group specialists. The forest work itself is also carried out with the help of a partner. GOOD CARE GUARANTEES FOREST GROWTH
SANNA LAAKKONEN, photos KATRI LEHTOLA
Forest owners Hanna-Maija Anttila and Timo Vehmas run a family estate called Sipari in rural Forssa, Southern Finland. The estate provides year-round employment to its owners, given that it is consists of not only a hundred hectares of forest, but nearly 200 hectares of fields and a piggery. The fields are used for the cultivation of barley, oat and wheat, with a few hectares set aside for growing hay for the pigs. The forest represents the source of both income and recreation for the couple. That is why they want it to be managed as well as possible. Due to all the other farm work, the owners do not have the time to take care of all the forest work themselves, which is why they buy some of the work in the form of services. “Although forest work can be enjoyable, we feel fortu- nate that we do not have to have the time and skills to do everything by ourselves. It is great to be able to turn to the specialists for advice and guidance,” says Anttila. In this estate, too, forest management has changed quite a lot over the years. “When my grandfather was alive, you could not touch the forest at all. You fetched wood when you needed it for the household, but otherwise you did not harvest a single trunk. And at the time my grandfather was far from being alone in that line of thinking.” Now the estate’s forests are no longer untouched. How- ever, the measures carried out there are always planned with a long-term perspective. A well-managed forest is not only a pleasure to behold, but a source of income, even for future generations.
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