Most of those who visit Patvinsuo arrive in a small group of friends or family.
On average, visitors to Patvinsuo travel about 16 kilometers in the national park, mostly hiking.
The number of visitors to Patvinsuo National Park is increasing.
About 17,000 visits were made to the park, which was established to protect a wilderness marsh area, last year.
According to the visitor survey announced by Metsähallitus on Friday, Patvinsuo is especially popular among hikers from North Karelia and North Savoia. Their share of visitors is more than 40 percent.
Most of the visitors hike in the national park in small groups of 2–5 people.
Research at the University of Jyväskylä succeeded in speeding up the development of raaku larvae considerably. The natural reproduction of the species is very weak due to, among other things, the small number of host fish.
Research at the University of Jyväskylä has succeeded in speeding up the development of the endangered river pearl mussel, or raw larvae. In this way, the feral chicks can be released to an independent life faster than before.
According to the researchers, the method significantly improves the chances of rescuing an endangered species.
Raising chicks requires manual work
In nature, raw larvae, or glochidia, develop into small raw fish on the gills of salmon fish for up to 11 months. At the Konnevesi research station, raising the underwater temperature of the larvae’s host fish was tested to speed up the development of the fry, and the results were promising – the development time of the raw fry could be accelerated to 3–4 months.
Speed \u200b\u200bis an asset, because raising baby chicks is labor-intensive. The fry are collected from the host fish after they fall out of the water with sieves, and the viable individuals are separated from among them one by one. In addition, chicks in rearing must be checked three times a week when changing the water.
The ruins of Kuusisto’s bishop’s castle. Stock photo.
At first, densely overgrown bushes and trees will be cleared on the site. Grazing sheep and cattle will be brought in next year.
Restoration work on the ruins of Kuusisto’s bishop’s castle and the mansion has begun. Initially, the site is cleared of vegetation and young trees growing too densely are cut down. The work is carried out under the direction of Metsähallitus.
Some of the trees are left standing to rot or cut down to become groundwood. Field edges are opened semi-open. The reeds of the net bank will be crushed by mowing, and an enclosure will be built in the area for grazing sheep and cattle. In addition, the site will be removed from the site of alien-origin thornbush.
Grazing animals will be brought in next year. At the same time, animal and access gates will be installed on Kuusisto’s nature and culture trail.
According to Metsähallitus, the restoration of Kuusisto is beneficial for both nature, ancient remains and the public.
Yle’s MOT delivery has investigated the presence of PFAS compounds in Europe in the international Eternal Chemicals project. In addition to the environment, substances have been found in fish and eggs.
In Finland, high concentrations of PFAS compounds have been observed in Europe. They have been measured, for example, in fish from different parts of Finland.
PFAS compounds used in many consumer products break down extremely slowly in the environment and can be harmful to health.
In Finland, important sources of PFAS compounds are, for example, Varkaus airport and the Kilpilahti factory area in Porvoo and the fire training areas in Lappeenranta. They have previously used extinguishing foams containing compounds.
Among the largest water areas, Vantaanjoki is the most polluted. Harmful PFAS emissions have ended up there from several different sources.
Metsästätäjäliitto is surprised by the stages related to the wolf hunting license. Illustration picture.
The Hunters’ Association demands that the legislation on the removal of canines must be renewed.
The Hunters’ Association has rejected the executive ban on the removal of canines from Lappeenranta’s Uplands and considers it incomprehensible.
The Administrative Court of Eastern Finland suspended yesterday Tuesday the so-called Upland herd hunt due to a complaint prepared by the Nature Conservation Society Tapiola-Karelia.
It is a herd of eight animals moving near the eastern border, including a wolf. The Finnish Game Agency granted an exemption to kill the pack, which was intended to protect the genetic purity of the wolf population.
Riistakeskus granted the first exemption permit for hunting the herd at the end of 2022. The hunt did not have time to start then, because the South Karelia Nature Conservation District of the Finnish Nature Conservation Union appealed the application at that time and the permit expired.
The new Nature Conservation Act bans the import of trophies of endangered species into Finland. Nevertheless, hunting tourism to Africa continues.
The new Nature Conservation Act, which will enter into force at the beginning of June, will restrict the import of hunting trophies into Finland. The law prohibits the import of specimens or parts of specimens of globally threatened species threatened by international trade as hunting trophies from non-EU countries.
