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Helsinki City Environment Division has proposed the sale of a large forest area in Kirkkonummi’s Kauhala district to the Finnish Natural Heritage Foundation. The proposed transaction involves over 200 hectares of land, with the aim of turning the area into a permanent nature reserve.
The city and the foundation have held negotiations regarding the deal.
The City Environment Committee will review the proposal in its meeting on 25 March. The suggested purchase price is €1.9 million.
The Natural Heritage Foundation, founded in 1995, focuses on protecting Finnish nature, especially forest areas. The organisation acquires land using donated funds and seeks to secure long-term protection under the Nature Conservation Act.
If the sale proceeds, the foundation’s landholdings in Uusimaa would more than triple. It currently owns 78 hectares of protected land in the region.
Helsinki aims to divest landholdings outside its municipal borders that are not directly linked to core city operations. The sale would represent a step forward in achieving this target. The Kauhala land has been under city ownership since the 1960s but is no longer used for forestry or other municipal purposes.
According to a regional environmental study linked to Uusimaa’s land use planning, the Kauhala area includes some of the most ecologically valuable unprotected forest tracts in the region. The study identified the site as one of the largest remaining natural forest entities yet to be conserved.
The City Environment Committee has previously stated that Helsinki is open to transferring significant nature areas outside city limits, provided the buyer’s purpose is the preservation or enhancement of natural values. Efforts to find a suitable buyer for Kauhala have been ongoing.
The proposed conservation area would strengthen the ecological network of forest habitats around the capital region. If confirmed, the land transfer would contribute to national and regional conservation targets by ensuring long-term protection of old-growth and semi-natural forest landscapes in southern Finland.
The city has no active operations in the area. The land has not been used for forestry for several decades.
HT
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Source: www.helsinkitimes.fi
