For the past 40 years, the forests of Vanha-Pälsilä farm, located on the shore of Poikkijärvi in Kuhmoinen, in Finland, have been managed with great care by Matti Eerola. Now the next generation, Eerola’s children Simo and Hanna, are taking over with the help of Metsä Group’s Forest Management Specialists. GENERATIONS OF SUSTAINABLE FOREST MANAGEMENT
ANNA GUSTAFSSON, photos HANNE MANELIUS
The thick crowns of spruces cast a pleasant shade on the footpath and make the air seem cool. Big-leaved wood sorrels grow on the mosses, ants are busily scurrying along trunks and plump cones swing on the spruce branches. The Vanha-Pälsilä farm, located in Kuhmoinen, Central Finland, is a perfect example of sustainable forestry and love for nature. The old farmer Matti Eerola has success- fully transformed an underproductive forest and field estate into a thriving one: the volume of trees has doubled in forty years. He has been happy to hand over the well-managed estate to the hands of the next generation. His children, Simo and Hanna Eerola , took charge of the estate two years ago. Matti’s wife Eira Eerola sets a freshly baked salmon pie on the table. We are joined by Metsä Group’s Forest Specialist Pekka Seppälä , who has worked with the Eerola family since 2006. “The story of Eerola’s forests is quite something. The estate is a great example of how you can improve a forest’s growth considerably with sustainable management,” says Seppälä. The volume of trees growing on a hectare of land in the estate’s most heavily forested area has almost doubled compared to what it was when Eerola bought the estate.
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