Tornator challenges Taipalsaari’s 30-metre clear-cutting ban

Forest company Tornator has appealed Taipalsaari municipality’s ban on clear-cutting along parts of Lake Saimaa, Yle reported. The ban creates a 30-metre buffer zone along the shoreline and was adopted during a summer update to the local master plan.

Tornator, which is Finland’s largest private forest owner, says the ban is economically unreasonable for landowners, including the company itself. It has appealed the decision to the Eastern Finland Administrative Court.

“We are appealing the general 30-metre clear-cutting ban, which applies to all shoreline areas regardless of whether studies have identified special landscape values there,” said Jussi Komulainen, Tornator’s planning manager.

The company said it was not aware of another local master plan in Finland with an equally extensive clear-cutting ban covering all shoreline areas. Tornator is concerned that other municipalities could introduce similar restrictions.

Taipalsaari’s technical director, Samuli Kakko, said the municipality recognised that the case involved a new approach. The 30-metre buffer zone was added during committee work and was not included in the original draft.

According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, practices for protecting shoreline areas vary between Finnish municipalities. Forestry recommendations generally call for a roughly 10-metre strip along the shore to be left outside logging operations.

The plan area includes the Kyläniemi peninsula and nearby islands, which feature landscapes around Lake Saimaa shaped by the Ice Age. Kyläniemi is 14 kilometres long and is separated from the mainland by the Kutvele Canal.

The area is a popular nature tourism destination but is also traditionally used for forestry. Tornator owns about 1,000 hectares of land in Kyläniemi, most of it used for forestry, as well as land on islands around the peninsula. Kyläniemi alone has about 50 kilometres of shoreline.

Tornator does not currently want to estimate the ban’s precise financial impact. Komulainen said the effects could nevertheless be significant for both Tornator and other landowners in the area.

The Association of Finnish Local and Regional Authorities’ development manager, Anne Jarva, said a court ruling on the scope of the ban would be useful for municipalities and landowners.

A local master plan or one of its provisions may not cause unreasonable harm to a landowner. If a landowner cannot use the land in a way that produces a reasonable benefit because of the plan, the municipality must either acquire the land or pay compensation for the harm, Jarva said.

She said the Administrative Court’s decision would clarify where the boundary lies between reasonable and unreasonable restrictions.

Taipalsaari stands by its decision and has submitted a response to Tornator’s appeal. The municipality says the 30-metre buffer zone is not unreasonable and still allows forestry in the area.

“The ban applies only to clear-cutting. Selective logging and thinning remain possible in the area,” Kakko said.

Tornator has said that allowing thinning alone is not always sufficient from either a forestry or an economic perspective.