Nature

Sunday skiers and race organisers alike are struggling with the lack of snow. How can winter sports still be secured without making the problem worse?

*Kerttu Kotakorpi will be one of the expert speakers at the Aurora future event on Friday 18.11. in Levi. Aurora, organised by YLE, brings together experts to talk about solutions to the big issues of our time. This year’s themes are equality and climate. The debates will be broadcast live from 11am* on *Yle Areena**.*

This is familiar to the Finnish public who follow sport and weather, and is repeated all over the world. At the moment, preparations are underway in Levi – despite the limited natural snow.

This was not the first time that the Winter Olympics had been puzzled by the lack of snow. The subject was already familiar at Sochi 2014, among other events.

Yle sport found out where the winter games can be held in the future as the warming progresses. The survey showed that many familiar competition venues will become too mild already in the coming decades. About every third arena for the Winter Olympics will no longer be suitable as a competition venue in the middle of the century.

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Analysis: winter sports need a rescue packageRead More »

The EU’s objectives for restoring nature are important and sensible, but what is the logic behind the measures and calculations? Lauri Kontro wonders.

The word of the day is restoration. The EU Commission has woken up to the fact that safeguarding biodiversity requires restoring native nature. Europe’s nature should be restored to what it was in 1952.

The proposal has sparked a furious debate. Our neighbouring country Sweden has announced its withdrawal from the project. The Swedish view is clear: forest policy is a national matter. Sweden has managed its forests well, so let the EU keep its hands off them.

If we were to go back to 1952, we would have to cut down more than a third of our forests.Finland’s forests have grown so much since then that the wood supply in our forests is greater than it has been for hundreds of years. Only part of that growth is used, never all of it.

What about Finland’s lakes, are they still like the good old days? There are problems, but luckily less than you might think. Wastewater from factories is cleaned, and cities are no longer allowed to discharge their sewage into waterways. Nutrient emissions from agriculture have decreased due to conservation measures and due to the fact that fertilizers have become terribly expensive. Most of Finland’s lakes, a full 87 percent, are in good or excellent ecological condition.

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Lauri Kontron’s column: The Netherlands must be restoredRead More »

Sonkajärvi Municipal Council has rejected one of three wind power projects planned for the municipality. Some members of the municipal council voted against their own proposal.

Three wind power projects were on the agenda of the Sonkajärvi Municipal Council on Monday. The council unanimously approved two of the projects, but not the third.

The Municipal Council decided by a vote of 14-7 that the wind power project planned by Ilmatar Sonkajärvi Oy for Huttusenlehto will be stopped. The wind power company was planning 20-25 wind turbines in the area.

The vote was split along party lines, and some members of the municipal council also voted against the motion they had approved in the municipal council.

– It was a position review, Mäkinen puts it.

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A citizen made a material package about the harm of windmills – Sonkajärvi council rejected the planned wind power project in HuttusenlehtoRead More »

Arto Oksanen, chairman of the Jyväskylä Sirius Association, thinks it is likely that the light phenomenon was caused by a meteor, an object that entered the Earth’s atmosphere from space.

A flash of bright light in the sky has attracted attention since 6:00 am this morning in various parts of Central Finland, among other places.

Sightings of bright light in the morning have also been made elsewhere in Finland, for example in Orivei and Taivalkoski.

Yle Jyväskylä was told about the phenomenon by a man who himself had wondered about it. He mentioned that a loud noise had also been heard in connection with the light phenomenon.

Sightings have been recorded at least from Äänekoski, Saarijärvi Kolkanlahdi, Jämsä, Keuruu, Petäjävede and Muurame.

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A strange, intense light phenomenon lit up the sky and attracted attention early Tuesday morning – a stargazer assesses what it is likely to beRead More »

In a mild autumn, the swan will stay longer in a nearby pond, but the butterfly will be overwhelmed by the unexpected warmth. The plants are already dormant.

This autumn has been exceptionally warm. The outdoorsman has been able to sense it in more ways than just by not putting on an extra pair of underwear. The swans are still screaming on the lake, the fly buzzes on the terrace and the funnel-winged hawk lifts its mane from the moss.

This article explains how the warm early winter is affecting nature and the effects on the wintering of birds, insects and plants.

With enough food and melting water, the swan can stay for a long time

The mild autumn sunshine is particularly noticeable for birdwatchers. Some migratory birds may stay in their wintering grounds for a while, while others may stay in Finland altogether.

– Some move to their wintering areas at a precisely programmed time, no matter how warm it is.

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Confused insects spread across the country – this is how the warm autumn affects Finnish natureRead More »

Rubbish can be collected from the beaches, dredging is easier and new rocks can be spotted from the lake by those on the water.