In practice, this applies, for example, to lion trophies imported from South Africa. For years, there has been a movement in that country to stop the breeding of farmed lions for hunting.
The appearance of the import ban in the law has also caused surprise in Finland, as it was not in the original government proposal.
According to the Ministry of the Environment, the version that was in the opinion included the Decree-Law to impose stricter import bans than the Cites agreement, which regulates the international trade and import of endangered species.
The snowdrift in the pond (outlined in red ) is covered by an even and thick layer of dirt. It has been identified as mine dust in ground samples and laboratory analyses. It has also been found not to be Saharan sand.
Nature conservation organisations are calling for the Kevitsa mine to change its operations in order to prevent or at least minimise environmental pollution.
The Finnish League for Nature Conservation’s Lapland District and Rajat Lapin kaivoksille ry have submitted a petition to the Lapland Environment Protection Centre to force Boliden’s Kevitsa mine to make changes to prevent or at least reduce the impact on the Koitelainen Nature Reserve, groundwater, small waters, Mataraoja and the Kemijoki River Kitinen water body under the EU Water Framework Directive.
As a supervisory authority under the Environmental Protection Act, the Environmental Protection Agency should, according to the associations, also investigate whether Boliden Kevitsa has organised its operations in full compliance with the provisions of the permit in force, environmental legislation and the obligations of the directives.
Traces in nature are visible in satellite images
According to the Association of Lapland Mines, traces of mining are already visible in the water, snow, needle, lava and permit samples collected from the Natura area north of the mine.
Mika Flöjt, Executive Director of the Finnish League for Nature Conservation’s Lapland District, does not profess to be an opponent of mining. He would just like the mines to follow the rules.
A reindeer herder spotted a puppy worm and black holes
– On the last sledging trips of spring, I have noticed that when Huutomaa aava is in full summer and it is lilting black, Loueaava and other surrounding aavas are still in full winter. There’s something there that shouldn’t be. In Huutomaa-aava, the water is already the color of coffee, while elsewhere it is completely clear, compares reindeer herder Juhani Maijala to the situation around Kevitsa.
The return home is about to begin. Members of the FINNARP expedition team walking through the Wolfs Fang ice field to board the passenger plane that flew the group to Cape Town, South Africa, from where they continued their journey by train to Finland.
During a three-month expedition, the Finnish expedition FINNARP collected data on snow and ice cover and the activity of volcanoes that erupted 180-200 million years ago.
The Finnish Antarctic Research Expedition FINNARP’s studies provided new information on ancient giant eruptions, including the structure of lava layers, and the role of snow and ice depth in reflecting sunlight.
On 8 November, the expedition set off for Aboa, a research station in the Finnish Antarctic, via Oslo and Cape Town. They were accompanied by scientists and people responsible for the technical, catering and medical care of the research station.
In a chain, a group unloads goods from an aircraft on the ice runway at Norway’s Troll station.
The outward journey took three days on a single plane from Oslo to Antarctica. The last hundreds of kilometres were covered by smaller Twin Otter and DC-3 aircraft from Norway’s Troll research station.
The FINNARP support team packs equipment before boarding the Twin Otter for the journey from Norway’s Troll station to Finland’s Aboa station.
For the first month, drinking water was obtained by melting the snow and later from the glacier water melted by radiant heat under the blue ice.
Breeding terns and gulls have disappeared or their numbers have declined significantly.
Open breeding habitats are becoming increasingly scarce. The condition of breeding habitats for gulls and waders is being improved through the graveling of nesting holes.
On Lake Oulu, graveling is being trialled to save bird nesting holes. Grading will ensure that cleared caves do not become overgrown, thus improving nesting opportunities.
According to Metsähallitus, a major problem is that there is less and less open breeding habitat. Tern and gull colonies nesting in the marshes have disappeared or their numbers have declined significantly.
The first grading work will start this month at Siniluoto, where the clearing was carried out in 2021. Siniluoto is part of the Lake Oulu Bird Islands Natura area. If necessary, grading may also be carried out on other bird islands if the results are positive in the Siniluoto area.
In the Oulujärvi area, graveling is being used for the first time in the work to improve the breeding grounds, and a similar method has not been used before in this area. Gravel is also a fairly new method for renovating nesting burrows on a national scale.
