The Finnish Natural Heritage Foundation (Luonnonperintösäätiö) has purchased a new conservation site in Southwest Finland through the Havumetsä (Once Upon a Time in a Forest) fundraising campaign. The riparian grove of Korvattomanoja was acquired with the help of donations collected through the campaign, as well as support from the Nessling Foundation and the TAH Foundation.
The Havumetsä fundraising campaign was launched in April 2024 alongside the documentary film Havumetsän lapset (Once Upon a Time in a Forest), directed by Virpi Suutari. The campaign raised funds to protect Finland’s rapidly diminishing forest nature and sought an endangered area threatened by logging to be permanently conserved. The children featured in the film—Ida Korhonen, Minka Virtanen, and Ville Murmann—also took part in selecting the conservation site.
The protected area is a riparian grove of approximately 2.2 hectares. Its significance is greatly enhanced by the fact that it directly borders a previously established protected area of more than 15 hectares. The area owned by the Finnish Natural Heritage Foundation includes fresh and moist herb-rich forests as well as herb-rich heath forest, with a mixed forest dominated by spruce trees around 110 years old. Along the stream grows a rare and endangered grey alder swamp forest.
The Finnish Natural Heritage Foundation received support for the land purchase from both the Nessling Foundation and the TAH Foundation, each of which donated €10,000 to the campaign.
“The sustainability transformation requires concrete action. That is why we wanted to support the Havumetsä campaign and ensure that this valuable stream environment receives the permanent protection it deserves. We also want to invite others to take similar actions for nature,” says Iina Koskinen, Science and Executive Director at the Nessling Foundation.
“People’s own activity and participation in combating biodiversity loss is important in many ways,” says Harri Lammi, Head of Environmental Projects at the TAH Foundation. “Such activity shows that Finns value the gems of their forest nature at a time when biodiversity loss is accelerating, yet political understanding and will to address the situation are lacking. The foundation wants to support the Havumetsä campaign and the valuable work of the Finnish Natural Heritage Foundation in promoting the permanent protection of forest areas.”
Virpi Suutari, director of the documentary Havumetsän lapset, also welcomes the news of the area’s protection.
“The news about the protection of the Korvattomanoja riparian grove is the best Christmas present. I am grateful to the TAH Foundation, the Nessling Foundation, and all the donors to the campaign for making it possible to protect this grove, which borders a larger conservation area. Forest areas in southern Finland are far too fragmented. The more we can connect valuable forest areas to one another, the better it will be for biodiversity,” Suutari says.
The Finnish Natural Heritage Foundation was founded in 1995 by fisherman Pentti Linkola. The foundation protects nature, primarily endangered forests, by acquiring natural areas through donations and ensuring their permanent protection under the Nature Conservation Act.