Forest management

In March, the City of Kuopio began planning urban forests in the Neulamäki area with a survey aimed at residents. The survey was sent by mail to approximately 370 owners of single-family houses and representatives of the housing company. It was also possible to respond to the survey electronically via the City’s website. A total of 196 responses to the survey were received. 97 inhabitants responded electronically to the survey, and 99 inhabitants returned the questionnaire by post in a return envelope.

In the first question, residents were asked about what was good about the nearby forests and what was causing issues. There were many responses and they were very different. Forest nature as a place for recreation, beautiful landscapes, outdoor recreation routes, exercise opportunities, forests with paths, greenness and lushness of forests, good mushroom and berry forests and many other things were a cause for joy. On the side of worry and concern were the obscuring of views, shading of forests, damage caused by trees to buildings, untidy forests, the darkness of the forest, bushiness, concerns about safety, excessive felling in the city area and the lack of natural forests.

In the second question, the residents’ wishes concerning trees growing on the edge of the plot were asked. The question provided a lot of information that can be used when thinnings and clearings are carried out.

The fourth question asked about future wishes regarding forest use. The responses highlighted the wishes for park-like forests, diverse forests, natural forests, forests with easy access, open landscapes, removal of thickets, the need for regular clearing and maintenance, increasing nature values, improving camping services, and active forest management and thinning.

The third question was a multiple-choice section of four questions, which asked about the suitability of different types of forest management measures or suitability of things for the forests of the area.

One in three respondents felt that no forest management measures needed to be carried out in the planning area. Almost 80 per cent of the respondents felt that decaying trees should be left in the terrain, and many also hoped adding more decaying trees. Residents’ responses will be taken into account in the plan drawn up for the area, and some of the planning area will be excluded from all measures this time.

The forest management plan for Neulaniemi is based on the principles of the Strategic Forest Plan of the City of Kuopio (21 February 2022). The proposals for measures in the plan have been prepared for each parcel on the basis of forest resource data, a vegetation survey of the master plan and a topographical inspection. Read more about the Strategic Forest Plan on our website.

The forest management fellings in Neulaniemi will be consulted on before the start of fellings and the wishes related to the harvesting are taken into account as much as possible. Comments on fellings have been requested to be submitted per actionable parcel. It has been possible to send comments on fellings in the Neulaniemi area  to Heikki Soininen by e-mail up until 5 August 2022.

A new master plan for the Neulaniemi area in Kuopio was completed in 2020. Its implementation will change land use in the area. The planned forestry work will prepare the forests in Neulaniemi for the upcoming change in growth conditions caused by construction. It is estimated that the future housing construction in Neulaniemi will begin in the 2030s.

The trees in the green areas of the new neighbourhood will be strengthened to adapt to the winds and increasing light in the future housing areas. Current young forests will be developed into parks with a variety of different trees. Especially older spruces may suffer from increased light and wind. The objective is to preserve the vitality of trees, support forest biodiversity as land use changes and, in the long term, enable versatile recreational use of the Neulaniemi forests.

The planning area is divided into four different actionable parcels. A separate report has been prepared for each actionable parcel. The reports describe separately the measures to be carried out on the parcel, the basises of these measures and the consideration of various issues, such as recreational use and biodiversity. Various maps, photos and text are used as the presentation format.

The estimated start time for fellings will be in autumn 2022. The fellings are based on the forest data of the area and nature inventories carried out in connection with the preparation of the master plan. Other nature information has also been taken into account in the plans. Harvesting methods focus on thinning and continuous felling. The felling methods of all four actionable parcels are divided as follows:

• • excision of holdovers 1.1 hectares
  • harvesting 16.2 hectares
  • small-scale clearcutting 8.5 hectares
  • strip cutting 1.1 hectares
  • thinning 87.4 hectares
  • first thinning 7.3 hectares
  • clearcutting 4 hectares.

Further information is available from the Forest Manager of the City of Kuopio, Heikki Soininen, Land Management Services, heikki.soininen(at)kuopio.fi