Annukka chose a new forest management model – "We’re very satisfied"

Annukka Parkkinen from Mikkeli, Finland inherited some forest a few years ago with her three daughters. These were old family forests, some of which were badly overgrown. In addition, conifer root and butt rot were rotting the root system, so it was a natural time to consider forest management measures.

“For us, the forest is also a source of income, and inheritance taxes, for example, had to be paid. However, the forest will generate income, even if it’s managed in a manner that respects nature,” Parkkinen says.
Nature values are important to the whole family, as our hobbies include mushroom picking, berry picking and hiking in the forest. When a local forest specialist recommended the Metsä Group Plus forest management model to Parkkinen when she was planning to sell wood, the decision was easy.

The Metsä Group Plus model includes measures that safeguard and improve the state of forest nature more comprehensively than is required by current standard practices. The use of these measures is agreed in connection with each wood trade transaction and orders for young stand management.

In practice, this means, among other things, that more retention tree groups, protective thickets, decaying wood and high biodiversity stumps are left in the forest than usual. Extensive buffer zones are left around natural waterways.

"We’re very satisfied with the result. We didn’t want the usual clear cutting, but a solution that would be optimal not only for us but also for the forest. The forest also looks different when this management model is used, as trees of different ages are left to grow there,” Annukka Parkkinen says.

Excellent reception

Metsä Group Plus was launched in the summer of 2023. The Metsä Group Plus management model was already applied to about a third of all wood sales made during the first half of 2024. That means thousands of individual wood sale transactions.

Metsä Group’s parent company Metsäliitto Cooperative has nearly 90,000 Finnish forest owners as members, and they own about half of Finland’s privately-owned forests. Metsä Group's forest management activities therefore have a wide impact.

“There has clearly been demand for the Metsä Group Plus management model that combines biodiversity and economic viability. The management model has really broken through among forest owners, despite its requirement being clearly higher than those of current certification criteria. For example, another advantage of the Metsä Group Plus model is that it can be chosen specifically for each sale transaction for sites where the scenic value is particularly high,” says Silja Pitkänen-Arte, Sustainability Manager for Wood Supply at Metsä Group.

The Metsä Group Plus service was created to implement Metsä Group’s principles of regenerative forestry in practice. Regenerative forestry means the management and use of commercial forests to enable us to pass on the forests to the next generation with more vitality, biodiversity and climate resilience.

Financial bonus for better actions

A completely new feature of the Metsä Group Plus management model is that, in connection with each wood sale and order for young stand management, measures that are more comprehensive than established current practices are agreed to safeguard and improve the state of forest nature. Metsä Group pays an additional bonus per hectare to the members of the cooperative for regeneration felling carried out in accordance with the terms of the service.

Forest owner Jaakko Vilponen from Helsinki, Finland has been selling wood to Metsä Group for about 30 years. The first time he sold wood under the Metsä Group Plus management model was in March this year. The transaction was for the final felling of about ten hectares on a parcel in South Ostrobothnia, which is bordered by a small river.

“Metsä Group’s offer was fair, which felt good. I’m happy to play my part in preserving biodiversity, but it’s great that Metsä Group is doing the same – in the form of offering a tangible incentive in this case,” Vilponen says.

As usual,Vilponen was in touch with the forest machine operator before the work started to ensure the quality of the work.
“It became clear that he knew the rules and restrictions very well – there was no doubt about it.”

The measures in accordance with the Metsä Group Plus management model are decided specifically for each wood sale transaction, whereas the decision on forest certification is made for each forest estate. So the transition to better practices in accordance with the Metsä Group Plus model is agile.

“When we visit the forest, how big a thing we’re dealing with here becomes very clear. We live and we die, but the forests will outlive us,” says forest owner Annukka Parkkinen.