- Teksti Nina Venhe | Kuvat Raija Törrönen
This year, the University of Eastern Finland has celebrated its 10th anniversary, and among the jubilee year’s events was a campaign to conserve swamps. Funds donated to the campaign were used to establish a private swamp conservation area in eastern Finland for recreational and research use. The jubilee year has now culminated in the purchase of a swamp that will be conserved. The swamp conservation campaign attracted around 19,000 euros in donations, and the Finnish Natural Heritage Foundation has purchased roughly 10 hectares of swamp in the southern corner of the Ylpässuo swamp in Kiuruvesi, eastern Finland.
The swamp purchased as a result of the university’s 10th anniversary campaign is a wet swamp fen dominated by swamp horsetail, which is rare in the region. The tree stand is in its natural state, and the swamp is home to the willow ptarmigan and the willow tit. For the most part, the aapa mire has retained its original shape, despite ditching of its edges. It is likely that the ditches can be filled, or their waterflow reversed back to the swamp.
“Thanks to this campaign, we can give eastern Finland a gift that will last for generations to come,” Rector Jukka Mönkkönen says, summing up the campaign’s outcome.
Mönkkönen says that the swamp will now be protected under the Nature Conservation Act. The freedom to roam (Everyman’s Right) guarantees recreational use of the swamp, and the conservation agreement will also allow research activities. One of the university’s profile areas in research and education pertains to environmental change and sustainable use of natural resources.
“Building a responsible and sustainable future is a strategic goal for us. Swamp conservation promotes, for its part, the well-being of Finnish swamp nature, a sustainable future, and the well-being of our community at large. I wish to extend my warmest thanks to all our partners and stakeholders, and to private citizens, who took part in this campaign and helped us to purchase the swamp.”
For further information, please contact:
Rector Jukka Mönkkönen, tel. +358 40 728 8057
