National parks under development in Karelia

Tacis project “Karelia Parks Development“ was working with national parks in Karelia in 1999-2001. The main objectives were to promote establishment of four new national parks and develop further the Paanajärvi National Park, which was founded in 1992.

The new, proposed national parks are the Kalevala NP (96 000 ha), Tuulos NP (62 000 ha), Koitajoki-Tolvajärvi NP (77 000 ha) and Ladoga Skerries NP (84 000 ha). All of these are located in the western part of the Karelian Republic, close to the Finnish border and they have already been included in a National park development programme by the Russian Federation.

The project was run by the Metsähallitus Consulting together with Finnish Environment Institute, Indufor and Kampsax International. The project office was situated in Petrozavodsk. The main part of the work was done by Russian experts, altogether 27 Russians and a smaller number of foreign experts were involved in the work. The project produced eight reports in Russian and English, coloured leaflets, posters and postcards of each territory. In addition, a cd-rom in three languages was prepared on the Paanajärvi NP. A Geographical Information System was created for each of the five parks.

Some eco-tourism activities in all these territories have already started. In the long run, the parks are very attractive especially for tourists from Finland and the big cities of Saint Petersburg and Moscow. Tourism development prospects are among the reasons for a positive attitude towards the parks among local administrations. The remote villages in Karelia need livelihoods and activities as an alternative for fairly heavy forestry. The project produced a report entitled “Tourism Strategy for the Karelian Green Belt“, where current tourism is analysed and new proposals are made. The impact of the new parks was studied in a “Socio-economic Assessment of New National Parks for Karelia“.

Proposals for the establishment of each new national park were prepared by the project, including a Feasibility Study, a Development Plan and an Five year Action Plan. This model is following the Russian system and could hopefully offer all the material, which is needed for the Karelian Republic to forward the proposal to the Federal Government. At the moment, the Kalevala National Park seems to be closest to establishment, due to the decision by the Federal Government in March 2001 on the highest priority list of new national parks.

Kalevala National Park the most urgent one

Protection of the Kalevala territory is most urgent, because it is the only one of the proposed parks with a great amount of timber within its borders. The local administrations of Kostomuksha and Louhi districts have approved the proposal made by the project. It was also presented in several public meetings in villages and got clear support of local people. Now it is up to the Karelian Government to ask for statements about the proposal and then to prepare its own proposal to the Federal Government.

The archipelago in the northern part of Lake Ladoga has the highest biodiversity in the whole republic. Protection of the islands and a broad strip of the continental shoreline is widely supported by the three local administrations of Sortavala, Pitkäranta and Lahdepohja as well as the republican and federal structures. Unfortunately, this national park could not be included in the federal list this time due to some small disagreements within the administration.

All new park territories have had a temporary protection, which will end by the end of this year. As for Kalevala, it might be clear, that cuttings or other activities are not threatening its nature before the park establishment. The new Russian administration of natural resources will hopefully show its capacity in nature conservation by fulfilling fairly soon the decision of the Federal Government.

The whole proposed park in Ladoga is covered by the so-called first category forests, which are protected as they are situated within one kilometre from the shoreline. The local administrations there seem to actively protect the park territory against construction of summer cottages by people from Saint Petersburg. At the moment this is a serious threat elsewhere for shores and islands of Ladoga.

Action is needed

Establishment of all four new national parks still needs domestic and international support. Especially, the future of Koitajoki-Tolvajärvi and Tuulos territories is open. The nature conservation status on these territories should be strengthened, so that later on a national park or nature park could be set up there. On the local level, Municipal Units of each proposed park were established together with the local administrations. All of them have now at least some personnel. The Tacis project purchased for cars, boats, snowmobiles and other brand new equipment needed for the park management. During the project, altogether 37 training courses, seminars and conferences were organised for the people working with nature conservation and parks in Karelia.

The Paanajärvi National Park has been favourably developed during the last few years. Nature tourism is growing slowly as the park is setting up visitor services. A new Visitor Centre is under construction in the settlement of Pyaozersky, about 50 km from the National Park. The exhibition plan for the VC was produced in the Tacis project. Most probably, it will be opened for visitors in 2002, when the park reaches the age of ten years.

The reports of the project, printed in English and Russian: Management Plans of the four new parks, Tourism Strategy of the Green Belt, Development Plan for the Paanajärvi National Park, Socio-economic Assessment for New National Parks in Karelia and Ecotourism on the Way to Russia, can be ordered from Metsähallitus Consulting ( knowhow@metsa.fi ). Leaflets of the parks in English, Russia or Finnish and the cd-rom of the Paanajärvi National Park can be ordered from the Customer Service Point Karhuntassu in Kuusamo karhuntassu@metsa.fi

Jouko Högmander
Metsähallitus (Finnish Forest and Park Service)

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