On Lake Saimaa, the waterline has been pushed back metres and rocks are sticking out in places where previously there were no rocks to be seen. The view on the Little Saimaa on a November afternoon is very different from the summer.

The water level has dropped by 60-70 centimetres since the summer. Currently, the water level is about 25 centimetres lower than the median for the period.

– The low water levels are due to the dry summer. In Saimaa, the changes are delayed because Saimaa is so big,” says Moisio.

In Saimaa, the normal range of water level is about a meter. It is common for the water level to drop in autumn. The water level starts to rise again in the spring after the snow has closed.

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The surface of Lake Saimaa caught people’s attention – how to make the most of shallow water at your cottage beachRead More »

Natural landscape restoration work under the Pearl Habitat Programme is planned for Toholamm and the Environment Agency is looking for people willing to implement the programme.

Since last year, the Environment Centre of South Ostrobothnia has been restoring traditional biotopes in Central Ostrobothnia.

Now it’s the turn of Toholamm’s natural landscapes. Ely is looking for landowners, animal keepers and contractors willing to carry out restoration and management work.

Sheep or heifers are needed for landscape grazing. The project will also involve a lot of work in erecting fences and clearing trees.

About 9 hectares of the cultural landscape of Lestijokilaakso, which is nationally valuable, will be worked on in the municipality.

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Hungry animals wanted – Toholamm’s traditional biotopes are looking for grazers and restorersRead More »

Technology is helping scientists to find ways to predict the damage to forests caused by humans and climate change. Laser scanner data is revealing things about the forest that the eye cannot yet see.

Laser scanning of forests has been done for years from aircraft, but in recent years also with drones and, most recently, with a backpack-mounted device that can be worn on the back of the researcher.

The entire Finnish forests have been bowled once from an aircraft and a second round, in the framework of the so-called national laser bowling, has been started. Forests are constantly growing and changing through felling and storm damage, so in five years’ time the situation in terms of tree cover and biomass will be different from today.

The team’s open-mindedness in seeking new solutions is demonstrated by how the laser pointer originally ended up in a wearable backpack. The researchers were taking measurements at Pulman Beach with a car-mounted laser pointer that was now mounted on a rubber boat. The study was aimed at investigating erosion caused by the river’s flow, how the current and flooding carry and shape the sandbars. However, the rubber boat could not get close enough to the shore, so the equipment was installed in an old milk cart.

The innovation for the backpack bowling came about ten years ago through sweat. Antero Kukko emphasizes that one person can come up with an idea, but the implementation requires competent staff and stimulating cooperation networks on the other hand

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The forest of the future is a place where you can talk to the tree – a three-dimensional forest modelled from a point cloud using laser scanningRead More »

Rhinos have been hunted to the brink of extinction. One species was recently lost, two are in grave danger. Photos preserved over the centuries show how hunting has affected the rhinos’ appearance.

In the early 1900s, there were half a million rhinos in the world. Now there are 26 000. At the same time, their appearance has changed.

All rhino species have had their horns shortened in pictures ever since people started drawing and photographing rhinos. European artists became interested in large exotic creatures as early as the 1500s.

According to a recent study, the most obvious explanation for the marked shortening of horns is hunting. Although it has been smoked, it has not been stopped. In the last decade, almost 10,000 rhinos were killed by poachers in Africa.

How then to measure the horns of the past? Old skeletons are not stored, at least in Europe. The few skeletons that are in museums are missing horns. And if there are still some horns left, they are not on display because they would be too much of a temptation for thieves.

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The human impact on nature can be seen here: rhinoceros horns have become shorter and shorterRead More »

In Janakkala, a new model area for the conservation of birds of prey is being created in a forestry company’s commercial forest. The aim is to improve the living conditions of birds of prey, for example by making felling in the area more compatible with breeding conditions.

In an 8 000-hectare forest area owned by forest industry company UPM Metsä, the protection of birds of prey is being improved by building weasel-proof nesting boxes for barn owls.

According to the company, the new protected area is part of its efforts to promote biodiversity.

There will also be artificial beds for chicken, mouse and bee hives in the commercial forest. The Sääksisäätiö and UPM are looking for lessons for similar activities elsewhere in Finland.

– Perches and artificial nests are placed in such places that hawks and owls find the nests. The places have been chosen in such a way that they are safe for a long time. The sites do not end up in the area of \u200b\u200bclear-cut logging, says Kara.

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A cunning ploy to deal with midges killing owl young has been devised – the talons now slip so they can’t reach the nestsRead More »